The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-01-14
The Passing of Longstreet.
Atlanta Constitution

AlihHld oHHtltuiIpH
A great soldier, in the ripeness of
years and yet enduring to the latest
breath the pangs OF the wounds OF
four decades ago, has fallen upon
earth's final sleep
In the brave days OF his carrier sol
diership, and then in the strenuous
years of one of the worlds most
tragic wars wherein his genius lifted
him to the next highest rank of gen
eralship, General James LOngstreet
was a conspicuous figure and always
a force to be reckOned with The
finest and busiest military critics of
America and Europe have pro-
nOunced him commander in whom
were combined those abilities ofinitia
tive, strategy and persistent daring
that makes the historic general OF
any age or people.
While to Others who were concerned
III the great campaigns and battles
of which he was Il distinguished lac
tor there may have appeared i'll his
acts some Incidents for criticism. yet
to his immediate officers and men he
was ever the ideal soldier and the
peerless commander. But in the pres
ence of his shronded frame, in the re-
vived memories of his loyalty and his
herOism, and in the knowledge that
the seeming errors OF men in pivotal
crises are often the misunderstood
interferences OF the Supreme Ruler,
judgments cease and reverence, graft
tude and honor form the threnOdy at
the tomb.
The war record OF General Long
street will always remain IL theme of
laudatiOn by the SONS SOutherners.
For the reward of it thousands re-
fused to sanction the rebukes his sub
sequent career sometimes gendered
among his cOmpatriots. Who that
witnessed it can forget the embrace
given LOngstreet by eX-President
Davis here in Atlanta and the ire
mendous ovation that greeted the
old hero i'll his veteran gray uniform
as he joined in the gala-day made in
honor of his disfranchised chief?
General LOngStreet' S taking of of
flee under President Grant has been
always Il misunderstood transaction
1t was not a surrender of his South
ern sentiments or an act of dislOyalty
to the Southern people. At the time
when General Grant. feeling the i'm
pulses of former cOmradeship, ten
dered an office and emoluments to
General IOngstreet, whose fortunes
were i'll sore straits, the old soldier
refused to consider acceptance of the
offer until urged to it by his later fell
low-sOldiers i'll New Orleans, includ-
ing Generals Hood, Beauregard,
Harry Hayes. Ogden and even .Jeffer-
son Davis himself. He accepted in
the belief that it was duty to take
any occasion for public service that
otherwise would be held in the hands
OF alien carpet-baggers and haters of
the Southern people. But the occa-
sion was too sOOn-the passions of
the people yet too inflamed. Without
full knowledge of the inwirdness of
his conduct the people whom he loved
heaped upon him penetrating scorn
and livid Goals of Indignation. He
was too brave to complain: too con-
sderate to expose his advisers. and
his herOlSm was never more chival-
rous than the long patience with
which until now he has endured the
INSTRUMENTS of his Southern fellow
men.
But these things are naught now
to the flown spirit. Hereafter truth
will take hold upon thepen OF history
and revive much that has been mis-
written of this great son OF the
South. His stainless integrity, his
devotion to the cause of his militant
people, his Incompatible bravery in
battle, his superb generalship on
campaign, and his later chivalry in
the calm conduct of his citizenship
and public service remain as whole
some memories of a world-acclaimed
Southern hero