Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-01-27
DEFENDS LONGSTREET.
General Rosser Pays Glowing Tribute Il
Dead Here.

Gen. Thomas L.Rosser, of Virginia,
who was the youngest Major General
of the Confederate army, who COM
manded regiment at Gettysburg,
and who was with the Army of
Northern Virginia from the first bat
tie to the surrender, bitterly resents
the criticism of Gen. Longstreet's
course at Gettysburg. Gen. Rosser
was appointed .an officer in the Span
ish war by President Mckinley, and
in recent years has been acting with
the Republican party. Reviewing
the work of some of the great Con-
federate Generals, Gen. Rosser, said
to the correspondent of The Green.
vile News:
"With the death of Gen. Long.
street passes the last of the great
soldiers of the Army of Northern Vir-
ginia. He fought alone the battle of
the 18th of July, 1861, and won the
first victory of that splendid army.
He shared in the glory of all the
great battles that army fought. He
rs badly wounded in the Wilder
ear where Jackson fell, and
undey slu''r circumstances, and had
he dieo ..re he would have gone
down into history side by side with
Jackson and Lee. Longstreet and
Lee, as soldiers, were similar in many
respects. Both were great defensive
generals, but neither can be classed
amongst the successful offensive gen
erals of history. Take Jackson, for
instance. His campaign from Kearns-
town to Port Republic, in the Valley
of Virginia, in 1862, was as brilliant
as the first Italian campaign of the
great Napoleon. In results he took
Mcdowell from Fredericksburg. He
left Shields, Fremont and Banks
confused as to his whereabouts,
dashed across the mountains, joined
Lee on the Goth of June, striking Nc
Clellan the surprise blow, drove him
to the James and raised the siege of
Richmond. With the dispatch of
lightning he wheeled around, met
Pope at Cedar Mountain, stopped his
advance upon Lees rear and flank,
held him until Lee could arrive with
reinforcements, passed to his rear
and fought the battle of the 28th of
September at Grovetown Heights,
opened the way for Lee to press on
with his army, and crowned the cam
paign with the successful battle of
the second Bull Run. He crossed the
Potomac with Lee, was detached,
sent back, captured Harper's Ferry
and joined Lee at Sharpsburg in time
to stop Mcclellan and save Lees
army. In May, 1868, when Lee was
hesitating in the Wilderness, believ-
ing that Hooker's movement below
Fredericksburg was serious one,
with the foresight of genius, Jackson
pronounced it a feint, urged Lee to
allow him to move around Hooker's
right, which, in audacity, boldness
and brilliaDcy, seemed to paralyze
Lee, and while on this wonderful
march Skies got between him and
Lee with an army nearly equal to his
own, Jackson pressed on, turned on,
turned Hooker's right, as he contem-
plated, dissipated the Eleventh crops
and all it's support, and was within a
half mile of the goal, the Bullock
house, of which had he gained posses
sion, Hooker's retreat would have
been impossible and he at the mercy
of the Confederate army, when he
was shot and mortally wounded by
his own men.
'Lee, then i'll command of an army
that knew no defeat and not realiz.
ing that his great offensive general
had been taken away from the army,
committed the fatal blunder of at
tempting the invasion of the North.
At no time during that campaign did
he move with celerity, maneuver to
the surprise of the enemy or do any
thing of a brilliant character, mark
ing him with the genius of war. The
battle of Gettysburg was lost the first
day, although the Confederates
claimed viotory, and it might have
been turned into victory had Lee
been master of the art of aggres-
sive warfare. But he followed up
the first day by stubborn attack of
the enemy in an entrenched position,
and, failing to dislodge bin, seemed
to hesitate and his plans seemed tt
be confused. FINALLY, he committed
a great error in attacking superior
enemy in an entrenched position at
the strongest point. In the history
of battles very few generals have
ever made an attack on the center OF
the enemy's position, and history
oivaa onlv ono ayamnle of whore