New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-09

General Maurice. the English strategist'
made a recent statement that the strategy OF
the Confederate general, Robert +. Lee, was
beinp closely followed in this war. The I'M
mense possible significance of the remark is
lost 10 laymGn. We know of Lees great
ness from the fact that such commanders as
Scott. Mcclellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade
and Grant were successfully sent against nim'
But il is hard to understand the characters
tic tactics which recommended him ABROAD
since history emphasizes Northern tactlcs'
and since Lee himself. unlike Grant was not
commander in chief, but a military ADVISER
TO the President of the Confederacy.
There is one man particularly qualified to-
day to talk of Lee-his sole surviving stan
officer. Captain William Williamson rage
one Of the quartet-Brown, Pettigrew, Plfer
and Page-who were intimately associated
with the general from the Wilderness to APP
nonnattox as commanders of his four compa-
nies of scouts, guides and couriers. fouhd
Captain Page in the rectory of his churcn at
Cornwall DR.. Page, onetime chaplain 10
Rishop Potter, is relative of Ambassador
Thomas Nelson Page at Rome. He character
lied Lees strategy with particular examples,
some Of which do not appear in history, ana
was able to point out much that Lee wouia
likely do in this war. In the light OF General
Maurice's remark, it was interesting, especial
~ as the next day the papers had news OF an
Italian offensive which Captain Page foretold'
A Gap or a Trap?
General Lee was a master of the unex-
pected," the captain said. ale had intense
onJ int confidence IN IT..
Swiftness, sureness, unexpectedness-in those
words you have the idea Lees qualities were
thus contrasted with those that made Grant
great-rigidity. persistence, pound. Botn
great commanders, their essential difference
was remarkable, and from the purely tacti-
cal side, which is all am discussing, history
has not been entirely fair to Lee" The doc
tors eyes twinked. an Grants memoirs you
will notice an alusion to Lees being a good
defensive general, but weak in initiative
Grant mentions an incident where gap was
omen between Hancock and himself | hap
pened to be sitting in Lees tent that day.
Juba Early was there, disputatious, quar-
relsome. lovable old boy. Colonel Walter
TAYLOR, General Lees adjutant, entered IN
haste: General! There's gap between
Hancock and Grant. Whom shall we send
in? General Lee paid not the slightest at
tention, but signed TO Early 10 go OH WIN
his story. Walter, thinking the general had
not heard, repeated the information. Lee
turned to him very quietly: 1 think you Will
be doing General Grant a great favor by
going in there yourself 1t was trap
"The best example of Lees lightning cal
culation is regarding the famous stolen or
ders: the resulting maneuvre illustrates
also his main policy, never to be on the Of
fensve solely, or the defensive solely, but al
WAYS to make it either an offensive defensive
as in this emergency, or defensve-offen-
sive, as was usual.
allow the complete orders for his army got
10 Mcclellan has never been determined, but
they did plans for each corps then in mo-
ton. so scheduled that Mcclellan knew in ad-
vance the exact location of each widely sepa-
rated body at any given minute. Such
thing. Of course. meant almost certain dlsas-