General Longstreet

A correspondent of the Philadelphia Times has had a long talk with General Longstreet at the latter's home in Jainesville, Ga. After noting the f act ;hat individual bravery amounted to rery little in modern warfare - a fact Dy the way that he at once disproved - General Longstreet said : I was once dining with Horace Greeley and he asked me if it was not necsssary to swear at your men and 'whoop them up." I replied that I Dhought not. There is nothing like iulei asaurunnfi and confidence. A general need never be noisy, ana i think quiet troops are the best fighters. [ once sent out a brigade to occupy a sertain point. As it was mounting a Little crest it came full upon immense masses of Federáis. The men were panic-stricken and thought I had made i mistake in ordering them forward. rhey halted irresoluto and then dropped down upon the ground. It was important that they should advance and make a feint, at least. I therefore rode quietly through their ranks on the crest, and there halting my horse ad j usted my glasses and calmly surveyed the scène in front. I turned carelessly around, and as I expected there was my brigade at my back, every man in position ready for anything - confldent and assured. At another time, in the heat of the battle of Chattanooga, General Beming, of Georgia, one of the bravest men I ever saw, came charging up to me in great agitation. He was riding a captured artillery horse, without any saddle, with the blind-bridle on. and was using a rope trace as a whip. His hat was gone and he was much disordered. "General," he said, "my brigade is utterly destroyed and scattered." Is that so ? 1 asked quietly ; utterly destroyed, you say 't "Yes, sir," he replied ; "gone all to pieces!" His great heart was nearly breaking. I approached him and said quietly ; Don't you think you could flnd one man, General? "Öne man!" he said in astonishment ; "I suppose I could. What do you want with him ?" Go and get him, I said, still quietly, laying my hand on his arm, and bring him here. Then you and I and he will charge together. This is sacred, General, and we may as well die here as anywhere. He looked at me curiously a moment, then laughed and, with au oath, lashed his horse with his rope trace and was off like a flash. In a few moments he swept by me at the head of a command that he had gathered together somehow or other and he was into the fight again. The General said he thought the invasión of Pennsylvania was a wise plan, bui the disastrous battle of Gettysburgchanged it. Saidhe: Ifelt then that we were beaten. I considered it only a question of time. Once after this was there a chance- a bare chance- of saving the Confederacy This was after the battle of Chickamauga, which was In many respecta the most brilliant victory of thewar. The enemy were more thoroughly pu' to rout here than before 01 since. I: there ever was an occasion that de manded pursuit pell-mell this was the time. The Federáis were rushing back on Chattanooga in the utmost con fusión. It was a bright moonlight night and our people were anxious to pursue. We might actually have entered Chattanooga with the flying Federáis and thus recovered the key to Georgia and East Tennessee. General Bragg declined to follow up his advantage. The enemy rallied, re-formed, and Bragg was driven back to Missionary Ridge. 1 had a talk with Mr. Davis shortly after Chickamauga. 1 told him that there was no hope for the triumph of our arms. He was very much discouraged and flnally grew petulant. He said he never remembered having seen such a movement as I proposed at Chickamauga. I replied that if his memory would carry him as far back as the first Manassas he woulc see such a movement. He replied very tartly and we had some sharp words These were arranged, however, and we parted on good terms. In regard to the Confedérate leaders General Longstreet said: I am inclined to think that General Joe Johnston was the ablest and most accomplished man that the Confedérate armies produced. He never had the opportunity aceorded to many others, but he showed wonderf ui power as a tactician and a commander. I do not think that we had his equal for handling an army and conducting a campaign. General Lee was a great leader - wise, deep and sagacious. His moral influence was something won derful. But he lost his roise on eer ' i - wiiw "nto one wno io acquainted with the facts can believe tliat he would have fought the battle of Gettysburg had he not been under great e.xcitement, or that he w uld have ordered the sacrifico of Pickett and his Virginians on the day after the battle. He said to me afterwards, 'Why didn't you stop all that thing that day?' At the Wilderness when our lines had been driven in and I was just getting to the tield General Lee put himself at the head of one of my brigades, and leading it into action my men pressed him back, and I said to him that if he would leave my commands in my own hand I would reform. His great soul rose masterful within him when a crisis or disaster threatened. This tended to disturb his admirable equipóse. I loved Gen. Lee as a brother while he lived and I reveré his memory. He was a grea man, a born leader, a wise general ; but I think Johnston was the most accom-' plished and capsble commander that we had.