Page:Confederate Portraits.djvu/105

 your brave corps. Your cheerful face and strong arm would have been invaluable. I hope you will soon return

Longstreet's love for his great chief was equally fervent. Speaking of him after the war he says : " The relations existing between us were affectionate, confidential, and even tender, from first to last. There was never a harsh word between us." ^^ Writing to Lee from the West he expresses feeling as evidently deep as it is genuine : ** All that we have to be proud of has been accomplished under your eye and under your orders. Our affections for you are stronger, if it is possible for them to be stronger, than our admiration for you." ^^ And Fremantle, who had observed both men closely, corroborates these words in the most charming manner: **It is impossible to please Longstreet more than by praising Lee. I believe these two generals to be as little ambitious and as thoroughly unselfish as any men in the world." ^^

But Longstreet did not propose to allow judgment to be hoodwinked by affection. Not for him was the atti- tude so passionately expressed by Jackson: "General Lee is a phenomenon. I would follow him blindfold." On the contrary, the commander of the First Corps was keenly aware of his chiefs defects and has recorded them mercilessly for posterity. " In the field his characteristic fault was headlong combativeness. . . . In the immediate presence of the enemy General Lee's mind, at all other times calm and clear, became excited." ^^ These defects

�� �