Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 24.djvu/85

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tended t<> ti^lit the next day, it" tin- enemy was th The greater

portion of tin- two corps of Generals A. P. Hill and Kwell had been hotly engaged during the ist July, with about an equal force of the enemy; the result was .1 great victory lor General Lee's troops, and the enemy had been driven back some distance through the town of ( .ettysburg. to the heights beyond. It was of the first importance to follow up this success promptly. General Longstreet, with two of his divisions, camped at a point but four miles distant on the night of the ist. lie was made aware of what had occurred; he had re- ceived orders to hasten the march of his troops with "the announce- ment that General Lee intended to fight the next day, if the enemy was there." \Vhen should he and his two divisions have reported to General Lee for orders? At what hour on the morning of the 2d Could General Lee have reasonably expected him? At what hour would General Jackson have saluted General Lee and pointed to his divisions just behind him ? I have claimed, and still contend, that General Longstreet was fairly chargeable with tardiness on that occa- sion. He was fully aware of the importance of joining General Lee at the earliest possible moment. In a letter to me under date of May 31, 1875, he wrote: "An order was given, as soon as the fight of the first day was over, for General Ewell to attack, or rather prepare to attack, at daylight in his front, but was almost immediately changed so as to allow time for me to reach the field and make a co- operative attack upon or by our right."

It is useless to discuss here how different the result might have been had General Longstreet moved his two divisions to the front at dawn of day on the 2d. The only question I propose to consider now is, at what hour did the troops of General Longstreet reach General Lee ? For, as will be shown later, there appears to be a contradiction in General Longstreet' s own statements about this.

In his book, page 362, General Longstreet says: "The stars were shining brightly on the morning of the 2d, when I reported at Gen- eral Lee's headquarters and asked for orders. After a time Generals McLaws and Hood, with their staffs, rode up, and at sunrise their commands filed off" the road to the right and rested."

Sunrise in that locality and at that date is about 4:35 o'clock A. M. General McLaws, in speaking of the movements of his division on that occasion, says: " My division camped at Willoughby Run, about four miles from Gettysburg, on the night of July ist, about 12 o'clock, perhaps it was later. While there I received an order to move on at 4 A. M. of 2d; but that order was countermanded, and I