Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/60

 52 Southern Historical Society Papers.

[From the Richmond, Va., Dispatch, March 5, 1899 ]

GETTYSBURG BATTLE.

Some Literary Facts Connected Therewith.

A QUESTION OF GREAT INTEREST.

Discussed in the Light of Some Late Revelations General Early's Theory Many Writers Passed in Review A Myth.

By HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE, Washington and Lee University.

At what hour on the morning of July 2, 1863, did General Long- street's troops present themselves, in readiness for battle, on the Seminary Ridge in front of Gettysburg ? Strange to relate, it has required a period of thirty-three years to question, and yet this question bears upon the point that is most essential, perhaps, in the entire discussion of Longstreet's part in that great struggle. The chief facts in the case are as follows:

So long as General R. E. Lee remained alive, no utterance in public fell from any Confederate officer's lips concerning the loss of the field of Gettysburg. On January 19, 1872, at the Washington and Lee University, General J. A. Early felt impelled to make reply to William Swinton's published criticism of General Lee's manage- ment of the battle. Swinton's strictures were based upon alleged private statements by Longstreet. Early's reply involved the charge that Longstreet himself was responsible for the repulse of the Con- federate army at Gettysburg. In support of this charge, Early re- ferred to a conference held by Lee, Ewell, Rodes and Early, late in the afternoon of July i, 1863, and declared that Lee left that confer- ence " for the purpose of ordering up Longstreet's corps in time to begin the attack at dawn next morning. That corps was not in readiness to make the attack until 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the next day." {Southern Historical Society Papers, December, 1877, page 284.) Early's statements were repeated in the Southern Maga- zine, September-October, 1872. One year after Early's address January 19, 1873 Dr. William N. Pendleton substantiated the charge against Longstreet by reciting Lee's personal statement, made in the

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