(Washington, D. C., Star.)

*****

“Would have won battle. Never disloyal to his commander.”

Major J. H. Stine, historian of the Army of the Potomac, has this to say of General Longstreet:

“It would be unjust in me to keep silent after enjoying General Longstreet’s confidence, especially in regard to that great battle in which the blue and the gray met at Gettysburg. A quarter of a century after that great battle I had Longstreet invited here as the guest of the First Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He came to Washington some two days in advance, and was a member of my household during that time. We occupied a room together at Gettysburg and went over the whole field, when he gave me a full description of the Confederates’ movements.

“He was never disloyal to Lee, but he feared the Pickett charge would not be as successful as MacDonald’s at Wagram. Longstreet attempted to persuade Lee not to order it, but rather a retreat at night and take up a position on the south bank of Pipe Creek, where Meade wanted to fight the battle.

“He says, in his history: ‘I was following the Third Corps as fast as possible, and as soon as I got possession of the road went rapidly forward to join General Lee. I found him on the summit of Seminary Ridge, watching the enemy concentrate on the opposite hill. He pointed out their position to me. I took my glasses and made as careful a survey as I could fromthat point. After five or ten minutes I turned to General Lee andsaid,—

“‘“If we could have chosen a point to meet our plans of operation, I do not think we could have found a better one than that upon which they are now concentrating. All we have to do is to throw our army around by their left, and we shall interpose between the Federal army and Washington.”’

“‘“No,” said General Lee, “the enemy is there, and I am going to attack him there.”’

“Lee was a great military student. He had before him Napoleon’s great victory at Wagram, when he ordered MacDonald, with sixteen thousand men, to charge the enemy’s centre. But few of that number were alive when success crowned that daring military movement. If Pickett’s charge had been successful, it would have crowned the Southern Confederacy as one of the nations of the world, for it would not only have had foreign recognition, but valuable assistance. Upon every field except one Lee had been successful, and that was a drawn battle.

“He had great confidence in himself, and thought that it was impossible to defeat him with his Southern legions under his command. Longstreet differed from him on that charge, and I am truly glad, for the sake of my country, that Lee did not listen to him. They are both gone forever, but it seems strange to me that any military mind cannot recognize the foresight of Longstreet at Gettysburg.”

*****

“Pendleton’s charge a discharge of hot air.”

The recent death of the gallant old war-horse of the Army of Northern Virginia, General James Longstreet, has again revived some of the slanderous and unfounded reports of his lack of duty, unfaithfulness, and disobedience of orders at the battle of Gettysburg. I want to offer some thoughts in regard to this matter, and the first thing I want to say is that General Longstreet retained the love and confidence of the soldiers of Lee’s army up to the surrender at Appomattox, on the 9th of April, 1865. His soldiers never for one moment questioned his loyalty, his courage, or his patriotism. If these late reports ofhis default of duty at Gettysburg be true, is it not passing strange that he retained the love and confidence of General Lee until the close of the war? If Longstreet had disobeyed Lee’s orders at Gettysburg, thereby causing the battle to fail of success to Southern arms, does any one pretend to believe that General Lee would have continued to place faith and confidence in him (his first lieutenant) until the close of the war? No man who has a proper conception of the character of Robert E. Lee as a soldier and as a great military commander will believe it. Another remarkable circumstance in connection with these grave charges against General Longstreet is, that the men composing the Army of Northern Virginia never heard a word of them until long after the death of General Lee, who could and would have refuted or confirmed them. The fame and character of General Lee as a great military chieftain does not need that the fame and reputation of another great and gallant soldier of the Confederate army shall be besmirched. Another remarkable fact is, these charges came from men that were only brigadier-generals at the battle of Gettysburg. Brigadier-General Pendleton, it seems, first made this charge against General Longstreet in a public speech at Lexington, Virginia, in 1873, in which he said that General Lee told him that he had ordered Longstreet to attack at sunrise on the 2d of July. Longstreet emphatically denied that General Lee ever gave him any such orders, and Colonel W. H. Taylor, Colonel C. S. Venable, Colonel Charles Marshall, and General A. L. Long, all of General Lee’s staff, testified, after this charge was made by Pendleton, that they never heard of any such orders. Colonel Venable, replying to General Longstreet, said, “I did not know of any order for an attack on the enemy at sunrise on the 2d of July, nor can I believe any such order was issued by General Lee. About sunrise on the 2d I was sent by General Lee to General Ewell to ask him what he thought of the advantages of an attack on the enemy from his position. I do not think that the errand on which I was sent by the commanding General is consistent with the idea of an attack at sunrise by any portion of the army.”

It seems clearly by the testimony of these eminent officers and soldiers who were at that time members of General Lee’sofficial family and were active participants in that supreme struggle of Gettysburg, that this charge by General Pendleton was only a discharge of hot air. I think the general view taken by the best authority upon the history of the fighting at Gettysburg on July the 2d, which was the second day of these battles, that up to 11A.M.General Lee was undecided as to whether he would attack on the right or left. No matter in what eloquent words we may clothe our admiration for him as a soldier, the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia would regard all these eloquent words of praise as inadequate to express the admiration we feel for the brave deeds in war, and the unselfish and gallant service rendered the Confederate army by this grand old hero, General James Longstreet. General Lee told General Pickett and the Army of Northern Virginia that the lack of their success at Gettysburg was his fault. This man of glorious and immortal fame, as the greatest military leader of modern times, realized that he himself had overrated the ability of his army, and underrated the army of his enemy, who had the advantage of numbers and of far better position. General Lee realized then, as the world has since, that he made a mistake in attacking the Union army at Gettysburg after General Meade had secured and to some extent had fortified an almost impregnable position. Grant made the same mistake when Lee caught him on the fly in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, and at Cold Harbor, with this difference, Grant was depending upon his superior numbers and equipment, while Lee was depending upon the morale and fighting qualities of his army. And while the morale and fighting qualities of Lee’s army were never equalled in the history of modern warfare, even they could not accomplish the impossible. And the traducers of General Longstreet’s fidelity are strangely oblivious of the fact that General Longstreet at the battle of the Wilderness made a forced march that taxed his soldiers to their utmost capacity to get there in time, and when he arrived on the field he found the Southern line was being driven back by superior numbers, and throwing his troops into line and with his accustomed impetuosity drove the Federal line rapidly back and saved the day and gave the Southern army the victory at the Wilderness. In this fight he was severely wounded, and the gallant Jenkins of South Carolinaat the same time was killed. Pendleton said that General Lee died believing that but for the disobedience of Longstreet at Gettysburg that battle would have been a victory for the Southern army. How did he know that Lee died with that belief? Did General Lee ever tell any one so? If so, whom? It is one thing to make an assertion, but quite a different thing to prove it. I have seen men in my day look pretty cheap in court when called on to prove some things they had said on the streets.

In conclusion, I want to say that while we all regretted and were grieved when General Longstreet joined the Republican party, that fact ought not to have created prejudice sufficient to have caused us to ignore, and belittle, and cast any reproach upon his character, or unjust reflection upon his long and brilliant career as a soldier. He was a soldier by profession, and, according to his own testimony, he never cast a ballot in civil life prior to the Confederate war. He and General Grant were warm personal friends. They were school-mates at West Point, comrades in the Mexican and some Indian wars. General Grant clasped his hand and called him Jim at the surrender at Appomattox. Grant at Appomattox was a Democrat and a slave-holder, and he went over to the Republican party and was elected President of the United States. What influence General Grant brought to bear upon General Longstreet may have been very great, for all the outside world knows. Be that as it may, we do know that up to the close of the war he had taken no active part in politics in any party. We also have every reason to believe that if General Longstreet had espoused the Democratic party, and become a strong partisan in that party, we never would have heard a word of this imaginary default at Gettysburg.

The soldiers of Longstreet’s corps do not believe he disobeyed General Lee’s orders at Gettysburg, or at any other time. We don’t believe it now; we never did believe it, and we never will believe it.—W. H. Edwards.

“His chivalry is as lasting as the hills of the Old Dominion.”

Tribute to the memory of General James Longstreet, adopted by Sterling Price Camp, No. 31, Dallas, Texas.

Comrade A. W. Nowlin, in submitting the report of the committee, said in part:

“Comrades, we have assembled here as a camp to pay tribute to the memory of the late Lieutenant-General Longstreet. One of the great soldiers of the age has fallen. He has answered the last roll-call. Taps has been sounded ‘Lights out.’ The ‘War-Horse of the Confederacy’ is dead. This great, brave, and fearless officer is gone. The hard fighter of the Army of Northern Virginia has surrendered to the arch-enemy death. General Longstreet possessed the esteem and confidence of his troops in a marked degree. They were devoted to him, and when and where he led they were invincible.“His name and his deeds of daring and chivalry are coupled and interwoven with that of the Army of Northern Virginia, and are as lasting as the hills of the ‘Old Dominion.’ The heroic battle-fields of Virginia will ever attest and pay tribute to the military genius of this great leader. History will hand down to posterity the name of James Longstreet as one of the great generals of the nineteenth century.”

“His name and his deeds of daring and chivalry are coupled and interwoven with that of the Army of Northern Virginia, and are as lasting as the hills of the ‘Old Dominion.’ The heroic battle-fields of Virginia will ever attest and pay tribute to the military genius of this great leader. History will hand down to posterity the name of James Longstreet as one of the great generals of the nineteenth century.”

The following was adopted as Camp Sterling Price’s tribute to Lieutenant-General James Longstreet:

Whereas, Lieutenant-General James Longstreet recently passed away at his home in Gainesville, Georgia, and was buried, amid the tears and regrets of thousands of those who loved him and had assembled from every part of this country to pay this last honor to him; be it

Resolved, That the comrades of Camp Sterling Price have heard with profound sorrow of the death of this great Southern soldier and comrade.

Resolved, That, educated in the profession of arms, he gave many years of his young manhood to the service of his country in the war with Mexico and in conflicts and campaigns with the savages of the West, and everywhere distinguished himself forcourage and ability so as to win promotion and the gratitude and applause of his countrymen.

Resolved, That when wrongs and passion disrupted the nation, and his native State withdrew from the Union and united with the Confederate States of America, he felt that his allegiance no longer belonged to the other States of the Union, but to the one of which he was a citizen, and he resigned his office in the United States army and offered his services to the government of the Confederacy. He received the rank of brigadier-general, and, being always in the front when campaigns were most important and the enemy the most powerful and battles were furious, he was promoted for distinguished bravery, conduct, and generalship to be major-general, lieutenant-general, and second in command of the great Army of Northern Virginia, under the great commander Lee.

As brigadier-general at Manassas he held the left wing of the enemy, by his boldness, so that it could not give assistance to the defeated right wing. As major-general he covered General Johnston’s retreat in the Peninsula before the advance of McClellan, and fought the victorious battle of Williamsburg. As major-general he commanded the right wing in the bloody battle of Seven Pines, and with D. H. Hill drove the enemy from the field. In the Seven Days’ battle around Richmond no general gained greater renown, and soon thereafter, when Congress directed the President to appoint seven corps commanders with the rank of lieutenant-general, Major-General Longstreet was made the ranking lieutenant-general and second in command of the army under Lee, which position he held through the great battles and campaigns of that army for three years, until with Lee and the remnant of his heroes he surrendered at Appomattox.

At the second battle of Manassas he commanded the right wing of the army, and with Jackson on the left drove Pope into the fortification of Washington. At South Mountain he held McClellan with a death grip until Jackson could storm Harper’s Ferry, and commanded the right wing at Sharpsburg and fought more than double his number under McClellan from early dawn until darkness spread her sombre shadows over the bloodiest scene in American history. It was here that Leeknighted him as his “War-Horse” as the last guns were sending their hoarse echoes among the mountains. Next, at Fredericksburg he commanded the left wing, and at nightfall on the 13th of December, 1862, eight thousand of the enemy were stretched out dead or bleeding in front of his corps.

At Gettysburg, riding by the side of Lee, without expecting nor desiring at that time to join battle with the enemy, they heard the thunder of Hill’s and Ewell’s guns, and hastened to their assistance. The first day’s battle was fought and won before Lee or Longstreet could take an active part. On the second day Longstreet commanded the right wing and fought one of the bloodiest battles of the war, driving almost the entire army of Meade before him, and leaving more than ten thousand of the enemy slain or wounded on the field. The third day of this great battle he exhibited the loftiest courage.

Next, he and his corps were sent from Virginia to Georgia and joined Bragg in the terrible battle of Chickamauga, where he commanded the left wing and routed the right wing of Rosecrans’s army. When Grant and Meade, with their forty thousand veteran soldiers, were advancing upon Lee in the Wilderness of Virginia, the great commander of the Army of Northern Virginia called Longstreet with his men back from Tennessee, and with panting breath and quick step and double ranks he headed the Texas brigade and rushed upon the cheering and triumphant enemy on the second day in the Wilderness, and drove them over their works amid the blazing woods, and a great victory was in the grasp of Lee, when a bullet from our own men, by mistake, crashed through his body and he was carried from the field desperately wounded. The guiding hand of the great general and fighter was gone, and victory fled as the fatal opportunity was lost.

In the long siege and through the many battles around Richmond and Petersburg, lasting nearly twelve months, Longstreet commanded the left wing on the north side of the James, and stood like an immovable mountain between the enemy and the Confederate capital.

When the sad day of Five Forks came, and Lee’s lines were broken about Petersburg, Longstreet was called from Richmond with his men to the assistance of his great commander, andcovered the retreat and gave blow for blow to the charging enemy, and when the sun rose on the day of the 9th of April, and Grant was about to offer terms for the surrender of the Southern army, Longstreet told General Lee that if the terms were not honorable they would fight again and die fighting. Thus he fought and stood by his chief to the bitter end, retaining the confidence of his commander and his President to the last; and if they who knew him best and trusted him most, and were with him day and night and knew his thoughts and opinions, and witnessed his deeds and actions throughout all the vicissitudes and trials of those days that measured the souls of men,—if they believed in him, trusted him, leaned on him, and kept him second to Lee, who shall have the temerity to criticise, to condemn, and to throw stones at this imperial soldier?

Those of us who have heard the thunder of his guns; those of us who have seen him leading his warriors in battle; those of us who have seen him stand like a Gibraltar against the charging thousands of a fierce foe, will honor him as a great soldier who has added to the fame of Southern manhood, and who is worthy to stand through the ages with Lee and Johnston and Jackson and Stewart, and all the brave men who laid their bare breasts to the storm of war in the name of freedom and independence. We honor ourselves by honoring such a man.

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this Camp and a copy be sent to Mrs. James Longstreet by the adjutant.

A. W. Nowlin.J. R. Cole.J. W. Taylor.T. C. Bailey.Milton Park.

*****

“A Solomon in council, a Samson on the field.”

The following resolution in memory of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, introduced by Captain Wm. Dunbar, was adopted by Camp 435, U. C. V., Augusta, Georgia, by a unanimous and rising vote:

Resolved, That we deplore the death of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet. We recall how, in the opening of the campaign of 1862, his stubborn gallantry saved the Army of Northern Virginia for its long career of glory; how, later in the same campaign, his superb strategy rescued Stonewall Jackson from the swarming thousands about to overwhelm him; how, in 1863, he flew to the aid of the heroic Army of Tennessee, and with it won the resplendent victory of Chickamauga. In short, we know him by the proud title of the War-Horse of the Confederacy, a title worthily bestowed by General Robert E. Lee himself. He was a grand soldier, a Solomon in council, and a Samson in the field.

Resolved, That these resolutions be inscribed on a special page of our minutes, and that a copy thereof be transmitted by our adjutant to the family of the valiant dead.

*****

“His fame is imperishable.”

Verily, though dead, yet in history he will continue to live; be it therefore

Resolved, That while we, the Daughters of the Confederacy, deplore the loss of our beloved Confederate General James Longstreet, who was the first ranking general of the Confederate army, passes one of the most gallant spirits of the nineteenth century. In the war drama of his life he played a most important part. At the beginning of the scene of the Civil War he took up the Southland’s cause and began as brigadier-general a career of courageous fighting which won for him the admiration of the world. He was a comrade of Jackson and a companion of Lee. In personal appearance General Longstreet was well adapted to play this important part. So distinguished in appearance, he was indeed a veritable “war-horse.” His career in the Confederate army was a magnificent display of this loyal adherence to his views of truth and right. His fame as a soldier is imperishably inscribed on the scroll of history.

Worn by recurring paroxysms of exquisite pain, the great warrior was weary as the evening shadows fell, and patiently asked his devoted wife to rearrange his couch. “I shall restbetter on the other side,” he said, gently. Then the spirit took its flight.

Let us cherish in our hearts the golden story,How the chieftain bravely lived and calmly died—Living for his Southland’s never fading glory—“Resting better now upon the other side.”

Perish the hand and strike down the pen that would rob him of a people’s gratitude to a brave and loyal son.

Resolved, His death caused universal sorrow among those who honor the chivalry, gallantry, and bravery which lent to the Confederate cause the lustre that can never dim, and left a laurelled history that will never die.

“For he who best knows how to endure shall possess the greater peace.”

Resolved, That we extend our heartfelt sympathy to his bereaved family in this hour of unspeakable sorrow, and pray that the hand of our Heavenly Father may be laid in gracious healing upon their broken hearts. That the Holy One may abide with them in comforting influence, and that the sunshine of His wonderful presence may brighten the present sad separation by the sure promise of reunion with their beloved in the land where suffering and death are unknown.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the city papers, and to the bereaved family, and that they be inscribed in our minutes.

Mrs. R. H. Smith.Mrs. Ernest Ham.Mrs. J. C. Dorsey.Mrs. C. C. Sanders.

*****

“The battle-fields of Virginia will ever pay tribute to Longstreet’s genius.”

Head-Quarters Colonel John A. Green Camp,No. 1461, U. C. V., Dickens, Texas.

We have assembled here to pay tribute to the memory of the “War-Horse” of the Army of Northern Virginia, General James Longstreet, who died recently at his home in or near Gainesville, Georgia, at the ripe old age of eighty-three years.General Longstreet earned his first laurels at the first battle of Manassas, and fought his way up to lieutenant-general. Being the ranking lieutenant-general in Lee’s grand army, he served with conspicuous gallantry in nearly all the battles in which that army was engaged,—Manassas, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, under Johnston, the Seven Days’ battles around Richmond, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg (it was here that General Lee knighted him as his “War-Horse”), Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Wilderness, around Richmond and Petersburg, and in almost all the great battles in which Lee’s army was engaged. However we may have differed with him in the political path which he chose, when the army which he led with such conspicuous ability laid down their arms and returned to peaceful pursuits, we recognize in him a great general, and the battle-fields of Virginia will ever attest and pay tribute to his military genius. History will hand down his name to posterity as one of the great generals of the South, one who was true and faithful to the Star-Spangled Banner under which he fought, and in whom our great commander, General R. E. Lee, placed his confidence and trust. General Longstreet possessed the esteem and confidence of his troops in a marked degree in camp and field, and in advance or retreat his deeds of daring are coupled with that of the army of General Lee, and are as lasting as the hills of Virginia. We extend our sympathy to the family of this grand old general who has passed over the River.

Jno. A. Green, U. C. V.,Thos. L. Woods, U. C. V.,B. D. Glasgow, S. U. C. V.,R. L. Collier, S. U. C. V.,Committee.

Jno. A. Green, U. C. V.,Thos. L. Woods, U. C. V.,B. D. Glasgow, S. U. C. V.,R. L. Collier, S. U. C. V.,

Committee.

W. C. Ballard,Commander.

*****

“A patriot who commanded the admiration of the age in which he lived. One of the world’s great generals.”

To the memory of General Longstreet, passed by Camp James Longstreet, U. C. V., at their regular meeting in Ennis, Texas, January 17, 1904:

Whereas, The Commander-in-Chief has been pleased to call the late Lieutenant-General James Longstreet across the river, to rest in the shade on the other shore with his former commanding general, R. E. Lee, and his associates, Hood, Jackson, and others, who had preceded him; and

Whereas, In the removal of this great soldier from the walks of life to his future reward the military world has lost one of the most distinguished military characters known to the history of civil warfare; America has lost a loyal patriot, whose inflexible devotion to duty, as he saw it from a view-point of patriotic loyalty to his country, commanded the admiration of the age in which he lived; the South has lost a son, whose distinguished services as a gallant soldier and whose superior ability as a general in the Army of Northern Virginia easily classed him with the greatest of the world’s great generals, one whose brilliant record sheds an honorable lustre on the Southern soldier of which the American people feel justly proud; therefore be it

Resolved, That while we deplore with sadness the death of General Longstreet, who enjoyed the full confidence of his commanding general and of the officers and men of his command as a gallant and prudent officer, we cherish his record as a general in the Army of Virginia as a spotless sheen of soldierly merit and worth, faultless in every respect.

Resolved, That a page in the record-book of Camp James Longstreet be set apart, and that these resolutions in memory of our departed general be recorded thereon.

Fraternally,L. A. Daffan.T. G. May.J. C. Loggins.

Fraternally,

L. A. Daffan.T. G. May.J. C. Loggins.

*****

“He was the chosen leader and central figure in every great conflict from the first battle of Manassas to the fateful day at Appomattox.”

Longstreet was the chosen leader and central figure in every great conflict from the first battle of Manassas to the fateful day at Appomattox.

Sparta never had a worthier son than the South had in GeneralLongstreet. From the firing of the first gun his ardor never ceased, his courage never failed. Often in the midst of the greatest battle did he stand with his men when they fell around him like forests in a storm. His presence was inspiring, and his word talismanic. No soldier was ever more loved or confided in than he. Who shall say that his name shall not emblazon the brightest page of our history? Who will deny him that great praise, so justly his own by reason of his great services and terrible suffering? History will be incomplete without according him her brightest page; and as long as we live to recount deeds of valor and heroism on the battle-field, will live the names of Lee, Longstreet, and “Stonewall” Jackson. Who that was at Gettysburg, Spottsylvania, and the Wilderness, when the earth rocked with the tramp of armed men and the roar of battle resounded almost to heaven, would deny him this mead of praise?

In all these was General Longstreet a prime warrior, a conspicuous actor. He rarely, if ever, was defeated. He planned his marches, battles, and retreats with a strategy little less than transcendent; and when he made a stand he placed his back to the rock and bid defiance to his enemies.

He was to Lee what Ney was to Napoleon, a guide, a friend, and a confidant.

I cannot pass this occasion without recalling an incident at the Wilderness. On the 5th day of May, 1864, General Grant had devastated the entire country from the Rapidan River to Fredericksburg. His soldiers were as numerous as the Assyrian hosts. Hancock’s corps had advanced to the west side of the plank road that ran through that dismal swamp, and had driven both Pendor and Heath out of their breastworks, thus breaking through the centre of our line of battle. It was an awful hour—fear and despair could be seen in every face. In vain did Heath and Pendor try to repossess their works.

Just at that moment Longstreet arrived on the ground. Hood’s Texans were in front. Lee came in a gallop to meet them. With tears in his eyes and his long hair flying in the wind, he asked, “What troops are these?” “Hood’s Texans,” was the reply. “Follow me!” he said. When he started to lead them, a Texan belonging to the First Texas Regiment, commanded by Colonel J. R. Harding, now of Jackson, Mississippi,caught the bridle of General Lee’s horse and turned him back. Away went the Texans followed by the Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana brigades, and drove the enemy back and saved the day. This was but one of the glorious acts of General Longstreet.

Cold Harbor, Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg are not less glorious than others named, and all made so by the energy and courage of Longstreet and his faithful soldiers. At the battle of Sharpsburg for a long time our army was threatened with defeat; our lines began to waver before the terrible fire of the superior numbers with which we were contending, when General Longstreet, just from a hot contest on our left, was brought around to the centre, and for six long hours he repelled the assailants of this numerous host and “kept the executives at bay and drove back the Mamalukes of power.” Forget him? No! The names of Lee and Longstreet will live as those of Cæsar and Napoleon, and when this physical world shall have perished, and the heavens rolled together as a scroll, the names of these men will be remembered.

Resolved, That in the death of General Longstreet the South has lost one of her most brilliant soldiers.

Resolved, That in battles his name was a synonym of success, and his presence an inspiration to his men, a terror to his enemies.

Resolved, That the Camp wear the usual badge for thirty days and a copy of this paper be sent to his family at Gainesville, Georgia.

T. B. Johnson,For Committee.

Adopted by Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Camp, No. 21, U. C. V., February 6, 1904.

*****

“Where his flag waved his lines stood as immovable as Gibraltar.”

Comrades,—At his home at Gainesville, Georgia, at 5P.M., Saturday, January 2, 1904, in his eighty-third year, Lieutenant-General Longstreet answered his last roll-call. If Alabamahad done nothing save to give us Longstreet and Pelham, she would have done much for herself, the Southland, and for fame. If with Alexander, Hannibal, and Napoleon, Robert E. Lee takes first rank among the world’s great generals, surely General Longstreet may stand with those who occupy second rank among the world’s great military men.

If Jackson was Lee’s right hand, Longstreet was his left from Manassas to Appomattox.

Longstreet was a very thunder-bolt of war. When Jackson at the second battle of Manassas was hard pressed by Pope’s whole army, Longstreet rushed to his aid and, striking Pope’s flank, crushed it as an egg-shell in the hand of a strong man. Thus always and everywhere that Longstreet led, his men hurried to death as joyously as the bridegroom to greet the bride; where his flag waved his lines stood as immovable as Gibraltar to the storms of the ocean, and when he moved forward, there the enemy were beaten or death and carnage reigned supreme. If after Appomattox, Longstreet made mistakes, or we imagined he did, the mantle of death covers them all. Remembering there has only One lived without fault, they are forgotten, and standing by his grave we remember only his virtues and the heroism and skill which made him great in times and places where great men were thick as fallen leaves in Vallombrosa; therefore be it

Resolved, That we mourn the death of our great leader, and tender to his bereaved family our sincere sympathy.

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this Camp, and that copies be furnished our town papers for publication and a copy be sent to General Longstreet’s widow.

Silas C. Buck,McD. Reil,Committee.

Silas C. Buck,McD. Reil,

Committee.

*****

“His officers and men have never doubted his courage and loyalty.”

Commander John Purifoy spoke of the death of General Longstreet and introduced the subjoined resolutions which were unanimously adopted.

“In the death of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet agreat soldier has ‘passed over the river’ to his final rest. No more will he wake to behold the splendor and fame of his men. He has fought his last battle. In the school of war he had learned courage, promptness, and determination. Its stern lessons had taught him fortitude in suffering, coolness in danger, and cheerfulness under reverses. Every Southerner should feel proud of his record as a soldier.

“While some of those who were associated with him in the many great battles in which he was a conspicuous figure, have permitted themselves to engage in some adverse criticism of his conduct on one occasion only, the officers and men under his immediate command never for a moment doubted his courage, his skill, his integrity, his sincerity, or his loyalty to the cause for which he unsheathed his sword. Nor did the great Lee, whose confidence he retained to his death, ever intimate that Longstreet was not faithful, brave, and prompt in the discharge of every duty as a soldier.

“As surviving comrades we will cherish his memory; as Alabamans, we are proud of his record. His integrity, his honesty, and his heroic conduct are worthy of emulation.

“Resolved, That our sincere condolence is hereby tendered his bereaved widow and other members of his family.

“Resolved, That this memorial and resolutions be spread upon our minutes, and that they be given to the press for publication.

“Resolved, That a copy of the same be mailed to his widow at Gainesville, Georgia.”

*****

“His fame will endure as long as the story of the great struggle shall be told.”

Whereas, We, the members of the George B. Eastin Camp of United Confederate Veterans, Louisville, Kentucky, have heard with profound regret of the death of our distinguished comrade, Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, and feel that we should pay tribute to the memory of one who was so conspicuously associated with the cause for which we fought; therefore be it

Resolved, That we recognize and testify to the valor and devotion which he exhibited on so many fields made memorable byConfederate effort, and caused him to be worthily ranked among the best and bravest soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia.

With the history and the glory of that army his name will ever be signally and inseparably connected. His fame as a skilful, resolute, and sagacious commander, the honor due him as a dauntless defender of his native soil, his record for faithful performance of duty and unflinching courage from “Manassas to Appomattox,” will endure so long as the story of the great struggle shall be told.

Forgetting in the presence of his death and grave all later differences, we remember and acknowledge his services and his heroism in the hour of need and trial.

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread on the minutes of this Camp, and the daily papers of this city be requested to publish same; also, that a copy be sent to the bereaved widow of our distinguished comrade.

Respectfully submitted,D. Thornton.Jas. S. Carpenter.J. S. S. Casler.

D. Thornton.Jas. S. Carpenter.J. S. S. Casler.

*****

“He was as true as the needle to the pole in every position in which he was placed, whether in civic or military life.”

January 17, 1904.

Two weeks ago to-day the wires flashed the news over the country that General James Longstreet, the soldier, statesman, and diplomat, died Saturday night at his home in Gainesville, Georgia. He was born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, January 8, 1821, hence lacked only a few days of being eighty-three years of age. He graduated from West Point in 1842, was in the war with Mexico and brevetted for meritorious service at Churubusco and Molino del Rey. He was wounded September 8, 1847, at the storming of Chapultepec. He was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate army at the first battle of Bull Run, in 1861, where he commanded a brigade on the right of the Confederate army and held in check a strong force of the enemy in a vain effort to turn General Johnston’s flank; and from then until the dark day at Appomattox, when the sun of theConfederacy went down in gloom to rise no more, the flag of “Old Pete,” as he was familiarly called by his old comrades, was everywhere in the thick of the fight; and he was one of Lee’s most trusted lieutenants, and every true Confederate soldier will drop a tear to his memory. He has crossed the dark river and is now resting with Lee, Jackson, and thousands of others who have answered the last roll-call, heard the last tattoo, and will hear the roll of the drum and the call to arms no more forever. Peace to his ashes and sympathy to his living comrades is our sincere wish; therefore be it

Resolved, That the death of General Longstreet takes from our earthly ranks another of the brave and true, one who was ever ready to obey the call of duty, as the writers of this resolution can testify, having followed him through many bloody engagements where he was indeed a leader whom any might feel honored to follow. He was as true as the needle to the pole in every position in which he was placed, whether in civic or military life.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon our minutes, a copy forwarded to the widow of our deceased comrade, and that we tender her our sincere sympathy in this the darkest hour of her life.

J. M. Mallett,Captain Commanding.M. S. Kahle,Adjutant.

J. M. Mallett,Captain Commanding.M. S. Kahle,

Adjutant.

*****

“His sword was one of the most trenchant ever drawn in the South’s defence.”

At a regular meeting of Joseph E. Johnston Camp, U. C. V., No. 119, held at Gainesville, Texas, on the 9th day of January, 1904, the Committee on Resolutions as to the death of General Longstreet presented, and the Camp unanimously adopted, the following resolutions:

Resolved, That we have heard, with deep sorrow, of the death of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet, late of the Confederate army.

Resolved, That in the death of General Longstreet the world has lost one of her greatest military chieftains, the United States one of her most illustrious citizens, and the South one who in the darkest hours of peril boasted him among her noblest and best; his sword was one of the most trenchant ever drawn in her defence, and to her is left the proud heritage of his brilliant career.

Resolved, That as this sad news is flashed around the world, it is fitting that every ex-Confederate soldier should bow his head in deep sadness as his bier passes us to the silent city of the dead.

Resolved, That as our great comrade has obeyed his last tattoo, and after a long and useful life has gone to peaceful rest, where war’s dread alarm is heard no longer, that we pray the reveille of resurrection morning will wake him to receive a crown of glory brighter far than heroes ever won in the battle-field.

Resolved, That we, his comrades in arms, tender his noble wife and family our genuine sympathy in their sad bereavement, assuring them that a grateful people will lovingly cherish the proud military record of this wonderful soldier.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be mailed to Mrs. James Longstreet, and copies be delivered to the press.

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