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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.
SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1 907.
Gen.E.P. Alexander’s Great Military Memoirs artour v p1ndennis, jr
Part II.
MILITARY MEMOIRS OF A CON
FEDERATE. By E. P- Alexander.
(Charles Scribner’s Rons.)
The review of General Alexander's
great "Military Memoirs," the first In
stallment of which appeared In last
week's magazine supplement of The
Georgian, dealt with the period before
Petersburg when General Grant, by a
forced march of his army, was able to
mystify General Lee, os to his move
ments. General Grant crossed ' the
James river at Wilcox's Landing, ten
miles below City Point, entirely out of
General Lee's observation, moved on
Petersburg and was busy In Its siege
for three days before General Lee
would admit the correctness of the re
ports made to him of General Grant's
successful strategy.
These things Involved a feat In trans
porting troops which had never been
equaled and might well be considered
well nigh Impossible. However, all of
this was accomplished, and In such on
Incredibly short time, and without any
mishap, that General I.ee refused for
three days to credit the achievement.
During these three days, June 15-17,
General Grant's army was arriving at
and attacking Petersburg, which at
first was only defended by Beauregard,
with about 2,500 men. General Lee,
with Longstreet's and Hill's corps, for
these same three days lay Idle In the
woods on the north side of the river,
only replacing some of Beauregard's
troops taken to Petersburg from In
front of Butler. But for this delay It Is
believed that Longstreet's corps might
have been In the entrenchments of Pe>
tersburg when Grant’s troops first nr
rived, and It Is not too much to say that
Grant's defeat would not have been
any less bloody and disastrous than
was the one at Cold Harbor.
Thus we are told by General Alexon
der that the last, and perhaps the very
• best, chance for Confederate success
wns lost, not In the repulse at Gettys
burg nor In any othe^ battle men
tioned. They were lost during three
days of Idling In camp, believing that
Grant was hemmed In by the broad
part of tho James river below City
Point and that there was no chance for
him to leave his position except to
attack the strongly entrenched Con
federates To quote General Alexander
further:
“In brief review. It must be said that
Grant successfully deceived Lee as to
hts whereabouts for at least three days
and thus at the most critical period of
the war saved himself from a second
defeat more bloody, more signal and
more undeniable than that of Cold
Harbor. Por If Beauregard alone with
only 11,000 men was able to stop Grant's
whole army oven after being driven by
surprise Into temporary works, what
would Lee and Beauregard together
have done from the strong original
lines of Petersburg? Grant personally
was«t that period not abstemious and
that his troops knew of It (perhaps
sometimes exaggerating facts In speak
ing of It) was known even to the Con
federates from the stories of prisoners
DRINK A
BOTTLE
every
where:
captured at Cold Harbor. Such a de
feat In case of any disaster with such
rumors afloat would have cast a bale
ful back light over the car
to Bpottsylvonla and the
He was now able to base a quasl-clalm
to victory In establishing himself with
in the lines of Petersburg. But all the
odium of repeated defeats would have
been heaped upon his campaign had It
terminated with a final and bloody re
pulse."
General Alexander's book and oil
others concerning the Civil and other
wars bring thinking people to the point
where they wonder what must be the
general final verdict on those men and
those events. Putting it briefly. It can
not be denied that battles were not al
ways won through the greater genius of
the victor, but through the stupidity of
the vanquished. Time and again the
generals on both sides of the great con
test lost their opportunity to deliver a
crushing blow. This might have been
expected or excused In the earlier years
of the struggle, when officers and men
were alike unaccustomed to war. But
General Alexander and nearly all of the
fair-minded men who have written and
spoken about the Civil war tell us that
this stupidity on one side or the other
continued to the end.
General Alexander’s first service
under the Confederacy was as captain
of engineers under Beauregard at the
first battle of Bull Run. He was then
promoted to lieutenant colonel and
served until November. 1852, with Gen
eral Joseph E. Johnston and General
Lee as chief of ordnance and chief sig
nal officer In the army of Northern
Virginia. He was again promoted to
colonel of artillery and commanded
"Alexander's Artillery" battalion at
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsvllle and
Gettysburg and later Longstreet's ar
tillery at Chtckamauga and Knoxville.
General Alexander was wounded at the
siege of Petersburg and surrendered
with General Lee at Appomattox, re
tiring from the Confederate service
with the title of brigadier general.
Krom this It will be seen that any ac
count of Incidents and battles of the
splendid army of Northern Virginia by
General Alexander Is certain to be nut
only Interesting, because given by
participator In those great fights, but
tukes on added Interest, due to the hon
esty of the narrator. The book of
"Memoirs" Is dlscrimtnatety divided,
and thrilllngly described are the great
Incidents and battles under the fol
lowing heads:
“Prom the United States Army Into
the Confederate States Army."
"The Battle of Bull Run (July 1881).'
"F*all and Winter of 1881."
"Yorktown and Williamsburg."
"Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks."
"Jarkson's Valley Campaign."
"Seven Days Campaign—Thk At
tack."
"Seven Days Campaign—The Pur
suit."
"The FUcape. Battle of Malvern HIIL'
"Cedar Mountain."
"8ec»nd Manassas."
"Bonnsboro. nr South Mountain and
Harpers Ferry."
"Hharpsburg, or Antletam.”
"Fall of 1882."
"Chancellorsvllle.*
"Gettysburg—Ths First Day."
"Gettysburg—Tho Second Day.
"Gettysburg—The Third Day."
"Rattle of Chtckamauga.”
"Battle of the Wilderness."
"The Movement Against Petersburg.”
"The Mine."
"The F’ntl of 1888.'
From the above, It cap be seen that
It would be well nigh Impossible to give
In a review anything like a fair Idea of
this really great contribution to mili
tary literature. The book Is Interest
ing from beginning to end, not only
to Civil war veterans but to all lov
ers of adventure, of high-bred
men and of heroes who fought and died
for the cause they believed was right It
Is more than a pleasure to read In
General Alexander’s statement ot
•The Point of View," which he uses
as a preface to his valuable book, In
which be says that the book was not
"Felicity," by C. E. Laughlln. and
recently reviewed In The Georgian.
written to glorify tho valor of the Con
federate arms nor the skill of the Con
federate generals. He states that the
object of his criticism of each cam
paign Is the same as one would criti
cise a game of chess, "only to point
out the good and bad plays on each
side, and the moves which have Influ
enced the result • • • put It Is
Important that It should be attempted
even approximately, not only for the
benefit of general history, but more
particularly for that of military stu
dents and staff officers.” It can be said
with truth, however, that tho reader
will not find It necessary to become a
"military student" nr a "staff officer"
to be thrilled with Interest In Oeneral
Alexander's entertaining book.
And there 1s one thing he says In his
Point of View” that will gladden the
hearts of all Southern men and women,
when ho speaks for them all, and says:
"As to the causes of the war It will,
of course, be understood that every
former Confederate repudiates all ac
cusations' of treason or rebellion In the
war, and even of lighting to preserve
the Institution of slavery. Tho effort of
the enemy to destroy It without com
pensation was practical robbery, which,
of course, we resisted. The unnnlmlty
and the desperation of our resistance,
even to the refusal of Lincoln’s sug
gested compensation at Fortress Mon-
Awnings
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roe, nfter the destruction had already
occurred, clearly show our struggle to
have been for that right of self-gov
ernment which the Englishman had
claimed and fought for as for nothing
else, since the days of King John. It
has taken many years for these truths
to gain acceptance against the preju
dice left by the war, even though ft has
been notorious from the first that no
legal accusation could be brought
agulnst anyone, not even Mr. Davis.
With the adoption of this view by lead
ing English authorities, not to mention
distinguished Northern and Republican
authors, the South may be content to
leave all such questions to the final
verdict of history, admitting Itself too
close to the event to claim Impartiali
ty.'
All of which Is very true, but books
such as General Alexander’s great “Me
moirs" will speed the day when history
will put the Southern side and the men
of that -great conflict In their proper
place of well-earned fame and glory.
"Military Memoirs of a Confederate"
Is a great contribution to Civil war his
tory, and General Alexander deserves,
as he no doubt will receive, the thanks
of both the 8outh and the North for
his fair, unbiased, clear-cut history of
the great times of '81-'65.
From the outline given above, one
can see what a great opportunity Gen
eral Alexander hod, and which he ac
cepted, to cover practically the whole
period of existence of the army of
Northern Virginia.
During this time of carnage and
death appeared the great warriors,
I^ingstreet, Stonewall Jackson, Jkb
Stuart, A. P. and D. H. Hill, J. K.
Johnston, olso Meade, McClellan, Hook
er, Pope, Burnside and Grant. General
Alexander deals With these personages,
from a critical. Interesting, but un
prejudiced point of view. The author's
unbiased views arc shown when he
writes of Stonewall Jackson's part fn
the Seven Days' fightaround Richmond.
He says: "He nowhere even distantly
approached his record as a soldier
won In his every other battle, either '
before or afterward. As one reads of
his dilatory performance day after day
and recalls what he hod always been
before and always w^p afterwards, ono
feels that during these Seven Days he
was really not Jackson. He was a dif
ferent Individual. He was under a
spell. Nothing that he had to do was
done with a vigor which marked all the
rest of his career."
This quotntlnn Is used from General
Alexander's ‘‘Memoirs" to show that
he has written, ns his profiles states,
simply from the standpoint'of a fair
critic ot battles won and lost. The
author has Just as many good things to
say about both the South and the North
when the soldiers on either side de
served his approval and commendation.
"Military Memoirs of a Confederate”
Is a great book. It Is n splendid con
tribution to Civil war literature.
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