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SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY PAPERS.



Vol. IV.
Richmond, Va., Dec., 1877.
No. 6.


Leading Confederates on the Battle of Gettysburg.

[Our series of papers on Gettysburg has naturally attracted great attention and excited general comment. It is not surprising that there should be honest differences of opinion among the gallant and accomplished soldiers who participated in the Confederate assault on that fortress; and the object of our series is to bring out a comparison of views, and thus elicit the real truth. We publish, therefore, without comment and without endorsation, the opposing views of our friends—only insisting that the discussion shall be confined to those bounds of courtesy which should always characterize gallant knights in search of the truth.]

A Review by General Early.

Several of the papers recently published in relation to the battle of Gettysburg contain statements and views which in some respects are erroneous, especially in regard to the part which Ewell's corps and its commander bore in the first and second day's operations, and I therefore propose to review them, as I am the senior surviving officer of that corps, whose right to vindicate its reputation and that of its commander will hardly be disputed.

I have too much respect and regard for the officers whose statements and comments in relation to the battle I shall notice and correct, to suspect either of them of the slightest desire to misrepresent or pervert the facts, or to mislead others by their own speculations. I shall, therefore, endeavor to be entirely courteous to each one of them, and shall not attempt to controvert any fact stated on the knowledge of the writer who gives it.

Before proceeding to the execution of the main object I have in view, I must notice a slight variance between the estimate of the