field of Gettysburg, "It is all my fault," as he had said in like spirit to Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville, "The victory is yours, not mine," will excite only surprise and not carry conviction to the minds of the old soldiers of General Lee, who knew the General's habit of self-depreciation. The effort must therefore fail in its purpose.
Now let us scrutinize the statement of General Longstreet that he had a plan to fight the battle of Gettysburg, which was submitted to General Lee and refused by him at the time, but which he afterwards regretted not having adopted, as it would have been successful. General Dick Taylor, in recent paper, says: "That any subject involving the possession or exercise of intellect should be clear to Longstreet and concealed from Lee, is a startling proposition to those possessing knowledge of the two men."
Readers of the history of the four years of "War between the States" will doubtless agree with General Taylor. General Lee's plan of battle at Gettysburg, in the light of subsequent facts, could not have been more admirably arranged if he had have possessed, in lieu of his own grand genius, the McCormick telescope, and the centre and both flanks of the Federal army bad been within its focus. Why should he then have regretted that he had not adopted the plan of another? About one month after the battle of Gettysburg, General Lee wrote a letter to the President of the Confederacy, in which, after undervaluing his own ability, he says, "Everything, therefore, points to the advantages to be derived from a new commander, and I the more anxiously urge the matter upon your Excellency, from my belief that a younger and abler man than myself can readily be obtained. I know that he will have as gallant and brave an army as ever existed to second his efforts, and it would be the happiest day of my life to see at its head a worthy leader—one who could accomplish more than I could perform, and all that I have wished. I hope your Excellency will attribute my request to the true reason, the desire to serve my country." To this the Honorable Jefferson Davis, in the course of his reply, responds, "But suppose, my dear friend, that I were to admit, with all their implications, the points which you present, where am I to find that new commander who is to possess the greater ability which you believe to be required? I do not doubt the readiness with which you would give way to one
