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"Becomes"?

Where has this newspaper been for 100 years? The Confeds have always tried to blame Longstreet for Lee's moronic frontal assault at Gettysburg, then tried to pin the rest of the Confederates' failures on him. Sorry.

Lee lost more men, percentage, than ANY Union commander he faced, except at Fredericksburg, where some argue that Lee really wasn't in command. Hardly a sterling record, and one that doesn't come close to matching Sherman's.

Lee didn't have much to work with in term of resources. The North had innate advantages, with population, manufacturing, and railroads. But Lee did remarkably well under the circumstances.

Having said that, I will say that as far as I recall, even in his victories, Lee often lost a lot of men (something the South was not capable of doing for long). Lee's final stretch of the war, in which he and Grant maneuvered and fought repeatedly, sometimes reminds me of George Washington. Although Washington lost most of his battles, he was able to maneuver well enough to gain his objectives, and then win the battle that mattered. Robert E. Lee did not do this.

Lee was a gentleman and a great commander. The adoration of his men and their willingness to follow him into the darkness of war are a tribute to his leadership. You would be hard pressed to include Sherman in his company.

Just curious why bring Sherman into a piece about Longstreet?

"Hardly a sterling record, and one that doesn't come close to matching Sherman's."

Yeah thats for sure General Lee could not match shermans record of burning and pillfering the civilian population.

I would hardly characterize the assault on July 3rd as being moronic. Frontal assaults over open terrain were nothing new and "Pickett's Charge" was not a tactical abberation. You might wish to consider that Grant utilized a direct frontal assault against entrenchments no less, in 1864 at Cold Harbor, suffering horrendous losses and igniting a mini mutiny in the 2nd Corps.

The action on Cemetary Ridge on July 3rd has been studied in tremendous detail and only a poor historian simplifies it. Be reminded that Barkdales men had attacked Cemetary Ridge on July 2nd, just to south of the route of Pickett's assault and had come very close to breaking the Federal Line (read about the suicidal charge of the 1st Minnesota Infantry). The failure of the assault on the 3rd can be chalked up to several factors 1) a planned attack (Johnson) on the Federal right wing at Culp's Hill early on the morning of July 3rd didn't take place as dictated (this attack would have drawn off troops from the Federal center prior to Pickett's assault). 2) the Confederate artillery under E.P. Alexander was poorly handled during the pre-assault bombardment. Alexander himself admitted that his artillery fire was off the mark and didn't have the desired effect (much of the Confederate artillery fire impacted several hundred yards to the rear of the Federal line, causing damage in reserve units and among the reserve ammunition trains but very little damage to the front line infantry or the artillery batteries supporting them. Some of this poor fire was attributed to faulty ammunition.). 3) Confederate artillery was short of ammunition (the supply trains being far in the rear) and didn't have an adequate supply to correct and maintain their fire once it was discovered that they were not having the desired effect. Nor was there enough ammunition to properly prepare the lane of assault by destroying fences along the Emmitsburg Road which slowed the advancing troops greatly while they were in canister range from Federal artillery) 4) during the Cemetary Hill assault, a number of howitzers had been designated to follow up the infantry and provide some close artillery fire support. Longstreet had orders to do this but neglected to follow through once the assault began. 5) Kudos to Meade (the Federal commander). On the evening of July 2nd he made a guess as to where the next assault would be and ordered reinforcements to that area. He guessed right. 6) The Confederate Cavalry flanking movement on July 3rd ended at East Cavalry Field, never achieving it's objectives.

As Gordon said in his memoirs, there never should have been a July 3rd at Gettysburg, nor even a July 2nd. He blamed Early for not pushing the tremendous success of July 1 late in the afternoon when the Confederates were on the verge of victory. This is where the presence of Jackson could have made a big difference. Gordon felt that Early stopped fighting when Jackson would have kept pushing.

The events of July 2nd don't make Longstreet or Johnson look good. Longstreet's attack on the Federal left was mishandled (they lost several hours marching on the wrong road and then countermarching). Even with the very late start time, the Confederates came within minutes of securing the tactically important ground of the Round Tops. Johnson's attack on the Federal right at Culp's Hill was very successful but fate intervened and Johnson unknowingly halted his victorious troops within 200 yards of cutting of the important Baltimore Pike. If his troops had cut this road, they would have totally compromised and made untenable the Federal Cemetary Hill position.

Finally, much has been said about Lee being a fool for fighting on the offensive at Gettysburg. I feel that he really had no choice. He did not pick Gettysburg for a battle, it just worked out that way. He was deep in enemy territory and in that position, you simply don't go on the defensive. In enemy territory, every hour you stall, gives the enemy time to concentrate their forces against you. We can see that happenening at Gettysburg where the Federal strength increases as the battle evolves (some Federal troops still arriving on July 4 when the battle was essentially over) while the Confederate strength peaks on July 2 and then remains constant. When you are in enemy territory, it is very difficult to withdraw in the face of a hostile foe without fighting. I think Lee recognized that once the major fighting at Gettysburg started, he had to try to defeat the enemy in front of him while he had the chance. In his defense, he was unaware of the positions of the entire Federal Army until the battle was completely under way. If he had known what Federal units were moving toward the battlefield, he might have declined to fight there.

You have to remember that Sherman was a despicable human being. During the Indian Wars he ordered the massacre of entire villages of women & children. One should never praise a scumbag like him.