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THE LAST CONFEDERATE GUN AT GETTYSBURG — ON LONGSTREET'S RIGHT, OPPOSITE ROUND TOP.

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LEE’S RIGHT WING AT GETTYSBURG .

BY JAMES LONGSTREET, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL . C. S. A.

O ETTYSBURGr lies partly between Seminary Ridge on the west andN-J Cemetery Ridge on the south-east, a distance of about fourteen hundredYards dividing the crests of the two ridges. As General Lee rode to thesummit of Seminary Ridge and looked down upon the town he saw the Fed-ei 'als in full retreat and concentrating on the rock-ribbed hill that served asa burying-ground for the city. He sent orders to Ewell to follow up the suc-c ess if he found it practicable and to occupy the hill on which the enemy wasconcentrating. As the order was not positive, but left discretion with Gen-eral Ewell, the latter thought it better to give his troops a little rest and waitf°r more definite instructions. I was following Hill’s Corps as fast asPossible, and as soon as I got possession of the road went rapidly forward tojoin G-eneral Lee. I found him on the summit of Seminary Ridge watchingthe enemy concentrate on the opposite hill. He pointed out their position torjle - I took my glasses and made as careful a survey as I could from thatPoint. After five or ten minutes I turned to General Lee and said:

“ If we could have chosen a point to meet our plans of operation, I do notthink we could have found a better one than that upon which they are nowconcentrating. All we have to do is to throw our army around by their left,Und we shall interpose between the Federal army and Washington. We can§ e t a strong position and wait, and if they fail to attack us we shall haveeverything in condition to move back to-morrow night in the direction ofWashington, selecting beforehand a good position into which we can place ourtr °ops to receive battle next day. Finding our object is Washington or that^ rrn y, the Federals will be sure to attack us. When they attack, we shallbeat them, as we proposed to do before we left Fredericksburg, and the prob-abilities are that the fruits of our success will be great.”

‘No,” said General Lee; “the enemy is there, and I am going to attackbim there.”

I suggested that such a move as I proposed would give us control of ther °ads leading to Washington and Baltimore , and reminded General Lee of

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