longstreet

Lt. General James Longstreet ﻿ Longstreet was born in the Edgefield District of South Carolina on January 8, 1821. He grew up on his families plantation and went to West Point in 1838. When he resigned from the Federal Army and signed up with the Confederate Army he was a colonel position. By the first battle of Bull Run, he had risen to the rank of brigadier-general commanding the infantry regiments protecting Blackburn's Ford. As Colonel Jubal Early said of this actions in the battle Longstreet "was actively engaged in the thickest of the fire in directing and encouraging the men under his command, and I am satisfied he contributed very largely to the repulse of the enemy by his own personal exertions." His active role with the troops allowed him to rise in rank and earned the respect and devotion of the troops he commanded. After the first battle of Bull Run he continued to rise in rank while fighting in Seven Days, 2nd Bull Run, Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg. He showed he was an expert commander on both at fighting on the offense and defense and was promoted to Lt. General. He became known as the bulldog, the staff in Lee's right hand, and the Old War-Horse. There was one thing in his exemplary military career that caused a smear campaign after his death was that he disagreed with Lee about Gettysburg. Longstreet wanted to reinforce Vicksburg which was under attack from Grant because of its strategic importance to the South. Lee decided that an attack into the North would be better because he hoped that it would force the North to come back to Maryland. His plan failed at Gettysburg where Lee made several mistakes that cost him the battle. After the battle and retreat back to Virginia Longstreet was sent west to relive the cities under attack. When Longstreet arrived before the battle of Chickamauga, his commanding General Bragg was asleep and had to be woken up to discuss the battle plan for the next day. The ensuing battle was a victory of sorts for the south but their advantage was lost when Bragg failed to give the order to pursue the retreating Northern army. This gave them time to fortify their positions which allowed them to beat the south at both the battles of Lookout Mountain, and Knoxville. Eventually, Longstreet went back east but was wounded at the Wilderness by his own men and put him out of commission until Petersburg when it was too late for the South to do anything. His final advise to Lee before Appomatox was "General, if he [Grant] does not give us good terms, come back and let us fight it out." After the war Longstreet did a few things that would start the smear campaign against him. First he openly criticized Lee for Gettysburg, although there is a debate over whether he actually said this. He then became a Republican, the party responsible for reconstruction which the south hated. And lastly he wrote a letter that was "condemned" for wanting "to allow Negro suffrage and to bow to Federal authority". This got him the headline "Traitor". He eventually severed in many government posts including the head of the New Orleans Metropolitan Police Force and as the Federal Marshal of Georgia. When he died on January 2, 1904 he still had the respect of the troops he lead many of whom attended his funeral. []

Jon Adams