James G. Longstreet Jr. (1821 - 1904)

Born 8 Jan 1821 in Edgefield District, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Maria Louisa (Garland) Longstreet — married 8 Mar 1848 (to 29 Dec 1889) in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA

Descendants

Died 2 Jan 1904 at age 82 in Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia, United States

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Biography

Pete Longstreet Jr. is Notable.

LTG Pete Longstreet Jr. served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: 1861
Mustered out: 1865
Side: CSA

James Longstreet (January 8, 1821 – January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called Longstreet his "Old War Horse." Longstreet served under Lee as a corps commander for many of the famous battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Eastern Theater, but also with General Braxton Bragg in the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater. Biographer and historian Jeffry D. Wert wrote that "Longstreet ... was the finest corps commander in the Army of Northern Virginia; in fact, he was arguably the best corps commander in the conflict on either side."

Surveyor of Customs in New Orleans

U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire

U.S. Commissioner of Railroads

U.S. Marshal for Northern Georgia. ^[1]

Perhaps no Confederate officer is surrounded by more controversy than James Longstreet. Called “Old Pete” and “My Old War Horse” by General Robert E. Lee, Longstreet was Lee’s trusted advisor and friend. Nonetheless, after the war, Longstreet became the target of many “Lost Cause” attacks. Longstreet's letters to the New Orleans Times, his support of the Republican Party, and his memoirs alienated many Southerners.

Fall 1830 - 1838 -- James Longstreet lived with his uncle, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, and aunt Francis Eliza Parke Longstreet, and their two daughters on their plantation, Westover, on the outskirts of Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia. James attended Richmond County Academy. ^[2]. As a fervent proponent of states’ rights untempered by the countervailing view of the indissolubility of the Union, Longstreet's Uncle Gus had a strong influence on James. ^[3]

Longstreet opposed CSA General Robert E. Lee's plan to attack at Gettysburg, though he followed Lee's orders. Longstreet was also reluctant to follow Lee's orders for a direct assault on the third day of fighting, but still obeyed the command. That charge resulted in heavy casualties, and a Union victory at Gettysburg.

After the Civil War

With the war over, Longstreet moved to New Orleans, where he upset some by joining the Republican Party and by accepting the process of Reconstruction. President Ulysses S. Grant conferred political appointments on his old friend and fellow West Point graduate James Longstreet.

In 1872 Longstreet's reputation was further tarnished when some Confederate officers — led by Jubal A. Early — claimed that Longstreet had disobeyed Lee's orders at Gettysburg, and held him responsible for the South's defeat. Though Lee's records from the war did not mention any such disobedience, Longstreet's criticism of Lee while defending himself did not help his cause.

In 1875, Longstreet relocated to Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia.

In 1880 former Union general and Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes named him the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, a position Longstreet held for one year.

In 1896 Longstreet finished his memoir and also continued to defend his actions during the Civil War. ^[4]

• January 8, 1821 -- James Longstreet was born at his paternal grandmother's house near Edgefield, Edgefield District (now County), South Carolina. ^[5] His family called him Peter or Pete. ^[6]

1833 -- James Longstreet's father died from cholera during a visit to Augusta, Georgia. ^[7]

1837-- Uncle Gus tried to secure an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York for James but Augusta's congressional district's vacancy had already been filled. Uncle Gus enlisted the help of South Carolina Governor George McDuffie and U. S. Senator from South Carolina John C. Calhoun in persuading U.S. Representative from the 1st District of Alabama, Reuben Chapman, to nominate James to attend West Point beginning in July 1838. James's mother, Mary Ann Dent Longstreet lived in Morgan County, Alabama which was in the 1st District. Chapman was also a relative of Uncle Gus Longstreet. ^[8]

March 1838 -- Longstreet, born in South Carolina and raised in Georgia, accepted an appointment from Alabama to West Point. ^[9]

• 1842 -- James Longstreet graduated 54th out of 62 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. His classmates included George E. Pickett and Ulysses S. Grant. ^[10]

• After 1842 -- James Longstreet and Ulysses S. Grant were assigned to the 4th U.S. Army Infantry. ^[11]

• 1846 - 1848 War with Mexico -- Serving with the 8th U.S. Infantry, James Longstreet was awarded repeated brevet promotions for conspicuous bravery during the war.

March 8, 1848 -- James "Pete" Longstreet and Maria Louisa "Louise" Garland married at Lynchburg, Virginia.

1848 - 1872 -- Pete and Louise Garland Longstreet had 10 children: three daughters and seven sons. Only five lived to adulthood.

• 1850s -- James Longstreet rose to the rank of major in the United States Army, serving mostly on the western frontier.

• 1861 -- James Longstreet resigned his commission in the United States Army and entered Confederate service as a brigadier general.

• August 28 - 30, 1862 -- Longstreet performed well in the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas).

• September 17, 1862 -- Longstreet performed well in the Battle of Antietam.

• October 7, 1861 -- James Longstreet was promoted to major general.

• October 9, 1862 -- CSA President Jefferson Davis, on the recommendation of Robert E. Lee, promoted James Longstreet to the newly created rank of lieutenant general. Longstreet's promotion was one day before the same promotion given to Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, allowing Longstreet to outrank Jackson.
• November 6, 1862 -- Confederate General Robert E. Lee reorganized his Army of Northern Virginia, placing James Longstreet in command of the First Corps and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson in command of the Second Corps.

• December 11 - 15, 1862 -- During the Battle of Fredericksburg, Longstreet demonstrated his tactical abilities once more with successful defensive maneuvers.

• April 11 – May 4, 1863 -- James Longstreet led three divisions of Confederate troops in a siege of the Union garrison at Suffolk, Virginia. While Suffolk was never completely captured, needed supplies were. Longstreet and his troops, however, missed the major Confederate victory at Chancellorsville that took place at the same time.

• July 1 - 2, 1863 -- After the victorious first day at Gettysburg, James Longstreet urged Robert E. Lee to disengage. General Lee instead ordered Longstreet to strike the Union left on July 2. This attack was unsuccessful.

• July 3, 1863 -- Robert E. Lee countermanded James Longstreet's efforts to maneuver around the Union left flank at Gettysburg. Instead, Lee ordered Longstreet to attack the Union center. Pickett's Charge was a costly failure.

• September 20, 1863 -- Having advocated a concentration in the West, James Longstreet received permission to lead reinforcements for Braxton Bragg's army in Georgia. Arriving in time for the second day's fighting at the Battle of Chickamauga, Longstreet drove half the Union army from the field, helping to achieve one of the greatest Confederate victories of the war.

• Fall 1863 - Winter 1864 -- General Longstreet established his winter headquarters at the Taylor estate Meadowfarm in Orange County, Virginia, home of his staff member Major Erasmus Taylor. ^[12]

• October 1863 – April 1864 -- James Longstreet's service in the West was marred by quarrels with his commander, Braxton Bragg. Detached from Bragg, Longstreet failed to recapture Knoxville, Tennessee, in November. He rejoined Robert E. Lee in Virginia in time to defend against Union general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant's spring offensive.

• May 6, 1864, 12 p.m. -- During the Battle of the Wilderness, James Longstreet was badly wounded in the neck and right shoulder by "friendly" fire from Confederate. He was shot just a few miles from where Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded, also by friendly fire at the Battle of Chancellorsville a year earlier, on May 2, 1863.

• October 19, 1864 -- After recovering from his wounds, James Longstreet returned to service as commander of the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. His right arm remained paralyzed for the rest of his life.

April 9, 1865 -- As Lee's second-in-command at the end of the war, Longstreet accompanied Lee to the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Appomattox County, Virginia.

• 1865 -- Following the Confederacy's defeat, James Longstreet moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. He worked as a cotton broker and in the insurance business. He also became a member of the Republican Party.

• 1868 -- James Longstreet was one of a small number of former Confederates who endorsed former Union general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant as the Republican candidate for president. Grant was a West Point classmate of Longstreet and had married one of Longstreet's cousins.

• Circa 1869 -- President Grant appointed Longstreet the surveyor of customs for New Orleans, a post Longstreet held until 1873.

• January 19, 1872 -- Jubal A. Early, a former Confederate general who led a division at the Battle of Gettysburg, gave a speech at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, criticizing James Longstreet's conduct at the 1863 Gettysburg battle. Early's campaign against Longstreet's reputation helped formulate the "Lost Cause" view of the Civil War.

• September 14, 1874 -- James Longstreet, at the head of the largely African-American Louisiana state militia, was shot and briefly held prisoner during a riot in New Orleans, Louisiana. The rioters were members of the Crescent City White League, a white supremacist organization attempting to overthrow the government of Louisiana. Federal troops eventually restored order.

• 1875 -- James Longstreet moved from New Orleans, Louisiana, where he had lived since the end of the Civil War, to Gainesville, Georgia.

• 1878 -- James Longstreet was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue in Georgia, a position he held until 1879.

• January 1879 -- James Longstreet was appointed postmaster of Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia.

• May 1880 -- James Longstreet, a former Confederate general turned Republican Party member, was nominated to be ambassador to the Ottoman Empire by U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes. Longstreet held that position until June 1881.

• June 1881 -- James Longstreet was appointed U.S. marshal for Georgia, a position he held until 1884.

• December 29, 1889 -- James Longstreet's wife of forty-one years, Maria Louisa Garland Longstreet, died.

• 1896 -- James Longstreet authors his autobiography, From Manassas to Appomattox. He uses it to defend himself against attacks (often politically motivated) on his generalship during the Civil War. He also displays a jealousy of the reputations of Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, criticizing some of their actions.

• September 8, 1897 - James Longstreet, now seventy-six years old, marries thirty-four-year-old Helen Dortch in the governor's mansion in Atlanta, Georgia. She would live until 1962, spending many of those years defending Longstreet against his many harsh critics.

• 1898 -- James Longstreet served as a U.S. railroad commissioner.

• January 2, 1904 -- James Longstreet died at Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia, ^[13] and was buried in the Alta Vista Cemetery there. ^[14]

Sources

• Civil War Trust. http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/james-longstreet.html

• Jeffry D. Wert. General James Longstreet: The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier. Simon and Schuster: New York. 1993, 2005.

• James Longstreet. The Biography.com website. Accessed on April 28, 2015, at 11:46. http://www.biography.com/people/james-longstreet-9385783.

• W. G. Piston. James Longstreet (1821 - 1904). Accessed on March 8, 2014, in the Encyclopedia Virginia. http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Longstreet_James_1821-1904.

• Find A Grave: Memorial #642 Gen James Longstreet, Jr. [1821 - 1904]

• Genealogy of the Family of Longstreet Completed. Edward Mayes. Circa 1935. Privately published. Clark T. Thornton, editor. Reprinted 2009. Page 27.

• Wikipedia:James_Longstreet

• Famous Kin [1]

• Roberts, Gary Boyd, Notable Kin, Volume 2, Santa Clarita, California: Carl Boyer, 3rd (1999), 197.

• Pfarr, Cory M. Longstreet at Gettysburg: A Critical Reassessment. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2019.

• Pfarr, Cory M. Righting the Longstreet Record at Gettysburg: Six Matters of Controversy and Confusion. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2023.

• Kent Masterson Brown, Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command, (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2021): 463.

• Allen C. Guelzo, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, First edition, (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013): 622.

• Elizabeth R. Varon, Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, First edition. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2023), 448-50.

• Kelly, Dennis P. “The Battle of Shepherdstown.” Civil War Times Illustrated, Vol 20, no. 7 (Nov 1981): 8.

• Civil War Times Illustrated – November 1981

Footnotes

1. ↑ James Longstreet. Wikipedia.
2. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 23.
3. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 25.
4. ↑ James Longstreet. Biography.com
5. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 19 & 21.
6. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 22.
7. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 25.
8. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 26.
9. ↑ General James Longstreet, page 26.
10. ↑ Civil War Trust
11. ↑ Civil War Trust
12. ↑ Historic Taylor Family Homes in Orange County, Virginia, 1722-Present
13. ↑ James Longstreet. Biography.com.
14. ↑ James Longstreet. Find A Grave

• Kelly, Dennis P. “The Battle of Shepherdstown.” Civil War Times Illustrated, Vol 20, no. 7 (Nov 1981): 8.
• Civil War Times Illustrated – November 1981