DK - The American Civil War

the Confederate States Army
and took command of a
Virginia brigade. At the
First Battle of Bull Run in
July 1861, he saw little
action but recommended
an immediate thrust
toward Washington in the
aftermath, before the enemy
could regroup. Here was a
glimpse of the future corps
commander: an operational-level
leader with the vision and foresight to
predict second and third-order effects of
tactical decisions. Promoted to major
general in October, he took command
of a division, which saw action during
the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.

Winning Lee’s trust
General Lee realized what an excellent
lieutenant he possessed in “Old Pete”
by the time of the Second Bull Run
Campaign, where Longstreet
commanded half the Army of Northern
Virginia. But Longstreet’s delays in
launching an attack against an
unprepared General John Pope and
the Federal Army of Virginia frustrated
Lee, who ordered him forward three
times on August 29.
When Longstreet finally attacked,
at 6:30p.m., the best chance to destroy
Pope had slipped away. He redeemed
himself the next day by throwing every
brigade at his disposal against Pope’s left
flank. The massive assault overwhelmed
Pope and earned Longstreet a reputation
for slow but relentless attacks that
started late but ended up in decisive
victory. Such a characterization may

move around the flank of the Federal

Army and reposition between it and

Washington. He was convinced that

the attack on the Union center,

sometimes called Longstreet’s Assault,

but better known as Pickett’s Charge,

was doomed to failure.

Later war years

After Gettysburg, Longstreet

transferred with most of his corps

to Bragg’s Army of Tennessee.

After a 775-mile (1,240km) ride

on ramshackle railroads, he and

his men arrived at a timely

moment at Chickamauga. His wing

poured through a gap in the Federal

lines, routed half the Union army, and

created the greatest Southern victory in

the Western Theater. In November

1863, Longstreet independently led his

command in the ill-fated Knoxville

Campaign, which had little effect on

the war except to diminish his corps,

predispose some of his subordinates

against him, and deprive Bragg of

much-needed troops at Chattanooga.

In the spring of 1864, Longstreet and

his two divisions returned to the Army

of Northern Virginia. At the Battle of

the Wilderness, Longstreet launched a

vicious counterattack against the Union

Second Corps, nearly driving it from the

field using skirmish-order tactics that

compensated for his inferior numbers.

Badly wounded, Longstreet was forced

to sit out the rest of the Overland

Campaign but rejoined Lee in October

for the Siege of Petersburg, where he

performed ably, and surrendered with

Lee at Appomattox in April 1865.

After the war, pro-Lee partisans and

neo-Confederates blamed Longstreet for

insubordinate lethargy at Gettysburg,

which cost the South a victory that

could have won the war. Longstreet kept

quiet in the face of these accusations

until the publication of his book, From

Manassas to Appomattox (1896), in which

he ably defended his actions but

criticized the revered Lee. Such criticism,

his enduring friendship with Ulysses S.

Grant, and conversion to the Republican

Party made Old Pete a pariah long after

the guns had fallen silent. After serving

in various public appointments, he

moved to Gainesville, Georgia, where he

met his second wife. Longstreet died in

Gainesville, and was buried there, at

Alta Vista Cemetery.

JAMES LONGSTREET

■ January 8, 1821 Born at Hopewell, Edgefield

District, South Carolina, third son of James

Longstreet, a cotton plantation owner.

■ 1842 Graduates from West Point and is

assigned to 4th Infantry Division, Jefferson

Barracks in Missouri.

■ 1846 War with Mexico breaks out. Assumes

command of a company in June.

■ 1847 Brevetted major for his performance at

Molino del Ray; wounded at Chapultepec.

■ 1848 Marries Maria Louisa Garland.

■ 1852 Promoted to captain of infantry.

■ 1859 Assigned to duty in New Mexico Territory.

■ 1861 Accepts commission as brigadier general in

Provisional Army of the Confederate States.

Commands at Blackburn’s Ford (July), before First

Bull Run. Promoted to major general in October.

■ May–December 1862 Fights at Williamsburg

during the Peninsula Campaign, orchestrates the

Confederate victory at Second Bull Run, and

commands the right wing of Lee’s army at

Antietam. Promoted to lieutenant general, he

takes command of First Corps. Commands the

defense at Marye’s Heights, Fredericksburg.

■ July–November 1863 Now Lee’s favorite

lieutenant since the death of Jackson, Longstreet

is fatefully linked with the disastrous Pickett’s

Charge at Gettysburg. Breaks the Union line at

Chickamauga. Takes part in East Tennessee

Campaign, resulting in failed siege of Knoxville.

■ May–October 1864 Returns to Virginia and

commands the counterattack during the Battle of

the Wilderness, where he is critically wounded.

Recovers to command the First Corps north of

the James River during the siege of Petersburg.

■ April 9, 1865 Surrenders with Lee and the

Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.

■ 1868 Joins the Republican Party.

■ 1875 Purchases Parkhill Farm in Gainesville,

Georgia, and settles there.

■ 1880 Appointed Minister to Ottoman Turkey.

■ 1889 Maria Louisa Garland Longstreet dies.

■ 1896 Publishes his autobiography.

■ 1897 Marries Helen Dortch, aged 34, in Atlanta.

■ 1904 Dies in Gainesville, two days before his

83rd birthday.

TIMELINE

Longstreet’s autobiography
Toward the end of his life, Longstreet wrote From
Manassas to Appomattox, in which he refuted the
popular opinion that he had been key to the
Confederate defeat at Gettysburg.

The Chickamauga Campaign
A weary Longstreet arrives at Braxton Bragg’s
headquarters, Chickamauga Creek, Georgia,
on September 18, 1863. He receives his
orders to prepare for battle the next day.

LONGSTREET’S MONUMENT AT GETTYSBURG

have surprised Longstreet, who felt most

at home repulsing ill-conceived enemy

attacks. In September 1862, he did just

that at Antietam, utilizing the terrain to

protect his troops. Yet, at the end of the

day, he felt that more time would have

allowed the construction of fieldworks

and artillery “killing zones.” At

Fredericksburg in December, he set up

overlapping fields of fire for his artillery

and infantry and prepared safe positions

behind which his men easily repelled

Union assaults.

After Fredericksburg, Longstreet

consistently urged Lee to seek an

“offensive-defensive” battle, in which

the Confederates took the war to the

enemy operationally, but then assumed

a tactically defensive role on ground of

their choosing. Longstreet reasoned that

this would weaken the Union armies to

the point of war-weariness but preserve

precious Southern manpower.

Missed opportunities

Now in formal command of Lee’s First

Corps, Longstreet missed the campaign

at Chancellorsville while on detached

duty with two of his divisions near

Suffolk, Virginia. He gathered much-

needed supplies and contained the

Federal threat to southside Virginia, but

lamented a lost opportunity to shift his

divisions either to Lee’s army or to

Bragg’s in Tennessee, where they might

have had a decisive bearing on the war.

At Gettysburg in July 1863,

Longstreet was wary and delayed his

assaults on July 2 and July 3, quite

possibly because he felt Lee had

unreasonably rejected his proposal to

“... a rock of steadiness when

sometimes in battle the world

seemed flying to pieces.”

G. MOXLEY SORREL, CONFEDERATE STAFF OFFICER, ON LONGSTREET