James Longstreet

James Longstreet 1821-1904, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Edgefield District, S.C. He graduated (1842) from West Point and served in the Mexican War, reaching the rank of major. At the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned from the U.S. army and became a Confederate brigadier general. He took part in the first battle of Bull Run and in the Peninsular campaign. His creditable performance at the second battle of Bull Run (1862), at Antietam, and at the battle of Fredericksburg led to his promotion (Oct., 1862) to lieutenant general. In 1862-63 he held a semi-independent command S of the James River, returning too late to aid General Lee at Chancellorsville. He commanded the right wing at Gettysburg (1863), where his delay in taking the offensive is generally said to have cost Lee the battle (see Gettysburg campaign ). He fought at Chickamauga in the Chattanooga campaign and unsuccessfully besieged Knoxville (1863). Returning to Virginia in 1864, he distinguished himself in the Wilderness campaign , where he was wounded. Longstreet participated in the last defense of Richmond, surrendering with Lee at Appomattox. After the war he settled in New Orleans, became a Republican, and held a number of federal posts. He criticized Lee's conduct at Gettysburg harshly and was long unpopular in the South. As a general, he is considered to have been a poor independent commander and strategist but an excellent combat officer. His opinions on the war are expressed in his From Manassas to Appomattox (1896, repr. 1960).

Bibliography: See G. Tucker, Lee and Longstreet at Gettysburg (1968); W. G. Piston, Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant: James Longstreet and His Place in Southern History (1987).

Longstreet, James (1821–1904) U.S. and Confederate army officer. Born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, Longstreet grew up in Gainesville and Augusta, Georgia. He was graduated from West Point in 1842 and joined the 4th Infantry at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri. He served under both Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott during the Mexican War (1846–1848), participating in almost all of the major battles before being seriously wounded at Chapultepec (1847). With the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned his U.S. commission on June 1, 1861, and on June 17, 1861, he was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He was promoted to major general after the battle of First Bull Run (1861), and commanded a division during operations on the Peninsula and at the battles of Second Bull Run and Antietam in 1862. He was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of the I Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee on October 11, 1862. Longstreet proved to be the best of Lee's corps commanders and participated in all the major battles in the East in 1862–63, except for Chancellorsville. Pickett's famous charge at Gettysburg (1863) was carried out under Longstreet's command. In the fall of 1863, Longstreet led his corps west to participate in the battle of Chickamauga (1863) and operations in eastern Tennessee, but returned to the east for the Battle of the Wilderness (1864) and the subsequent defense of Richmond. He surrendered his corps with Lee at Appomattox in April 1865. After the war, Longstreet ran an insurance agency and was a cotton merchant in New Orleans. He joined the Republican Party and held a number of political offices. He was a Customs official in New Orleans; postmaster of Gainesville, Georgia; U.S. minister to Turkey (1880–81); U.S. marshal for Georgia; and U.S. railroad commissioner (1881–84).