James Longstreet

“ When the Southern States withdrew from the Union by reason of attacks on their reserved rights which were guaranteed by the Constitution, and were forced into the war between the States, James Longstreet offered his services and sword to the cause of self-government. No history of the war may be written which does not bear emblazoned on every page the story of his deeds. Why need I recount them here? Assuredly no one will question the gross impropriety of discussing incidents of the career of Longstreet during the war which have been the subject of criticism by some. ”

“ We bring to wreathe each brow.
“Having passed the span which Providence ordinarily allots as the term of human life, General James Longstreet has answered the roll-call of the great God.
“What a brilliant page in history is filled with his grand career. Born more than eighty years ago in the neighboring State of South Carolina, he entered West Point in his seventeenth year and graduated therefrom in his twenty-first. He served with marked distinction in the Mexican War and was more than once complimented for his gallant conduct and merited and received promotion. ”

“ Resolved, That while we, the Daughters of the Confederacy, deplore the loss of our beloved Confederate General James Longstreet, who was the first ranking general of the Confederate army, passes one of the most gallant spirits of the nineteenth century. In the war drama of his life he played a most important part. At the beginning of the scene of the Civil War he took up the Southland’s cause and began as brigadier-general a career of courageous fighting which won for him the admiration of the world. He was a comrade of Jackson and a companion of Lee. ”

“ Every man capable by reason of environment, character, or ability of exerting an influence upon affairs in any important field of human endeavor, is called upon at some time to act under such circumstances that his decision must infallibly indicate the character of the man and forever fix his place in the estimation of his contemporaries and of posterity.
259 That time came to James Longstreet in 1861. He was then an officer in the army of the greatest and most powerful republic on all the earth, and had won high and deserved honor in battle beneath its flag. ”

“ Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to call to him the immortal soul of General James Longstreet, lieutenant-general in the Army of the Confederate States of America, whose record as a broad-minded citizen and conscientious, upright, and honorable officer in the various civil positions he has held, is only excelled by the great service he rendered his country, as the soldier and general, whose bravery, fortitude, ability, and devotion to duty was excelled by none whose fortunes were cast with his, beneath the “Stars and Bars;” ”

“ It would have seemed easier in an earlier day for him to have gone with the Democracy, which would have made him the political idol of the South, as he had been its military idol. Is is so much easier to be a demagogue than it is to be a man. It requires no unusual moral caliber to take a seat on the band-wagon and go with the crowd. Conscience compelled James Longstreet to oppose politically, for their own good, as he saw it, his Southern fellow-countrymen. ”

“ At the time, General Longstreet wrote to an absent relative: “This is my Union son, but he has a yell like the rebel yell when trying to reach the breastworks. I have named him James, after myself, and I know he will always be as good a Union man as I am going to be hereafter.” This son likewise saw volunteer service in the Spanish-American War. He afterwards received a commission in the regular army, and is now serving in the Philippines in the Thirteenth Cavalry. This Union officer son is a strong Democrat; his brother in Washington is an equally strong Republican. ”

“ A great soldier, in the ripeness of years and yet enduring to the latest breath the pangs of the wounds of four decades ago, has fallen upon earth’s final sleep.
In the brave days of his earlier soldiership, and then in the strenuous years of one of the world’s most tragic wars, wherein235 his genius lifted him to the next highest rank of generalship, General James Longstreet was a conspicuous figure and always a force to be reckoned with. ”

“ Turning aside for a time from the thousands who pressed about him in a very frenzy of love and enthusiasm, he advanced and folded the great soldier to his bosom, thus testifying before God and a multitude of witnesses to his faith in the fidelity to conviction and to duty of the old hero.
Davis! Lee! Johnston! Immortal triumvirate of heroes! Glorious sons of a glorious land! Fortunate indeed is that262 man who by such as they is avouched unto posterity. When Lee and Davis laid their hands in blessing and benediction upon James Longstreet, he was then and there given passport unto immortality. ”

“ He would not decide to grant the request, and he would not positively refuse. Finally, he asked General Longstreet to call again the following morning. At this next meeting he was still106 non-committal, and at length closed the interview by saying, “There are three men this Union will never forgive. They have given it too much trouble. They are Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and James Longstreet.” General Longstreet said, “Those who are forgiven much, love much, Mr. ”

“ General Longstreet comes under the third, fifth, and eighth exceptions made in your proclamation of the 29th of May, 1865. I believe I can safely say that there is nowhere among the exceptions a more honorable class of men than those embraced in the fifth and eighth of these, nor a class that will more faithfully observe any obligation which they may take upon themselves. [Pg 634] General Longstreet, in my opinion, stands high among this class. I have known him well for more than twenty-six years, first as a cadet at West Point and afterwards as an officer of the army. ”

“ Do not let Sherman capture you, and I will endeavor to hold Grant till you come. I am glad to hear such good accounts of my little [Pg 640] namesake. Good lungs are a great blessing, and nothing expands them better than a full, hearty yell. I hope Mrs. Longstreet is well, and that she is enjoying the good peaches and melons of Georgia. We have but little enjoyment here. Our enemy is very cautious, and he has become so proficient in intrenching that he seems to march with a system already prepared. He threatens dreadful things every day, but, thank God, he has not expunged us yet. ”

“ During the period of Reconstruction Longstreet’s attitude towards the political problem, and the discussion of certain military incidents, notably the responsibility for the Gettysburg failure, brought the general into extreme unpopularity, and in the course of a controversy, which lasted for many years, much was said and written by both sides which could be condoned only by irritation. His acceptance of a Federal office at New Orleans brought him, in a riot, into armed conflict with his old Confederate soldiers. ”

“ A flag of truce had just come over from the enemy, and its bearer announced among other things that "General Longstreet was wounded, and a prisoner, but would be taken care of." General Longstreet sent back word that he was extremely grateful, but that, being neither wounded nor a prisoner, he was quite able to take care of himself. The iron endurance of General Longstreet is most extraordinary: he seems to require neither food nor sleep. Most of his Staff now fall fast asleep directly they get off their horses, they are so exhausted from the last three days' work. ”

“ When the orders for pursuit were given, I dismounted, and with some members of my staff walked in. After the compliments of the season were passed, we were asked to be seated, and she told us something of General Granger during the night before. She had never heard a person swear about another as General Granger did about me. Some of the officers proposed to stop and make a battle, but General Granger swore and said it “was no use to stop and fight Longstreet. You can’t whip him. It don’t make any difference whether he has one man or a hundred thousand.” ”

“ He crossed the Chickahominy, his right wing at Long Bridge, his left by Bottom’s Bridge, and took position from Drury’s Bluff on his right, to the Mechanicsville turnpike, with his infantry, the cavalry extending on the left and front to the lower Rappahannock and Fredericksburg. The right wing, D. H. Hill’s and Longstreet’s divisions, under Longstreet, from James River to White Oak Swamp; the left under G. W. Smith. Smith’s division and Magruder’s command from White Oak Swamp, extending thence to the Mechanicsville pike, with Jackson a hundred miles away in the Shenandoah Valley. ”

“ Due notice was sent our outlying parties and scouts to be on the watch for the reported raiding parties, and the guards of bridges in our rear were reinforced.
[Pg 534] On the 6th of February, General Grant reported from Nashville,—
“Major-General H. W. Halleck,
“General-in-Chief:
“I am making every effort to get supplies to Knoxville for the support of a large force—large enough to drive Longstreet out. The enemy have evidently fallen back with most of their force from General Thomas’s front, some going to Mobile. Has there been any movement in that direction by our troops? ”

“ The darkness of night still covered us when we crossed over James River by the pontoon bridge, but before long land and water batteries lifted their bombs over their lazy curves, screaming shells came through the freighted night to light our ride, and signal sky-rockets gave momentary illumination. Our noble beasts peered through the loaded air and sniffed the coming battle; night-birds fluttered from their startled cover, and the solid pounding upon Mahone’s defensive walls drove the foxes from their lairs. ”

“ A little before noon, I sent orders to all my batteries to open fire through the streets or at any points where the troops were seen about the city, as a diversion in favor of Jackson. ”

“ The men who had seen him fall cried out, “They are fooling us; he is dead.” General Longstreet has said that he heard both cries; he knew he was not dead, but did not know how soon he might be; he had just strength enough left to lift his hat. For this purpose he exerted that strength, and waved his hat to his men that they might see that he still lived. But the genius of the battle of the Wilderness borne to the rear, even the ever dauntless Confederates could not follow up the advantage they had won. ”

“ After a spirited contest at that mountain-pass, Longstreet’s corps moved like a majestic stream on to the plains of Manassas, where his lines were quickly formed. Striking the enemy with the “hand of Mars,” the thunder of his guns greeted the ear of Jackson, giving hope and succor to his forces as the sound of the Scottish bagpipes heralded the approach of the relieving column to the beleaguered garrison at Lucknow. The well-directed assault which he made in General Pope’s front crowned the Southern arms with complete victory. ”

“ My command, less than ten thousand, had found the battle on the Plank road in retreat, little less than a panic. In a few hours we changed defeat to victory, the broken divisions of the Third Corps rallying in their rear. ”

“ Whereas, The Ruler of the Universe has seen fit to call from his earthly home the spirit of General Longstreet, and take him to his home on high, as a bright reward for his faithfulness and fidelity here in life. General Longstreet was as brave and gallant a soldier as wore the gray during the fierce struggle of the South. ”

“ He wishes me to attack. I do not wish to do so without Pickett. I never like to go into a battle with one boot off.’”
Another letter, which in a way is still more important than any of the foregoing, is one from Colonel John W. Fairfax, a member of General Longstreet’s staff. It tends to show that the sunrise-order story was conjured up by Dr. Pendleton and others at Lexington after Lee’s death; in other words, it is strong circumstantial confirmation of General Longstreet’s belief in a conspiracy. ”

“ To seek some of the fruits of his advantage at Dandridge, the roads being a little firmer, General Longstreet ordered his leading division, under General Jenkins, on the 21st, to proceed to march towards Strawberry Plains, and the Richmond authorities were asked to send a pontoon bridge, tools of construction, and to hurry forward such shoes as they could send. ”

“ Not many months before he died an officer of the Northern armies was calling on him at his hotel in Washington, and in discussing the Civil War and subsequent events, and General Longstreet’s part therein, said, “The Southern people have not appreciated you since the war, General, but when you are dead they will build monuments to you.” General Longstreet said nothing, but his eyes slowly filled. While he bore unjust criticism in silence, he was visibly moved by any evidence of affection from the Southern people. ”

“ His career is well known to his comrades, and is a part of the glorious history of our Southern cause. He was a brave soldier, a superior officer, brave and true, and one of the hardest fighters of the Army of Northern Virginia. General Lee had implicit confidence in him, and leaned on him as a strong arm of defence in the most desperate fighting and splendid generalship. Longstreet was a man of the front, where he stood to execute orders the most difficult and hazardous, and did not lay aside his sword until his leader surrendered his shattered forces, until there was no more fighting to do. ”

“ Postmaster at Gainesville, Georgia, 1879, and was appointed by President Hayes United States Minister to Turkey, serving 1880. He was United States Marshal of the Northern District of Georgia, in 1881, and was appointed United States Commissioner of Railroads by President McKinley in October, 1897, serving until the date of his death in 1904.
On the 8th day of March, 1848, at Lynchburg, Virginia, he was married to Marie Louise Garland, daughter of General John Garland, U.S.A., of a noted Virginia family, hero of two wars. Mrs. Longstreet died at Gainesville, Georgia, December 29, 1889. ”