General James Longstreet
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Lieutenant-General James Longstreet |
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 |
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| United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire | |
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In office 1880–1881 |
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| Preceded by | Horace Maynard |
| Succeeded by | Lew Wallace |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 8, 1821 Edgefield District, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | January 2, 1904 (aged 82) Gainesville, Georgia, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) |
Maria Louisa Garland (m. 1848–89) Ellen J. Dortch (m. 1897–1904) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Nickname(s) | "Old Pete", "Lee's War Horse", "Bull of the Woods", "Pete" |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America Confederate States
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| Service/branch |
 United States Army Confederate Army
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| Years of service | 1842–1861 1861–1865 |
| Rank |
 Major (USA) Lieutenant-General (CSA)
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| Unit |
4th U.S. Infantry 8th U.S. Infantry |
| Commands | Longstreet's Brigade Longstreet's Division First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia Department of East Tennessee |
| Battles/wars |
Mexican–American War American Civil War Battle of Liberty Place |
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 him his "Old War Horse." He 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 Gen. 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."
After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Longstreet served in the Mexican–American War. He was wounded in the thigh at the Battle of Chapultepec, and afterward married his first wife, Louise Garland. Throughout the 1850s, he served on frontier duty in the American Southwest. In June 1861, Longstreet resigned his U.S. Army commission and joined the Confederate Army. He commanded Confederate troops during an early victory at Blackburn's Ford in July.
Longstreet's talents as a general made significant contributions to several important Confederate victories, mostly in the Eastern Theater as one of Robert E. Lee's chief subordinates in the Army of Northern Virginia. He performed poorly in the Seven Days Battles in the summer of 1862, but led a devastating counterattack that routed the Union army at Second Bull Run months later. His men held their ground in defensive roles at Antietam and Fredericksburg. His most controversial service was at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, where he openly disagreed with General Lee on the tactics to be employed and reluctantly supervised several attacks on Union forces, including the disastrous infantry assault known as Pickett's Charge. Afterwards, Longstreet was, at his own request, sent to the Western Theater to fight under Braxton Bragg, where his troops launched a ferocious assault on the Union lines at Chickamauga, which carried the day. Afterwards, his performance in semiautonomous command during the Knoxville Campaign resulted in a Confederate defeat. Unhappy serving under Bragg, Longstreet and his men were sent back to Lee. He ably commanded troops during the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, where he was seriously wounded by friendly fire. He later returned to the field, serving under Lee in the Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign.
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