Although Longstreet's military record shows him to be a soldier as valiant as fellow Confederates Lee and Stonewall Jackson, his later criticism of Lee's maneuvers during the battle of Gettysburg was viewed as traitorous by southerners still loyal to Lee after the war. The blame for the heavy losses suffered at Gettysburg was placed squarely upon Longstreet's shoulders, and he was excluded from Confederate circles--even military reunions--through his death in 1904.
No Patience with Bookish Pursuits
The second surviving son of James and Mary Ann (Dent) Longstreet, James Longstreet was born January 8, 1821, at his paternal grandmother's home in Edgefield District, South Carolina. His family was of Dutch descent--the family name had originally been Langestraet--and his grandfather, William Longstreet, moved the family south from its original home in New Jersey in the 1780s. His father was a farmer, and James Junior was raised on the family's cotton plantation in the northeastern Georgia town of Piedmont. On his mother's side, which hailed from Maryland, Longstreet was related to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. Dubbed "Pete" by his family, Longstreet spent the first nine years engaged in farm work or outdoor activities with his older siblings William and Anna, as well as the four younger sisters he accumulated between 1822 and 1829.
This is a free page. This page contains 184 words. This
biography contains 3,427 words (approx. 11 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our James Longstreet Access Pass.
