James Longstreet, January 9, 1821 -- January 2, 1904, was one of the foremost generals of the American Civil War, who later enjoyed a successful post-war career working as a diplomat and administrator for the government of his former enemies.
Longstreet was born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, grew up in Augusta, Georgia, and at the age of twelve, his father died and the family moved to Somerville, Alabama.
In 1838, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy by the state of Alabama, and graduated from West Point in 1842, just in time to serve with distinction in the Mexican War and rise to the rank of major.
In June 1861, he resigned from the U.S. Army to join with the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Already highly regarded as an officer, Longstreet was immediately appointed as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, and after fighting at the First Battle of Bull Run, he earned a promotion to major general.
His career was boosted in the summer of 1862 when General Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, and during the Seven Days Battles, Longstreet had operational command of nearly half of Lee's army.
Longstreet demonstrated a talent for defensive fighting, preferring to position his troops in strong defensive positions and compel the enemy to attack him.
When the enemy had worn itself down, Longstreet would then attack, in fact, troops under his command never lost a defensive position throughout the war.
Longstreet was affectionately referred by Lee as his Old War Horse, yet Longstreet's friends called him Pete.
However, his record as an offensive tactician was mixed, and he often clashed with Lee on the subject of proper tactics to employ in battle.
In August 1862, came one of his finest hours, when he commanded what had become known as the First Corps at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
Here, he and his counterpart in command of the Second Corps, Lieutenant General Thomas J. Jackson, switched their normal roles, leaving Jackson fighting defensively on the Confederate left, and Longstreet delivering a devastating flank attack on the right that crushed the slightly larger Union Army of Virginia.
At the Battle of Antietam the following month, Longstreet held his part of the Confederate line against Union forces that were twice as numerous, and a few weeks later on October 9th, he was promoted to lieutenant general, the senior Confederate officer of that rank.
His reputation grew that December when his First Corps played a decisive role in the Battle of Fredericksburg, where Longstreet positioned his men behind a stone wall and held off fourteen assaults by Union forces, resulting in the loss of 10,000 Union soldiers, while Longstreet lost 500.
In the winter and early spring of 1863, Longstreet bottle up Union forces in the city of Suffolk, Virginia, and although it was a minor operation, it was one that was very important to Lee's army that was still stationed in devastated central Virginia.
Longstreet conducted a siege of Suffolk, enabling Confederate authorities to collect huge amounts of food that had been under Union control and send it to feed Lee's soldiers, however, it caused Longstreet and 15,000 men of the First Corps to be absent from the Battle of Chancellorsville in May.
Longstreet then rejoined Lee's army and took part in the Gettysburg campaign, where he clashed with Lee about the tactics Lee was using.
The campaign marked a fundamental change in the way Longstreet was employed by Lee, who used him to spearhead attacks, since Jackson had been killed at Chancellorsville.
Although Longstreet was capable and willing, he basically told Lee that his tactics were going to lead to defeat, and advocated disengagement from the enemy after the first day's battle, embarking on a strategic flanking movement to place themselves on the Union line of communication and inviting attack.
He argument was that Lee had agreed before the campaign that this "strategic offensive, tactical defensive" would be the proper course, but Lee had settle on the tactical offensive.
On the second day of battle, July 2nd, Longstreet's assault on the Union left nearly succeeded, but on July 3rd, when Lee ordered him, against his wishes, to attack the Union center in what became known as "Pickett's Charge," the Confederates lost 7,000 men in an hour.
Longstreet had been right, and Lee was wrong and immediately admitted...
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