author
James Longstreet
1821–1904
A fierce Civil War commander and one of Robert E. Lee’s most trusted generals, he later became one of the South’s most debated figures. His life stretched from West Point and the Mexican War to Reconstruction politics and a late-in-life memoir defending his choices.
1 Audiobook
From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America
by James Longstreet
About the author
Born on January 8, 1821, in South Carolina and raised largely in Georgia, James Longstreet graduated from West Point in 1842 and served with distinction in the Mexican-American War. He resigned from the U.S. Army after the secession crisis and joined the Confederacy, where he became one of General Robert E. Lee’s principal subordinates in the Army of Northern Virginia.
During the Civil War, Longstreet played major roles in some of its best-known battles, including Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness. Lee called him his "Old War Horse," a sign of the trust he placed in him, but Longstreet’s record—especially his actions at Gettysburg—also made him a lasting subject of controversy.
After the war, he broke with many former Confederates by supporting Reconstruction and aligning with the Republican Party. He held several public offices in the reunited United States and later wrote memoirs that helped shape debates about the war and its memory. He died on January 2, 1904, one of the last senior Confederate generals still living.