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U. S. CIVIL WAR
PHOTOGRAPHS
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JAMES LONGSTREET
PAGE TWO OF TWO
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After Gettysburg, with Vicksburg fallen, and the Army of Tennessee having been
pushed back, south of Chattanooga and into northern Georgia, Longstreet and
two of his divisions were sent as
reinforcements.
Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's Headquarters Monument
At Chickamauga
Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's Headquarters Plaque
At Chickamauga
When Longstreet arrived on the banks of Chickamauga Creek in North Georgia, Union
General Rosecrans was threatening to push past the Confederates and split the
Confederacy into sections. Longstreet arrived in time to participate in the
Confederate victory at the
Battle of Chickamauga. His
troops broke through the Union line resulting in the defeat of Union forces under
Rosecrans. When General Braxton Bragg failed to follow up on this victory,
Longstreet began plotting against him with some others of his subordinate
generals. Longstreet was then sent to Tennesse and failed on the assignment to
chase Burnside's union forces out of Knoxville.
Upon his return, with his troops, to Virginia, Longstreet rejoined Lee's Army of
Northern Virginia, just in time to play an important part in the
Battle of the Wilderness.
Longstreet's troops were involved in the famous "Lee to the rear" incident.
Texas Monument at Widow Tapp Farm - 2000
TEXAS
REMEMBERS THE VALOR AND DEVOTION OF
HER SONS WHO SERVED AT THE WILDERNESS
MAY 6, 1864
FROM NEAR THIS SPOT THE TEXAS BRIGADE
PLEADED WITH GENERAL LEE NOT TO
EXPOSE HIMSELF TO FEDERAL FIRE AND
THEN, AFTER SEEING HIM TO SAFETY,
LAUNCHED A VIGOROUS COUNTERATTACK
THAT STEMMED THE ADVANCE OF HANCOCK'S
CORPS AND SAVED THE RIGHT FLANK OF
THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. OF APPROXIMATELY
800 TROOPS INVOLVED, THE TEXAS BRIGADE
COUNTED OVER 500 CASUALTIES
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A portion of the Texas Monument Text
When Longstreet's troops arrived at Lee's position, literally at the last minute,
Lee was so excited that he attempted to lead them in battle. The Texas troops
refused to fight unless Lee went to the rear.
On the second day of fighting (Almost exactly one year later, and three miles
away from where
Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own men
during the
Battle of Chancellorsville),
Longstreet was shot by his own men in the thickets of the Wilderness.
The Location (according to the N.P.S.) where Longstreet was shot.
Longstreet's recovery would keep him out of command until October, 1864, but he
came back in time to join Lee at
Petersburg.
The Federals struck Lee's right flank on April 1, 1865
at Five Forks.
Five Forks - June, 1998.
The five roads are numbered in the photo.
The National Park Service building is on the left.
On April 2, the Federals attacked all along the line around Petersburg. The
Confederate line collapsed, causing Petersburg and Richmond to be abandoned.
Three days later, Lee's army surrendered at
Appomattox.
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32
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McLean House - 1865
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McLean House - 1998
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The surrender occurred at the McLean House in Appomattox. This was the same
Wilbur McLean whose house was on the Manassas battlefield when the war started
in 1861. At Appomattox, Longstreet was warmly received by Grant and their
friendship from before the war continued.
Longstreet was later accused of causing the Southern defeat because of
his actions at Gettysburg. This is the reason that there are so few monuments
to Longstreet in the South.
James Longstreet, Old Pete, died of pneumonia on the morning of January 2, 1904,
while visiting his daughter's home in Gainesville, Ga., just six days short of
his 83rd birthday.
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Civil War Photos
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James Longstreet
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Page 2
Notes
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