General James Longstreet was one of the most respected military leaders of the Confederacy after the war. That is, until he published an infamous letter in June, 1867, in which he seemed to join the Republican Party. This post looks at that letter and the response in the press. Feel free to heap abuse on Lee’s Warhorse, or praise him if you will. Opinions hot and cold are welcome. He was the highest ranking former Confederate to tell white Southerners that they had to accept black suffrage if they were ever to get beyond their defeat in the Civil War.
Here is the letter that set it all off:
New Orleans Times
Saturday, Jun 08, 1867
New Orleans, LA
Vol: VI
Issue: 1313
Page: 1
For conservative Democratic reactions to this letter, click here.
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Mr. Young, thank you for posting this fascinating letter.
Longstreet was a great man and truly worked towards reconciliation, but he underestimated the racist nature of the former Confederate states They could accept losing the war, they could accept returning to the Union, they could even accept the abolition of slavery, but to suggest that black people, their former slaves were their equal with voting rights? That is something the racists could simply not accept. Mores the shame!
Funny Thing Longstreet wanted to move on after the war.
Why was he in Louisiana? When he is a Georgian. He was posted in Louisiana as a Provost Marshall after the war which was multi racial, before becoming the Post Master General in Gainesville, GA. Funny how people just assume someone is bad & not understanding just because he was a Southerner. Most Southerners were just poor Irish descendents working the farms just like the slaves. It can worry one because it can be seen today that a few are mis leading the populous just like the Plantation owners misleading the average man.
I believe General Longstreet did the right thing even though it was not the popular thing to do.
With all of the negative principles of today being applied to the people of the 19th century it is nice to see some people could actually see a betterment of our country. But, they still took down statues of him. His graveside is in Gainesville, Ga. Longstreet risked his life for the worst cause Americans ever espoused, then for the best one. In short, he epitomized this nation’s saving grace, and humanity’s: the capacity to learn from our mistakes, and to change.. Thanks.
James Longstreet was a great man and American. All the world ought to know of him.
Things would have been so much easier if they had.
The south needed to be occupied till 1888 to inforce
The new laws
It seems with some carefully-worded reservations, he decided to make the best of the situation and go forward. It’s not wholehearted, but hopeful. This is a good addition to knowledge of the time and person.
This is why there are no statues of James Longstreet in the South and why even his grandchildren living in the South could not claim he was their grandfather for fear of retaliation.
There is a statue of him at the site of his former home in Gainesville, GA and many things in the city are named in his honor.
A holistic and rigorous examination of Longstreet as a scope to understand the war, America and the way going forward for all, (Northerners and Southerners, White and Black Americans, the two contested versions of American democracy and federalism, etc, etc). Is really apt.
His conversion to the Republican and pro-Northern side of politics and culture in the post-war and certain statements and actions on his part, (such as these in the press, his leading of Black militia during the Battle of Liberty Square in New Orleans in 1874, and his very vivid and close friendship with Northern figures such as Ulysses S. Grant), were reasons why such a high number of Southerners (wrongly and undeservedly) demonised him. This is highly true. He was not wrong to call some of Robert E. Lee’s decisions into question, with the benefit of hindsight, after the war. He also may be said to have wrongly challenged Lee’s authority during the war. Lee and Longstreet were not in any way animositive to each other; they had very different conceptions of tactics in noted ways. Longstreet did disagree with some of Lee’s choices and there were reasons at the time that Longstreet’s views may have deserved more attention, yet there were as many to resound to Lee’s.
Longstreet could have prosecuted his orders at Gettysburg with more vigor and speed. Speed was not his key attribute as a commander. He fought incredibly hard and well. He disagreed with his orders at that battle and made no hiding of the fact, and there is room to critique his performance, as of Lee’s. He was also a dutiful suboordinate and if he could have arranged his orders into action more quickly on the morning of 3 July, the alleged ‘dawn attack’ was never ordered and it is incorrect to posit it was ever ordered.
But what is truly fascinating about Longstreet is not what sets him apart; it is what he shockingly has in common with other figures, both North and South of the era, and that this has escaped large historical attention, from the post-war to the present day. The amazing thing is that Longstreet’s actions or beliefs in this have also escaped scrutiny in the contemporary.
-Like Jeb Stuart and Lee, Longstreet openly declared that he sided with the South out of his understanding of his native state being the lynchpin of American federalism.
-Longstreet stated to the effect that the South had been right to take up arms in protection of its slave property, in concurrence with Howell Cobb. He disagreed with Robert E. Lee, even at the end of the war, that slavery ought be abolished in the South.
– Like all pre-war West Point graduates, he swore to uphold the US Constitution; with the ‘Return of Fugitive Slaves’ tenet in this, he viewed himself as keeping this American oath alive, (regardless of which side he fought on), by performing the long-standing American military tradition of returning presumed fugitive slaves to bondage, as the records show he took an active part in the impressment of Black Americans into bondage on the Gettysburg Campaign. This he practiced during the war along with Ulysses S. Grant, whom, despite the possibilities offered by the First Confiscation Act of 1861, returned a dozen slaves to Confederate owners upon the capture of Fort Donelson in Tenn., in Feb. of ’63.
-Along with Sherman, Longstreet showed an uncanny true appreciation for the new nature of war in Western society, as announced by the arrival of the mini-ball. While others did, too, Sherman seemed to understand that the ability to ‘get to’ civilians away from the battle zone on the opposing side was a key to victory, as Longstreet ought to have been a commanding officer on either side in the First World War; he was born for that conflict and its scary to think of what ‘Old Pete’ could have done with Bren or Maxim guns along the trenches of Fredericksburg.
-Longstreet was no deity of racial change of attitude; rather, it is more accurate to describe that, like other Americans of the era, he never completely eschewed his racial prejudices, but because of both the experiences he lived through and found himself thrust in, he did embrace a heroic amount of progressive growth.
Examples of this which he had in common with other Americans would be Robert Gould Shaw and Alexander Stephens. The letters of Shaw prove that right up to essentially the day of his death at the battle of Fort Wagner, he never completely eschewed his racial prejudices of Black Americans, (he uses the n-word throughout the length of his corro), and whereas in the Georgia state legislature in 1866, Stephens also displayed his still-present like prejudices. Stephens also called for racial equality therein to be legislated in the State, for compensation to be paid to Georgian Black Americans in some form to at least some extent and like Longstreet, called for at least limited Black American voting rights, (‘impartial suffrage’).
-On the point of suffrage for Black Americans, Longstreet made it plain that his support for this measure was not entirely rooted in progressive growth; his biographer, Jeffry D. Wert, cites that Longstreet believed that Black suffrage in any form was going to happen, regardless of desire or endorsement. Thereby, ‘Old Pete’ believed that it was better for White Southerners to endorse the measure as a means of ‘influencing’ their new Black American voting counterparts.
His actions in defending civil rights for Black Americans also serve as evidence that Longstreet genuinely did undergo progressive growth in his outlook, to his credit.
In this, Longstreet not only joins company with Stephens, but with other figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Oliver O. Howard and even Edward Pollard, (toward the end of the latter’s life), whom all supported Black American suffrage, to at least some extent, themselves. There is room for a measure of fair and balanced criticism from our times today that can be applied to all the above for the limited terms in which they saw this. There is also great credit as much due to them, for it was they and people like them, however imperfectly, whom broke with the prevailing norms and forged change.
-Longstreet, in forming a friendship/positive impression of Northerners like Grant, also are reflected by such as Lincoln and Stephens, Winnie Davis and Julia Grant, Frederick Douglass and the daughters of his former owner.
-Like Porter Alexander, Longstreet heavily implied in his memoirs, ‘From Manassas to Appomattox’, support of Black Americans for the Confederate war effort, for example, as when describing his train journey from the New Mexico territory back to the deep South, he witnessed Black Americans, (presumably at least the majority of which can be stated to be slaves), wave their hats to the passing train. This was at a time when all trains passing southwards were publicly known to be conveying persons/supplies/etc, for the new Confederacy.
As with Alexander’s section in his memoirs that teamsters in the Army of Northern Virginia were equipped with guns in anticipation of being pursued by the Army of the Potomac on the retreat from Gettysburg and fighting occurring, (the ANV having a high number of Black American teamsters), Longstreet leans with no explicit argument, but a heavy implication, that this was a sign of Black American support for the Confederate war effort, leaving it to future generations to examine and dispute.
-In as much as his leading Black American militia at the battle of Liberty Square in 1874 can be said to demonstrate progressive growth in his views of Black Americans and their place in society, Gary Gallagher is correct in making this highly insightful observation of the change in racial/cultural outlook that the war evoked upon White Americans.
In this, Longstreet obviously shares this with Abraham Lincoln, but also with Robert E. Lee, whose 27 and 29th of March, 1865, orders to Richard Ewell also demonstrate a like growth in racial attitude; herein, not only does Lee make plain he was willing to lead nationally organised Confederate troops of Black Americans into battle, but that racial equality ought to accompany in the military and be accompanied in Southern society.
And as much as Longstreet had in common with William Mahone, (whom also committed racial injustice during the war and measures of racial justice after it), it was again Lee whom inspired the both of them to this by a counsel of all his Generals and staff on the evening of 8 April 1865.
So again, what is shocking is not only that Longstreet has been subjected to such historical extremes since the time of the war, but also that what he had in common with other Americans of his era is almost completely unexamined.
You have done quite a bit of thinking on Longstreet. When did you first take him up to study?
Hello, Hugh, I think this is a wonderful resource for an essay I am writing. Would you take offense if I cited you and your sources for this essay?
Lol, nah, all good buddy.
No problem at all.
Oh, btw-
If you’re looking for info and good work on James Longstreet, I would recommend the following shortlist about him/contains info about him-
-Brown, Kevin, ‘The Lost Cause Attack on the Battlefield Reputation of Lieutenant General James Longstreet and Its Effect on U.S. Civil War History”,
https://online.norwich.edu/node/4961
-Atkinson, Matt, “Longstreet’s Countermarch”, Gettysburg NPS lecture,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmqvw_vlMgA
-Ibid, “Jubal Early & The Moulding of Confederate Memory”, ibid,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ2Md83uIP4
-Crocker III, H.W., ‘Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage & Vision’,
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Lee-Leadership-Executive-Character/dp/0761525548
-Wert, Jeffry D., ‘General James Longstreet: The Confederacy’s Most Controversial Soldier’,
https://www.amazon.com.au/General-James-Longstreet-Jeffrey-Wert/dp/0671892878
-Davis, Burke, ‘Gray Fox: Robert E. Lee & The Civil War’,
https://www.amazon.com/Gray-Fox-Robert-Civil/dp/B001LAW14Q
-Longstreet, Helen, ‘Lee & Longstreet at High Tide’,
https://archive.org/details/mrsjameslong00helerich
-Connelly, Thomas, ‘The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society’,
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/450500.The_Marble_Man
-Many excellent leads on here. Just type, James Longstreet, into the search box,
https://archive.org/
-Also, Patrick Young has made some good posts about Longstreet on this page.
Now, I don’t agree with 100% of everything that each author has written about Longstreet and that’s exactly the point. I don’t know how extensive your essay is going to be, but you MUST at least attempt to engage with a wide scope of evidence about him and pertaining to him.
Good luck!!
A long time ago. He was a good man and General, and a hero.
He didn’t deserve the demonisation he received via the Lost Cause school
Ullshitbay. He lost, and scurried to his place in his buddy Grant’s totem. He was for Longstreet. Not for the South.
Because you think that “the South” did not include its Black citizens.
Greetings.
It is very clear that you do not view Longstreet favorably.
Your above statement indicates you see him as trying to advantage himself in personal manner after the Confederate loss and ‘imbedding’ himself so to speak with Grant, Northerners and Republicans and that he ‘betrayed’ the South.
Righto. Can I ask you to please flesh out your arguments on these views?
How exactly did he betray the South?
If it was wrong for Longstreet to attempt reconciliation with the North, where do you draw the line in your own opinion that would or would not have been appropriate for him, or anyone else to do something in this line? Was it wrong for Robert E. Lee to perform reconciliation actions he did, such as cooperating with the Freedmens Bureau?
I would appreciate any expansion on your views that you can please put.
One correction above; Ft. Donelson fell in February of 1862
Gen. Longstreet was always, first and foremost, a practical man. Perhaps his most notorious moment in the war was his prediction at Gettysburg that Pickett’s Charge was doomed. This was not a romantic or sentimental opinion- it was the correct opinion.
The same can be said of the opinion expressed in this letter. The war was over, and it was time to make peace with the outcome and rebuild.
Hello, Hugh, I think this is a wonderful resource for an essay I am writing. Would you take offense if I cited you and your sources for this essay?
Pursuant to the statement herein that Lee thought Longstreet’s stance on advocation of Black American enfranchisement “a great mistake”, I would like to see the evidence to be able to review full context.
Lee himself supported Black American suffrage in the form of ‘impartial suffrage’; that is, that males could not be disqualified from voting due to their race.
At his Congressional testimony in 1866, Lee ‘opened the door’ to Black American suffrage by words to the effect, ‘if it could be shown these people [Black Americans] will vote intelligently and responsibly, then she [the state of Virginia] might admit them to vote.’
As well, his espousal of the “rights and privileges” of would-be national Black Confederates in his 27 March 1865 orders to Richard Ewell are evidence of his belief in Black American suffrage, the notes of William Preston Johnston of 7 May 1868 of his chat with Lee, which prove, via timing, that what Lee had meant was voting privileges in the preceding example and therein explicitly espoused Black American suffrage, and he supported both impartial and universal Black American suffrage for Virginia’s re-entry to the Union in his 21 May 1867 letter to the wife of General Maury.
Alright; I have confirmed by reading the following-
-James Longstreet: From Rebel to Scalawag
Wm. L. Richter
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Summer, 1970), pp. 215-230.
-SHSP, Vol. 5, 1878, page 176.
-PERSONAL REMINISCENCES,
ANECDOTES, AND LETTERS
GEN. ROBERT E. LEE.
BY WILLIAM JONES, NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
649 AND 551 BROADWAY. 1874, 227-28.
That Robert E. Lee was not saying Longstreet had “made a great mistake” about the issue of supporting Black American suffrage; he was talking about Longstreet’s apparent (later real), support of the Republican Party and the Radical Republicans’ policies.
In fact, the letter which Lee wrote Longstreet on 29 October 1867, when the latter sought the former’s support about his stated public positions made clear that Lee did not want to be drawn into ANY public politics. At the same time, Lee confirms to Longstreet that he doesn’t agree with the Republicans/Radicals policies but he states in this communique sentiments that are consistent with ‘Impartial Suffrage’ (of which, criticism can certainly be applied to say the least).
Again, Lee on four occasions made it clear he was supportive of Black American suffrage in the same terms as Abraham Lincoln (and of which criticism as to the limits each saw this in can certainly be applied).
At the same time, allow me to say that that aside, the historical content in this article was superb! I enjoyed it greatly.
I decline to put ANY stance of ANY kind on current politics. My ONLY interest is in the CW history of this article.