Righting the Longstreet Record at Gettysburg: Six Matters of Controversy and Confusion by Cory Pfarr published by McFarland (2023)
Cory Pfarr published
After several years of talking about his book at bookstores, podcasts, and in Civil War Roundtables, author Pfarr has come out with a new book Righting the Longstreet Record at Gettysburg: Six Matters of Controversy and Confusion that clarifies some of his points that have been questioned by students of the battle, but that also makes Pfarr’s case in a way that those who have only read one or two books about the battle will readily latch on to.
The book begins with a look at one of the earliest disparagers of Longstreet, Reverend John Williams Jones. Jones was the secretary for the Southern Historical Society from 1875 to 1887, a prime Lost Cause association, and he helped spread his ideological correctness in the Southern Historical Society Papers (SHSP). Pfarr says that the creation of the SHSP was in part to defend Robert E. Lee by attacking Longstreet. Why? Because if Longstreet could be blamed for the Confederate defeat, Lee’s reputation would remain unsullied.
Now of course, it was not as simple as deflecting blame from the idolized paladin of the Confederate ideology. After all, there were dozens of Confederate generals who could have been blamed for all the losses in the East. But Longstreet was a particularly suitable target because he publicly said that, while the Confederacy’s soldiers had shown great bravery, they had lost the war and Southerners had to get on with moving into the future world as United States citizens.
Pfarr says that for many of the Confederate “Heritage” groups organized after Lee’s death; “In the end, as with most things in public life, it comes down to money. Many associations and groups rose in the wake of Lee’s death and all were looking to advance and shape the postwar historical memory of Lee. To accomplish their goals, they needed money. The Longstreet-Gettysburg Controversy was aptly dubbed a controversy because it was just that—controversial. It was a perfect storm since controversy naturally stirs interest as battle lines are drawn. Interest draws crowds and subscriptions.” (Pfarr page 50)
These Lost Cause storytellers, these Confederate generals who became “popular historians,” made things up. The more outrageous, the better the books would sell to the families of deceased Confederate soldiers. Blaming Longstreet was a convenient lie. Who would believe the words of defense coming from Lee’s tarnished lieutenant?
Lee, while he was alive, opposed the putting up of statues in his honor, but as soon as he died, societies formed to generate a plethora of hagiography of Robert E. Lee. The Lee Memorial Association, the Lee Monument Association, the Ladies’ Lee Monument Association, and many others formed within a decade of Lee’s soul departing his body. The controversy with Longstreet helped keep the cause of giving to these groups alive.
Among the false representations put forward by these “Lee” associations includes the ridiculous claim that Lee ordered Longstreet to attack the Federal Left at dawn on July 2. The evidence to back this claim up is not an order delivered to Longstreet, but the recollection of a Lost Cause Confederate published after Lee was dead!
The book also examines whether Longstreet relied on one reconnaissance report from a member of Lee’s staff on the second day of the battle. No, he did not. Nor was Longstreet’s countermarch on the way to the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top as outrageous as some Confederates later claimed. Finally, Pfarr offers conclusions from Helen Longstreet that, he says, offer a good response to the flotsam and jetsam tossed at her husband.
This book is also a useful companion to the new biography of Longstreet by Elizabeth Varon. While Varon’s biography spans the whole life of the general, Pfarr’s book is very useful in identifying battle-specific charges against the man from Georgia.
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
