hoosier
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2005
- Location
- Carlisle, PA
James Longstreet, as is well known, suffered a serious wound at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.
My wife claims that, 40 years after the war, he was visiting family when his old wound suddenly opened up and he bled to death before medical help could be summoned.
I've tried to find confirmation of my wife's account on the Internet and have not been successful. There is general agreement on the date of his death, January 2, 1904, but I can't find anything to say he bled to death as a result of his old wound reopening. All the accounts I've been able to find simply say he died of pneumonia.
Anyway, my wife asked me to inquire among the members of the board and see if anyone knows any explanation as to why Longstreet's wound opened up the way it did so many years later.
So, has anyone done a lot of reading about Longstreet? Is it true that he bled to death? If so, is there any medical explanation for why the wound opened up?
My wife claims that, 40 years after the war, he was visiting family when his old wound suddenly opened up and he bled to death before medical help could be summoned.
I've tried to find confirmation of my wife's account on the Internet and have not been successful. There is general agreement on the date of his death, January 2, 1904, but I can't find anything to say he bled to death as a result of his old wound reopening. All the accounts I've been able to find simply say he died of pneumonia.
Anyway, my wife asked me to inquire among the members of the board and see if anyone knows any explanation as to why Longstreet's wound opened up the way it did so many years later.
So, has anyone done a lot of reading about Longstreet? Is it true that he bled to death? If so, is there any medical explanation for why the wound opened up?