Longstreet Rehabilitation of Longstreet's Popular Reputation

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I apologize if this has been discussed elsewhere. Gallagher in "Lee and His Generals in War and Memory" shows how starting shortly after the war, Longstreet became a pariah among his former Confederate brothers-in-arms and military reputation suffered. Lee devotee Douglas Southall Freeman was not a big Longstreet fan and you don't see much pro-Longstreet popular history for the first half of the 20th century. Now, obviously Longstreet's reputation has been redeemed among most of the public (excluding some die-hards). My question: what turned the tide in Longstreet's favor? Was it Shelby Foote's favorable treatment in his trilogy in the early 60s, followed by Foote's influence on the Ken Burns series? Shaara is obviously another major pro-Longstreet factor, but I don't think KA really took off until after Ken Burns (unless I'm wrong). Am I missing something here?
 
There has been a trend of late among historians to look again at oft-critized generals. This has been a good thing, too. Many, like Longstreet, have been pilloried for post-war convictions and activities rather than what they actually did during the war. Longstreet, as is well-known, received just about the first real volley from Jubal Early and it went on from there. However, his overall performance during the war was unjustly warped by his unpopular post-war convictions and actions. It's good that he is among the generals being re-evaluated and given a second chance.
 
There has been a trend of late among historians to look again at oft-critized generals. This has been a good thing, too. Many, like Longstreet, have been pilloried for post-war convictions and activities rather than what they actually did during the war. Longstreet, as is well-known, received just about the first real volley from Jubal Early and it went on from there. However, his overall performance during the war was unjustly warped by his unpopular post-war convictions and actions. It's good that he is among the generals being re-evaluated and given a second chance.

I agree with you that JL's long delayed vindication is a good thing, but I'm asking about how it happened. Everyone who grew up on KA and the Gettysburg movie sees Longstreet as a hero. This was definitely not the case a generation ago. What turned the tide? Is it as simple as Shelby Foote getting the pro-Longstreet ball rolling and Shaara/Ted Turner turning the tide? (to mix metaphors)
 
I agree with you that JL's long delayed vindication is a good thing, but I'm asking about how it happened. Everyone who grew up on KA and the Gettysburg movie sees Longstreet as a hero. This was definitely not the case a generation ago. What turned the tide? Is it as simple as Shelby Foote getting the pro-Longstreet ball rolling and Shaara/Ted Turner turning the tide? (to mix metaphors)

Possibly. But I think it was just, well, historians' fad. Back in the 70s you could hardly find a good word about any of America's founders. That was a 'new' angle. However, I think this era's historians want to find the ungilded truth, that's all, about everybody. That means looking into old information with new eyes. Did Longstreet drag his feet at Gettysburg and contribute to the loss because he wanted his plan to be implemented, not Lee's? This is one item that has been repeated many a time by many a good historian. However, more recent looks at Longstreet's behavior there show nothing of the kind. I think it's just a time of new evaluations of old, more or less accepted views.
 
I first learned anything substantial about Longstreet by reading some very old Lost Causer sources which were all "oh Pickett's charge, the pinnacle of bravery among men, a noble story to be told down the ages." It turned me right off Lee and right on to Longstreet, because even as a little child I had visited Gettysburg, looked across that field, and asked my dad, "Who would think this was a good idea?"

Seems to me that reexamining the matter in the light of day as opposed to the artificial shadows cast by Bobby Lee's halo was bound to cause a rehabilitation.
 
I'm currently reading Helen Dortch Longstreet's book "Lee and Longstreet at high tide : Gettysburg in the light of the official records" (free download from: https://archive.org/details/mrsjameslong00helerich )
Helen Dortch Longstreet was Gen. James Longstreet's second wife and probably his greatest defender. From every line you can recognize the deep affection she had for her late husband, but besides this she proves in her book that many of the accusations (e.g. that Longstreet had disobeyed Lee's orders and had deliberately delayed his actions) were simply false. Either falsely remembered as by Pendleton or based on a hearsay (as by Gordon). It is often said that the accusations only started after Lee's death. HDL states that this was because Lee would have defended his "War Horse" against any such accusations. He himself never accused Longstreet of having given away the decisive victory - on the contrary, after Gettysburg Lee blamed himself for the defeat. He did mean well but as we know from hindsight used wrong tactics.
It is nice to know that her defense finally is successful and that Longsteet is meanwhile recognized as the able general and leader that he was.
 
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The new writers are more educated concerning the writings about Longstreet and can smooth over the
truth and give him a pass. Do I look for his frailties? Danged tootin'! Do I look at the tremendous job
he has done? Danged tootin'! I do have a pic with him and as all here know I do. Wert says he should have been
censured for the slows. He flailed on 3 attempts to soldier on his own. That is not made up, it is a historical fact.
Would Lee say anything about Longstreet. Never! This is my opinion.
 
Especially his decisive defeat at the hand of former comrades at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874. :wink:
Exactly. His "former comrades" stood firmly for ****, lynching, and terrorism, and he stood against it. Longstreet is certainly more fondly remembered today than the Confederate veterans who populated the White League that tried to kill him at Liberty Place. Who today could be more sympathetic to men who violently tried to disenfranchise blacks rather than to a man who upheld the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Liberty Place terrorism or who thinks that I am creating a charge of "****" where none existed at the time, here is the inscription later placed on the prominent monument to the White League's actions at Liberty Place:

"[Democrats] McEnery and Penny having been elected governor and lieutenant-governor by the white people, were duly installed by this overthrow of carpetbag government, ousting the usurpers, Governor Kellogg (white) and Lieutenant-Governor Antoine (colored).

United States troops took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election of November 1876 recognized **** in the South and gave us our state."


Not a lot of ambiguity there.
 
He didn't do so well at Knoxville. That's where one g-g grandpa lost the use of his arm in front of Fort Sanders and was put out of the war. Of course, had BillieP survived that battle intact he might have been killed in the Overland Campaign and I wouldn't be here. So, I guess I'll give Old Pete a pass on that bungle.
 
Exactly. His "former comrades" stood firmly for ****, lynching, and terrorism, and he stood against it. Longstreet is certainly more fondly remembered today than the Confederate veterans who populated the White League that tried to kill him at Liberty Place. Who today could be more sympathetic to men who violently tried to disenfranchise blacks rather than to a man who upheld the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Liberty Place terrorism or who thinks that I am creating a charge of "****" where none existed at the time, here is the inscription later placed on the prominent monument to the White League's actions at Liberty Place:

"[Democrats] McEnery and Penny having been elected governor and lieutenant-governor by the white people, were duly installed by this overthrow of carpetbag government, ousting the usurpers, Governor Kellogg (white) and Lieutenant-Governor Antoine (colored).

United States troops took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election of November 1876 recognized **** in the South and gave us our state."


Not a lot of ambiguity there.
What does any of this have to do with his abilities as a Lt. General?
 
Especially his decisive defeat at the hand of former comrades at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874. :wink:
In the months after the Liberty Place riots, those same former Confederate veterans went to schools where white and mixed race children were educated together. The White Leaguers then determined which children were not white and they evicted them from the schools. You are right CSA Today, who today would not favor a man like Longstreet over those of his former comrades who targeted children.

You can read more about the White League's expulsion of those children who were not sufficiently white from Louisiana's schools here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=w...age&q=liberty place riot white league&f=false

Here is a bit:

white league 1.JPG
 
What does any of this have to do with his abilities as a Lt. General?
I was responding to this from CSA Today:

"Especially his decisive defeat at the hand of former comrades at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874".

And it does have a lot to do with the decline of Longstreet's reputation as a Civil War general in the post-war period. His rep did not go down because of his generalship, but because he would not stand with the Confederate veterans in the White League or with the Ku Kluxers.
 
The new writers are more educated concerning the writings about Longstreet and can smooth over the
truth and give him a pass. Do I look for his frailties? Danged tootin'! Do I look at the tremendous job
he has done? Danged tootin'! I do have a pic with him and as all here know I do. Wert says he should have been
censured for the slows. He flailed on 3 attempts to soldier on his own. That is not made up, it is a historical fact.
Would Lee say anything about Longstreet. Never! This is my opinion.

Who's giving him a pass? Making an honest assessment is very different than believing Early and his ilk in their post-war tantrums.

R
 
Exactly. His "former comrades" stood firmly for ****, lynching, and terrorism, and he stood against it. Longstreet is certainly more fondly remembered today than the Confederate veterans who populated the White League that tried to kill him at Liberty Place. Who today could be more sympathetic to men who violently tried to disenfranchise blacks rather than to a man who upheld the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

For anyone unfamiliar with the Liberty Place terrorism or who thinks that I am creating a charge of "****" where none existed at the time, here is the inscription later placed on the prominent monument to the White League's actions at Liberty Place:

"[Democrats] McEnery and Penny having been elected governor and lieutenant-governor by the white people, were duly installed by this overthrow of carpetbag government, ousting the usurpers, Governor Kellogg (white) and Lieutenant-Governor Antoine (colored).

United States troops took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election of November 1876 recognized **** in the South and gave us our state."


Not a lot of ambiguity there.

And what do you think of the Longstreet led black militia whose purpose was to try to disenfranchise enough whites to continue carpetbagger rule in Louisiana?
 
And what do you think of the Longstreet led black militia whose purpose was to try to disenfranchise enough whites to continue carpetbagger rule in Louisiana?
I thought that you were on Longstreet's side on this? I did not realize that you were taking the White Leagues point of view. Sorry, I misunderstood you.
 
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