Didn't he do enough?

[scotish swampfox]

Harsh man. Harsh.

Harsh but oh so true

 

[CSA Today]

Difficult for me to appreciate this comparison w/B. Arnold, especially since Longstreet always did his duty as a soldier.

I don't have a major problem with Longstreet's duty as a soldier in the service of his country (CSA), as a matter of fact, I would rank him among the top ten generals on either side. What I do have an enormous problem with is his post war collaboration with the former enemy taken to the point of leading a hostile militia against his former comrades in arms.

 

[War Horse]

I don't have a major problem with Longstreet's duty as a soldier in the service of his country (CSA), as a matter of fact, I would rank him among the top ten generals on either side. What I do have an enormous problem with is his post war collaboration with the former enemy taken to the point of leading a hostile militia against his former comrades in arms.

It was a very unpopular engagement. The White League was an illegally formed mob of ****s who took it upon themselves to overthrow the existing governor William Kellogg. I understand that the election was fraught with fraud. Whatever the case Kellogg wound up in office. Longstreet was in charge of the metropolitan and militia. He did his duty to the best of his ability resulting in a wound and being held captive for three days. It was his job to maintain order and protect the existing recognized government. He was between a rock and a hard place. He did what was his duty to do. I don't understand what was expected of him. Throw his hands in the air and simply go home? I don't believe this constitutes being a trader. The U.S Army was sent by Grant and the White League disbanded. Longstreet was released and Kellogg returned to office. No different than todays Nat'l Guard being called to action in their own home town in my opinion. A very difficult position to find yourself in.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I don't have a major problem with Longstreet's duty as a soldier in the service of his country (CSA), as a matter of fact, I would rank him among the top ten generals on either side. What I do have an enormous problem with is his post war collaboration with the former enemy taken to the point of leading a hostile militia against his former comrades in arms.

Admittedly I don't know enough of the background to really contradict this, so please correct me when I'm wrong. My thought is that Longstreet as Head of the State Militia had to enforce what at that time was regarded as being the law and protect the State Government. So when the Government, or Governor Kellogg was threatened, to me it was his duty to protect this government, bad as it may have been. If he had not lead the militia in the "Battle of Liberty Place" wouldn' that have been mutiny?

Oh .... while I'm struggling for words I'm just seeing that @War Horse has just written exactly what I tried to say also ...

 

[Northern Light]

It was a very unpopular engagement. The White League was an illegally formed mob of ****s who took it upon themselves to overthrow the existing governor William Kellogg. I understand that the election was fraught with fraud. Whatever the case Kellogg wound up in office. Longstreet was in charge of the metropolitan and militia. He did his duty to the best of his ability resulting in a wound and being held captive for three days. It was his job to maintain order and protect the existing recognized government. He was between a rock and a hard place. He did what was his duty to do. I don't understand what was expected of him. Throw his hands in the air and simply go home? I don't believe this constitutes being a trader. The U.S Army was sent by Grant and the White League disbanded. Longstreet was released and Kellogg returned to office. No different than todays Nat'l Guard being called to action in their own home town in my opinion. A very difficult position to find yourself in.

And it is not as if those former comrades in arms were just sitting around chawin' tobacco and shooting the breeze!

 

[CSA Today]

Admittedly I don't know enough of the background to really contradict this, so please correct me when I'm wrong. My thought is that Longstreet as Head of the State Militia had to enforce what at that time was regarded as being the law and protect the State Government. So when the Government, or Governor Kellogg was threatened, to me it was his duty to protect this government, bad as it may have been. If he had not lead the militia in the "Battle of Liberty Place" wouldn' that have been mutiny?

Oh .... while I'm struggling for words I'm just seeing that @War Horse has just written exactly what I tried to say also ...

As an officer Longstreet could have resigned from the militia, it's not that he had some aversion to resigning commissions- -- he had done it once before in 1861.

 

[diane]

As an officer Longstreet could have resigned from the militia, it's not that he had some aversion to resigning commissions- -- he had done it once before in 1861.

Why should he have resigned? He was not a man without a country. The men rebelling against the law of the land were without a country. Being a soldier, Longstreet accepted the verdict of the sword as has been mentioned before. That was the means by which the Confederacy's existence had been determined.

 

[FarawayFriend]

As an officer Longstreet could have resigned from the militia, it's not that he had some aversion to resigning commissions- -- he had done it once before in 1861.

Alright, but he was a professional soldier. I can very well imagine that a position as Head of the State Militia appealed more to him than being an insurance agent or railway inspector ...
That was what he was trained for and what he could do best. And like Lord Tennyson said in his poem "The charge of the Light Brigade": "Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is just to do and die". He was loyal at Gettysburg although he knew better, I think he would himself not have thought that Liberty Place was one of his best performances, but what else could he have done without deserting his duty? And he saw it as his duty to support the Union now. He had tried otherwise, he had rebelled, he was defeated, so ... now he felt he had to accept the results and try to arrange with them.

 

[War Horse]

Alright, but he was a professional soldier. I can very well imagine that a position as Head of the State Militia appealed more to him than being an insurance agent or railway inspector ...
That was what he was trained for and what he could do best. And like Lord Tennyson said in his poem "The charge of the Light Brigade": "Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is just to do and die". He was loyal at Gettysburg although he knew better, I think he would himself not have thought that Liberty Place was one of his best performances, but what else could he have done without deserting his duty? And he saw it as his duty to support the Union now. He had tried otherwise, he had rebelled, he was defeated, so ... now he felt he had to accept the results and try to arrange with them.

Not to mention resigning a commission with the United States Army to join an upcoming revolution and protect your state is one thing. Resigning your position just because a group of ****s formed a mob and many of them happen to be former confederate soldiers is quite another. One has potential the other offers nothing but disgrace.

 

[peteanddelmar]

Longstreet was a strong man of clear thinking. He actively sought to do the right thing.
It just wasn't popular among the people who couldn't lose well. Which is another thing that is hard to do, lose well.

 

[Northern Light]

Longstreet was a strong man of clear thinking. He actively sought to do the right thing.
It just wasn't popular among the people who couldn't lose well. Which is another thing that is hard to do, lose well.

 

[CSA Today]

Why should he have resigned? He was not a man without a country. The men rebelling against the law of the land were without a country. Being a soldier, Longstreet accepted the verdict of the sword as has been mentioned before. That was the means by which the Confederacy's existence had been determined.

After some reflection and second thoughts, I would now say it is more apropos to mention James Longstreet in the same sentence as Henri Philippe Pétain rather than Benedict Arnold – I wish I had thought of Pétain's name earlier.

 

[nitrofd]

After some reflection and second thoughts, I would now say it is more apropos to mention James Longstreet in the same sentence as Henri Philippe Pétain rather than Benedict Arnold – I wish I had thought of Pétain's name earlier.

That is an interesting better thought.

 

[War Horse]

Longstreet was a strong man of clear thinking. He actively sought to do the right thing.
It just wasn't popular among the people who couldn't lose well. Which is another thing that is hard to do, lose well.

Yeah losing well is not what I would call easy either.

 

[War Horse]

After some reflection and second thoughts, I would now say it is more apropos to mention James Longstreet in the same sentence as Henri Philippe Pétain rather than Benedict Arnold – I wish I had thought of Pétain's name earlier.

Great now I have more research to do!!! lol

 

[diane]

After some reflection and second thoughts, I would now say it is more apropos to mention James Longstreet in the same sentence as Henri Philippe Pétain rather than Benedict Arnold – I wish I had thought of Pétain's name earlier.

Vichy France? Now you're about to Godwin the thread! Not even close. Longstreet was not a governor or anything more than a soldier doing a job. The defeated Confederate states were not occupied by a foreign army but by their own army. They had come back into the Union - true, maybe some of them didn't want to, but they were back anyway.

 

[CSA Today]

Vichy France? Now you're about to Godwin the thread! Not even close. Longstreet was not a governor or anything more than a soldier doing a job. The defeated Confederate states were not occupied by a foreign army but by their own army. They had come back into the Union - true, maybe some of them didn't want to, but they were back anyway.

That would go far to explain white Democratic opposition in Louisiana to the man leading "their own army" against them to keep in power that most radical of carpetbaggers William P. Kellogg.

 

[cash]

You are saying he was a traitor? Interesting comment.

I refer you to your Post #3, Pat.

 

[Rebforever]

Vichy France? Now you're about to Godwin the thread! Not even close. Longstreet was not a governor or anything more than a soldier doing a job. The defeated Confederate states were not occupied by a foreign army but by their own army. They had come back into the Union - true, maybe some of them didn't want to, but they were back anyway.

I would guess them whipped Rebs felt about like them whipped Native Americans.

 

[War Horse]

I refer you to your Post #3, Pat.

Does that mean you agree with post #3?