Longstreet Helen Dortch Longstreet

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Helen Dortch Longstreet, the second wife of General James Longstreet, is remembered for her unflagging work as a Confederate memorialist, Progressive reformer, and local librarian and postmistress.

Born in Carnesville on April 20, 1863, Longstreet was the daughter of Mary Pulliam and James Speed Dortch.

She was educated at Brenau College (later Brenau University) in Gainesville and the Notre Dame Convent in Baltimore, Maryland. While at Brenau she met General James Longstreet, the controversial Confederate officer and father of her roommate. She later described that first encounter with Longstreet in an unpublished essay, "Wooed to the Warrior's Tent," held in the Helen Dortch Longstreet Papers at the Atlanta History Center. The couple married on September 8, 1897. Helen Dortch was thirty-four and the general was seventy-six. General Longstreet died six years later on January 2, 1904. The couple had no children.

Helen Longstreet served as assistant state librarian from 1894 until her marriage in 1897. After her husband's death in 1904, she was appointed postmistress of Gainesville, a position she held until 1913. During the Progressive Era, Longstreet became quite active in local and national politics. She served as a delegate to the Progressive Party Convention in 1912 and backed Theodore Roosevelt's presidential campaign. From 1911 to 1913 she attempted to block the Georgia Power Company from building a power dam at Tallulah Falls, in Rabun County. She published widely in newspapers and magazines and lectured extensively throughout the country advocating Progressive reform. She took her political battle to the Virgin Islands, where she campaigned to improve economic and social conditions on the island as well as to clean up an allegedly corrupt political system.

In addition to her progressive political activism, Longstreet spent considerable energy trying to resuscitate her husband's wartime reputation. For decades many of General Longstreet's fellow Confederate officers had accused him of disobeying General Robert E. Lee's orders at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and thereby forsaking the Confederate cause.

In 1904 Helen Longstreet privately published Lee and Longstreet at High Tide, in which she argued that because of the scurrilous comments made by petty men, "the South was seditiously taught to believe that the Federal Victory was wholly the fortuitous outcome of the culpable disobedience of General Longstreet." She noted that her husband's detractors began their campaign to vilify Longstreet after the death of Robert E. Lee in 1870. Lee, she felt sure, would have defended her husband against these unwarranted attacks had he been alive. Her book appeared one year after one of her husband's severest critics, John B. Gordon, had published his memoirs, Reminiscences of the Civil War, in which he renewed his attack against General Longstreet. Gordon, however, died in early 1904, thereby ensuring that Longstreet had the "final" word on the controversy.

Throughout the remainder of her life, she continued to defend her husband's military career both in print and on the lecture circuit. She also organized the Longstreet Memorial Association and the Longstreet Memorial Exhibit at the New York World's Fair in 1939 and at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco, California, in 1940.

In 1957 Longstreet was admitted to the Central State Hospital in Milledgeville for mental illness. She remained there until her death on May 3, 1962. She is buried in West View Cemetery in Atlanta.

In 2004 Longstreet was inducted into Georgia Women of Achievement.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-881
The NEW GEORGIA Encyclopedia
 
Helen Dortch Longstreet, the second wife of General James Longstreet, is remembered for her unflagging work as a Confederate memorialist, Progressive reformer, and local librarian and postmistress.

Born in Carnesville on April 20, 1863, Longstreet was the daughter of Mary Pulliam and James Speed Dortch.

She was educated at Brenau College (later Brenau University) in Gainesville and the Notre Dame Convent in Baltimore, Maryland. While at Brenau she met General James Longstreet, the controversial Confederate officer and father of her roommate. She later described that first encounter with Longstreet in an unpublished essay, "Wooed to the Warrior's Tent," held in the Helen Dortch Longstreet Papers at the Atlanta History Center. The couple married on September 8, 1897. Helen Dortch was thirty-four and the general was seventy-six. General Longstreet died six years later on January 2, 1904. The couple had no children.

Helen Longstreet served as assistant state librarian from 1894 until her marriage in 1897. After her husband's death in 1904, she was appointed postmistress of Gainesville, a position she held until 1913. During the Progressive Era, Longstreet became quite active in local and national politics. She served as a delegate to the Progressive Party Convention in 1912 and backed Theodore Roosevelt's presidential campaign. From 1911 to 1913 she attempted to block the Georgia Power Company from building a power dam at Tallulah Falls, in Rabun County. She published widely in newspapers and magazines and lectured extensively throughout the country advocating Progressive reform. She took her political battle to the Virgin Islands, where she campaigned to improve economic and social conditions on the island as well as to clean up an allegedly corrupt political system.

In addition to her progressive political activism, Longstreet spent considerable energy trying to resuscitate her husband's wartime reputation. For decades many of General Longstreet's fellow Confederate officers had accused him of disobeying General Robert E. Lee's orders at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and thereby forsaking the Confederate cause.

In 1904 Helen Longstreet privately published Lee and Longstreet at High Tide, in which she argued that because of the scurrilous comments made by petty men, "the South was seditiously taught to believe that the Federal Victory was wholly the fortuitous outcome of the culpable disobedience of General Longstreet." She noted that her husband's detractors began their campaign to vilify Longstreet after the death of Robert E. Lee in 1870. Lee, she felt sure, would have defended her husband against these unwarranted attacks had he been alive. Her book appeared one year after one of her husband's severest critics, John B. Gordon, had published his memoirs, Reminiscences of the Civil War, in which he renewed his attack against General Longstreet. Gordon, however, died in early 1904, thereby ensuring that Longstreet had the "final" word on the controversy.

Throughout the remainder of her life, she continued to defend her husband's military career both in print and on the lecture circuit. She also organized the Longstreet Memorial Association and the Longstreet Memorial Exhibit at the New York World's Fair in 1939 and at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco, California, in 1940.

In 1957 Longstreet was admitted to the Central State Hospital in Milledgeville for mental illness. She remained there until her death on May 3, 1962. She is buried in West View Cemetery in Atlanta.

In 2004 Longstreet was inducted into Georgia Women of Achievement.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-881
The NEW GEORGIA Encyclopedia

Very nice read Ted.
 
Gee I knew she lived a long time after Longsteet died. I had forgotten it was the early sixties. Good post. Good info.
 
During WWII, she was a Rosie the Riveter in an aircraft plant. She was featured in magazine spread. I think it was Look magazine.
 
During WWII, she was a Rosie the Riveter in an aircraft plant. She was featured in magazine spread. I think it was look magazine.
I did a search before I posted the thread and someone had posted that picture. I went ahead and posted the story as I didn't see the one I posted on her bio. Thanks Ted.
 
Dvrmte posted this picture on another thread.
helen_longstreet.jpg
 
Here is a site that includes the 1943 Life Magazine article
michaeltheresearcher.blogspot.com/.../helen-dortch-longstreet-birth.h...
 
Mrs. Longstreet made an appearance in Washington, D.C. with the Red Cross, in which my paternal grandmother met her and rolled many a bandage with her. Stories of Mrs. Longstreet passed down were:

She had a beautiful and kind voice with a distinctive Georgian accent. Her touch was healing and most kind. She was a lady in and out regardless of what she wore. She had a commanding presence and would gladly assist anybody if she was in the position to do so. She was a patriotic American in every sense of the word. She wished to be example of how Southern women past and present ought to behave and not let past grievances to obstruct the progress at hand. Being in Arlington, Virginia they took her to see her husband's sons ; Robert Lee Longstreet's and James Longstreet Jr.'s graves at Arlington National Military Cemetery to pay respects.

My great-great paternal grandmothers in Baltimore, Maryland also met Mrs. Longstreet in the Red Cross activities during World War I. And, their stories were told to my paternal grandmother which didn't vary much at all, was near identical to their experiences with the widow of the famous Lieutenant-General James Longstreet. In Baltimore though, the son of Colonel Charles Marshall, who was military secretary to General Robert E. Lee; and his wife joined in the work of the Red Cross.

Wish I was around to have met this great lady.

M. E. Wolf
 
I absolutely LOVE this lady and all she stood for!! I know I am very late to the party but does anyone know how Mrs. Longstreet was treated (what form of treatment and were the treatments humane by today's standards)? I have found in my research lately that many roads are leading me to sanitariums.
 
She certainly epitomized and was a very fine example of everything that is good and decent about Southern women and Southern culture. She is a role model for every young Southern girl. David.
 
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