JPeter,
You wrote:
Maybe the generals were better at it than the common soldiers or the politicians.
Longfellow! Ha, ... what a curious slip.
Actually, there is documentation of a Longfellow in the A.C.W.
O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXIII/1 [S# 34]
JULY 2-26, 1863.--Morgan's raid in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.
No. 2.--Reports of Brig. Gen. James M. Shackelford, U. S. Army, commanding First Brigade, Second Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, &c.
HDQRS. FIRST BRIG., SECOND DIV., TWENTY-THIRD A. C.,
Russellville, Ky., August 1, 1863.
COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the pursuit and capture of General John H. Morgan and his command:
In pursuance of orders from Major-General Hartsuff, on the 27th of June, 1863, I moved my brigade, with the exception of the Sixty-fifth Indiana and two battalions of the Third Kentucky Cavalry, from Russellville to Glasgow, Ky.
[excerpt]
It is difficult for me to speak of individual officers or men without doing injustice to others. I unhesitatingly bear testimony to the uniformly good conduct and gallant bearing of the whole command, yet I cannot forbear mentioning the names of some of the officers. The noble, true, and gallant Wolford, who was in the entire pursuit, is one of the coolest, bravest, and most efficient officers in the army, and has fairly won, by his untiring energy and gallantry on the field, promotion at the hands of his Government. Colonel Kautz, who commanded the Seventh and Second Ohio; Colonel Jacob, of the Ninth Kentucky; Colonel Crittenden and Major Delfosse, of the Twelfth Kentucky [Cavalry]; Colonel Bristow, Lieutenant-Colonel Holloway, and Major Starling, of the Eighth Kentucky; Major Wolfiey, of the Third Kentucky; Lieutenant-Colonel Adams, of the First Kentucky; Lieutenant-Colonel Melton, of the Second East Tennessee [Infantry]; Major Carpenter, Second East Tennessee [Infantry]; Colonel Capton, of the Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry; Lieutenant-Colonel Ross, of the Forty-fifth Ohio Mounted Infantry; Captain Powers and
Lieutenant Longfellow, of the Fifth Indiana Cavalry; Captain [Albert B.] Dod, Fifteenth Regiment Infantry, commanding company Third Ohio Cavalry; Captain Kinney, of the Third Ohio; Captain Ward, of the Third Kentucky, and Adjutant Carpenter, of the First Kentucky Cavalry, deserve the gratitude of the whole country for their energy and gallantry.
[end of excerpt]
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O.R.--SERIES III--VOLUME V [S# 126]
CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, REPORTS, AND RETURNS OF THE UNION AUTHORITIES FROM MAY 1, 1865, TO THE END.(*)--#27
MASSACHUSETTS.
District. Name of principal. Name of recruit. Date of enlistment.
[excerpt]
Fifth
H. W. Longfellow Alexander Thackston Jan. 12, 1865
[end of excerpt]
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However, I am of the same belief that the intended name to be connected with a general is Longstreet.
Respectfully submitted,
M. E. Wolf