CS Longstreet, Helen Dortch

Helen Dortch Longstreet
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Born: April 20, 1863

Birthplace: Carnesville, Georgia

Father: James Speed Dortch 1839 – 1891

Mother: Mary M. Pulliam 1844 – 1927

Husband: Lt. General James Longstreet 1821 – 1904

(Buried: Alta Vista Cemetery, Gainesville, Georgia)​

Married: September 8, 1897 in Atlanta, Georgia

Education:

Attended Georgia Baptist Female Seminary​

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Attended Notre Dame Convent in Baltimore Maryland​

Postbellum History:

She first met General Longstreet while a Student at Georgia Baptist​

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She documented her visit with an unpublished essay "Wooed to the warrior's tent"​

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1888 – 1890: Became Owner of Tribune in Carnesville, Georgia​

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Editor of Chronicle Newspaper in Milledgeville, Georgia​

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Campaigner for William Yates Atkinson for Governor of Georgia

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1894: Author of Dortch Bill allow women to hold office as Librarian​

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1894 – 1897: Assistant Librarian for the State of Georgia​

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1904 – 1913: United States Postmistress for Gainesville, Georgia​

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1904: Publisher of Lee and Longstreet at High Tide ​

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She noted that her husband's detractors started Campaigning after Lee's Death in 1870​

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Defender of her Husband's Military Career throughout her life​

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Organizer of Longstreet Memorial Association​

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1911 – 1913: Attempted to block Georgia Power from building a power dam on Tallulah Falls​

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1912: Georgia Delegate to Progressive Party National Convention​

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Published in Newspapers and Magazines​

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Lecturer and Advocate for Progressive Reform​

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1917: Author of In the Path of Lee's Old War Horse

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Campaigned to improve conditions on the Virgin Islands​

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1939: Organizer of Longstreet Memorial Exhibit at World's Fair in New York​

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1940: Organizer of Longstreet Memorial Exhibit at Gold Gate Expo​

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During World War II she was Rosie the Riveter for Bell Aircraft Plant​

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1947: Became the first woman to have her picture in the state capitol​

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1950: Unsuccessful Write in Candidate for Governor of Georgia​

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1953: Author of The Great American: General James Longstreet ​

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1957 – 1962: Lived at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia​

Died: May 3, 1962

Place of Death: Central State Hospital, Milledgeville, Georgia

Age at time of Death: 99 years old

Burial Place: West View Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

Historic Legacy:

1993: Tallulah Gorge State Park was created in her honor​

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1999: Trails in Tallulah Gorge named Helen Dortch Longstreet Trail​

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2004: Inducted in Georgia Women of Achievement​

 

[jackt62]

She certainly had one long interesting life!

 

[redbob]

It's interesting that she's not buried with her husband.

 

[War Horse]

She matched the General in both stubbornness and tenacity. A truly amazing woman.

 

[War Horse]

It's interesting that she's not buried with her husband.

I've always thought the same thing. Louise is with him at Alta Vista. One would think there's a story here but I've never found one.

 

[FarawayFriend]

She matched the General in both stubbornness and tenacity. A truly amazing woman.

You beat me at that, I wanted to post exactly the same.

I've always thought the same thing. Louise is with him at Alta Vista. One would think there's a story here but I've never found one.

I have read that Longstreet's children never quite got along with the second Mrs. Longstreet. Maybe they felt that there should be a family plot at the cemetery, where the 2nd wife would have been the fifth wheel...
The way I see Helen, I think she had him in her heart forever and trusted that their immortal souls would be united again in afterlife - and that probably meant more to her than a final resting place for her body next to him.

 

[gentlemanrob]

I have noticed a lot of times when Generals marry twice the second wife is buried somewhere else for instance Gideon Pillow's Second Wife Mary Eliza Dickson Pillow is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

[redbob]

You beat me at that, I wanted to post exactly the same.



I have read that Longstreet's children never quite got along with the second Mrs. Longstreet. Maybe they felt that there should be a family plot at the cemetery, where the 2nd wife would have been the fifth wheel...
The way I see Helen, I think she had him in her heart forever and trusted that their immortal souls would be united again in afterlife - and that probably meant more to her than a final resting place for her body next to him.

Well, now we know. Thanks.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Well, now we know. Thanks.

Well, to be true, it is more what I make from it. Not a hard fact. If any serious historian had written about it, @War Horse would have found it!

 

[Georgia]

This photo says a lot about her-

 

[mofederal]

She reminds me of Daniel Butterfield's second wife. She devoted all of her remaining life to him, and honored him in death. No less than Helen Dortch Longstreet did for her beloved General.

 

[Georgia]

She reminds me of Daniel Butterfield's second wife. She devoted her all of her life to him, and honored him in death. No less than Helen Dortch Longstreet did for her beloved General.

She even ran for governor in 1950- quite an amazing woman on all accounts.

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy Birthday Helen Dortch Longstreet! Remembering Helen Longstreet on her birthday.

 

[farrargirl]

An amazing woman! And...here she is living at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1936!

 

[Pete Longstreet]

I actually just purchased her book a few days ago: Lee and Longstreet at High Tide. Looking forward to reading it.

 

[Luke Freet]

Quite probably the most fascinating significant other of any of the generals of this war. I appreciate my staunch social reformers...bonus points for being a fellow Longstreet fan

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy Birthday (Wednesday) Mrs. Helen Longstreet! Salutes remembering a true southern lady on her birthday week.