CS Longstreet, Helen Dortch

Helen Dortch Longstreet
:CSA1stNat:
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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​
Attended Notre Dame Convent in Baltimore Maryland​

Postbellum History:

She first met General Longstreet while a Student at Georgia Baptist​
She documented her visit with an unpublished essay “Wooed to the warrior’s tent”​
1888 – 1890: Became Owner of Tribune in Carnesville, Georgia​
Editor of Chronicle Newspaper in Milledgeville, Georgia​
Campaigner for William Yates Atkinson for Governor of Georgia
Longstreet 1.jpg
1894: Author of Dortch Bill allow women to hold office as Librarian​
1894 – 1897: Assistant Librarian for the State of Georgia​
1904 – 1913: United States Postmistress for Gainesville, Georgia​
1904: Publisher of Lee and Longstreet at High Tide
She noted that her husband’s detractors started Campaigning after Lee’s Death in 1870​
Defender of her Husband’s Military Career throughout her life​
Organizer of Longstreet Memorial Association​
1911 – 1913: Attempted to block Georgia Power from building a power dam on Tallulah Falls​
1912: Georgia Delegate to Progressive Party National Convention​
Published in Newspapers and Magazines​
Lecturer and Advocate for Progressive Reform​
1917: Author of In the Path of Lee’s Old War Horse
Longstreet 2.jpg
Campaigned to improve conditions on the Virgin Islands​
1939: Organizer of Longstreet Memorial Exhibit at World’s Fair in New York​
1940: Organizer of Longstreet Memorial Exhibit at Gold Gate Expo​
During World War II she was Rosie the Riveter for Bell Aircraft Plant​
1947: Became the first woman to have her picture in the state capitol​
1950: Unsuccessful Write in Candidate for Governor of Georgia​
1953: Author of The Great American: General James Longstreet
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​
1999: Trails in Tallulah Gorge named Helen Dortch Longstreet Trail​
2004: Inducted in Georgia Women of Achievement​
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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