Helen Dortch Longstreet
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She documented her visit with an unpublished essay “Wooed to the warrior’s tent”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
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
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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