Longstreet Robert Lee Longstreet

[cash]

Here's a picture of Robert Lee Longstreet, son of Lt. General James Longstreet:

According to the Facebook page of the Longstreet Society:

[begin quote]
Robert Lee Longstreet was son of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, Confederate States of America. He was born at Petersburg, Virginia, on 20 October 1863. He served for a time with the United States Army Quartermaster Corps.

He enlisted on October 1, 1917 and was discharged from duty on September 20, 1919. He died on 1 August 1940 at Mercer, West Virginia, and was buried in Section 15 of Arlington National Cemetery, with his brother, James Longstreet, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army.
[end quote]

https://www.facebook.com/TheLongstr....387000.96436831837/10153140766646838/?type=1

 

[E_just_E]

Here is a family shot of Longstreet and Pickett descendents, including Robert Lee Longstreet, taken at Gettysburg on the 50th anniversary of the battle:

(also pictured EJ Stackpole Jr, a decorated WWI general and his brother Albert, sons of the founder of Stackpole Books and the cofounders of the publishing house Stackpole Sons )

 

[Northern Light]

Here is a family shot of Longstreet and Pickett descendents, including Robert Lee Longstreet, taken at Gettysburg on the 50th anniversary of the battle:

(also pictured EJ Stackpole Jr, a decorated WWI general and his brother Albert, sons of the founder of Stackpole Books and the cofounders of the publishing house Stackpole Sons )

What a great picture. It wasn't hard to pick out George Pickett the grandson! Robert Longstreet looks like his father minus the muskrat. What is the name of Pickett's grandson on the right. It looks like Christiancy. Is that correct?

 

[Northern Light]

Okay, I found the answer to my own question. It is Christiancy, and it was his mother's maiden name.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Here is a family shot of Longstreet and Pickett descendents, including Robert Lee Longstreet, taken at Gettysburg on the 50th anniversary of the battle:

(also pictured EJ Stackpole Jr, a decorated WWI general and his brother Albert, sons of the founder of Stackpole Books and the cofounders of the publishing house Stackpole Sons )

Thank you for this photo. Simply priceless!

 

[War Horse]

Very good stuff.

 

[War Horse]

I'd say that says it all about Longsteets devotion to one Robert E. Lee. Thanks for posting.

 

[M E Wolf]

From Manassas to Appomatox (Longstreet)
Appendix.—Letters Of General Robert E. Lee And General Longstreet.

CAMP PETERSBURG, August 29, 1864.
GENERAL J. LONGSTREET:
MY DEAR GENERAL,—I received yesterday your letter of the 23d, and am much gratified at your improvement. You will soon be as well as ever, and we shall all be rejoiced at your return. You must not, however, become impatient at the gradual progress you must necessarily make, but be content with the steady advance you are making to health and strength. Your progress will be the more certain and your recovery more confirmed. Do not let Sherman capture you, and I will endeavor to hold Grant till you come. I am glad to hear such good accounts of my little namesake. Good lungs are a great blessing, and nothing expands them better than a frill, hearty yell. I hope Mrs. Longstreet is well, and that she is enjoying the good peaches and melons of Georgia. We have but little enjoyment here. Our enemy is very cautious, and he has become so proficient in intrenching that he seems to march with a system already prepared. He threatens dreadful things every day, but, thank God, he has not expunged us yet.

All your army friends inquire for you anxiously, and will be delighted to hear of your improvement. We shall not object to your chirography, so you must practise it often, and let me hear of your progress and well-doing. Please present my kindest regards to Mrs. Longstreet, and love to my namesake. The gentlemen of my staff are very grateful for your remembrance, and unite with me in sincere wishes for your welfare and happiness. I am sure the rest of this army would join did they know of the opportunity.
With great regard, very truly yours,
R. E. LEE.

 

[War Horse]

From Manassas to Appomatox (Longstreet)
Appendix.—Letters Of General Robert E. Lee And General Longstreet.

CAMP PETERSBURG, August 29, 1864.
GENERAL J. LONGSTREET:
MY DEAR GENERAL,—I received yesterday your letter of the 23d, and am much gratified at your improvement. You will soon be as well as ever, and we shall all be rejoiced at your return. You must not, however, become impatient at the gradual progress you must necessarily make, but be content with the steady advance you are making to health and strength. Your progress will be the more certain and your recovery more confirmed. Do not let Sherman capture you, and I will endeavor to hold Grant till you come. I am glad to hear such good accounts of my little namesake. Good lungs are a great blessing, and nothing expands them better than a frill, hearty yell. I hope Mrs. Longstreet is well, and that she is enjoying the good peaches and melons of Georgia. We have but little enjoyment here. Our enemy is very cautious, and he has become so proficient in intrenching that he seems to march with a system already prepared. He threatens dreadful things every day, but, thank God, he has not expunged us yet.

All your army friends inquire for you anxiously, and will be delighted to hear of your improvement. We shall not object to your chirography, so you must practise it often, and let me hear of your progress and well-doing. Please present my kindest regards to Mrs. Longstreet, and love to my namesake. The gentlemen of my staff are very grateful for your remembrance, and unite with me in sincere wishes for your welfare and happiness. I am sure the rest of this army would join did they know of the opportunity.
With great regard, very truly yours,
R. E. LEE.

That's awesome M.E I have referred to this letter in the past. To me it shows the real relationship between the two worriers. Excellent post Sir!

 

[Private Watkins]

Here is a letter from father James to son Lee dated Nov. 28, 1895. Nothing too exciting in terms of content... the bank is closed for Thanksgiving, settling up with the washer woman... still pretty cool. Note that he goes by Lee, and not Robert.

 

[FarawayFriend]

As you are more familiar with his handwriting, could you please once more transcribe it? I can only read "My dear son Lee" and some singular words from the text. Just the fact that he did not write for the public eye, but just from father to son, makes the letter so interesting. And once more I'm thinking how much more relevant a handwritten letter is. I really love email, I love to write to you over there and receive an answer within minutes ... but what will stay from all our emails? We can still read this letter, we see the handwriting, we notice if it was written with a firm hand or with a trembling one ... even after more than 100 years. Our emails are gone within weeks, and even if we do print or store some which are most dear to us, it will never be the same... maybe we should write an occasional old school letter or postcard now and then.

 

[MRB1863]

...and I thank each soldier for their service to our country, no matter which army, they are all Americans!

 

[Private Watkins]

As you are more familiar with his handwriting, could you please once more transcribe it? I can only read "My dear son Lee" and some singular words from the text. Just the fact that he did not write for the public eye, but just from father to son, makes the letter so interesting. And once more I'm thinking how much more relevant a handwritten letter is. I really love email, I love to write to you over there and receive an answer within minutes ... but what will stay from all our emails? We can still read this letter, we see the handwriting, we notice if it was written with a firm hand or with a trembling one ... even after more than 100 years. Our emails are gone within weeks, and even if we do print or store some which are most dear to us, it will never be the same... maybe we should write an occasional old school letter or postcard now and then.

Of course! At least I'll try my best...

Home Nov 28th 1895

My Dear Son Lee

I find the Bank
closed and every one connected with it
absent having Thanksgiving in
Atlanta. So I can't get the letters
until tomorrow.

Please send Mrs Plummin's
bill and settle for washing left out
by me and include that with Mrs
P's bill and I will return check for
the whole amount. I think you had
better Express the washing to Gainesville
C.O.D. as soon as it comes in.

Lulu and Et are well and
join in love to you and Jim.

Affectionately
J. Longstreet​

I believe Lulu is his daughter Maria Louisa (1872-1957), and I would suppose that Et (not entirely sure about that one) might be her husband Jasper Esten Whelchel (1868-1924). And I assume Jim would be his son James Longstreet (1865-1922). Recall that wife Maria Louisa Garland Longstreet passed away in 1889, and he didn't marry Helen until 1897, so perhaps that's why all the fuss about the washing...

 

[FarawayFriend]

Of course! At least I'll try my best...

Home Nov 28th 1895

My Dear Son Lee

I find the Bank
closed and every one connected with it
absent having Thanksgiving in
Atlanta. So I can't get the letters
until tomorrow.

Please send Mrs Plummin's
bill and settle for washing left out
by me and include that with Mrs
P's bill and I will return check for
the whole amount. I think you had
better Express the washing to Gainesville
C.O.D. as soon as it comes in.

Lulu and Et are well and
join in love to you and Jim.
Affectionately
J. Longstreet​

I believe Lulu is his daughter Maria Louisa (1872-1957), and I would suppose that Et (not entirely sure about that one) might be her husband Jasper Esten Whelchel (1868-1924). And I assume Jim would be his son James Longstreet (1865-1922). Recall that Maria Louisa Garland Longstreet passed away in 1889, and he didn't marry Helen until 1897, so perhaps that's why all the fuss about the washing...

And clean clothes might have been some kind of obsession for Longstreet. After his wounding he had to be undressed so that the doctor could tend to the wound and one of the other officers present said something like he could not help but marvel at the flawless white shirt and underwear Longstreet was wearing. In the field! I will see if I can find that wuote once more. Seems he still kept that faible for flawless clean clothing.
Oh, and thank you so much for transcribing the letter!

 

[Private Watkins]

And clean clothes might have been some kind of obsession for Longstreet. After his wounding he had to be undressed so that the doctor could tend to the wound and one of the other officers present said something like he could not help but marvel at the flawless white shirt and underwear Longstreet was wearing. In the field! I will see if I can find that wuote once more. Seems he still kept that faible for flawless clean clothing.
Oh, and thank you so much for transcribing the letter!

Yes, good point! I think it was Robert Stiles in his book Four Years Under Marse Robert:

I rode up to the ambulance and looked in. They had taken off Longstreet's hat and coat and boots. The blood had paled out of his face and its somewhat gross aspect was gone. I noticed how white and dome-like his great forehead looked and, with scarcely less reverent admiration, how spotless white his socks and his fine gauze undervest, save where the black red gore from his breast and shoulder had stained it. While I gazed at his massive frame, lying so still, except when it rocked inertly with the lurch of the vehicle, his eyelids frayed apart till I could see a delicate line of blue between them, and then he very quietly moved his unwounded arm and, with his thumb and two fingers, carefully lifted the saturated undershirt from his chest, holding it up a moment, and heaved a deep sigh. "He is not dead," I said to myself, "and he is calm and entirely master of the situation--he is both greater and more attractive than I have heretofore thought him."​

 

[Private Watkins]

Stiles goes on...

Some years after the war I read in a newspaper a short paragraph which brought this scene vividly to my mind. Longstreet, at the Wilderness, was wounded in the shoulder, fighting Hancock's corps; Hancock had previously been wounded in the thigh, fighting Longstreet's. One evening while Hancock was in command in New Orleans, he and Longstreet entered Hancock's theatre box together. The entire audience rose and burst into enthusiastic cheers, and refused to be seated or to be quiet until the two generals advanced together to the front of the box, when Hancock said: "Ladies and Genlemen--I have the pleasure of presenting to you my friend, General Longstreet, a gentleman to whom I am indebted for an ungraceful limp, and whom I had the misfortune to wing in the same contest."​

 

[FarawayFriend]

Thank you, yes, that was what I meant also.
An account of his wounding and the wound can be found here. That's where I did find the quote also.

http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=404442

 

[Private Watkins]

Thank you, yes, that was what I meant also.
An account of his wounding and the wound can be found here. That's where I did find the quote also.

http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=404442

That's a good article... thanks for sharing it. Here is a picture of Robert Stiles for what it's worth...
Expired Image Removed

 

[Private Watkins]

That's a good article... thanks for sharing it. Here is a picture of Robert Stiles for what it's worth...
Expired Image Removed

And one other good article on Longstreet's wounding...
http://emergingcivilwar.com/2014/05...ongstreet-wounded-in-the-wilderness-part-two/

 

[M E Wolf]

That's awesome M.E I have referred to this letter in the past. To me it shows the real relationship between the two worriers. Excellent post Sir!

War Horse,

Indeed, these two warriors had a wonderful relationship with one another. Only when Lee died, did the "Lost Cause" crowd start beating down Longstreet. The many times reading the O.R.s, though--the ones causing the most fuss were the ones who created the problems and...some 'ran away' instead of staying with the ANV to surrender as the others did.

I am usually a champion of the 'underdog' ....perhaps why I enjoyed being a police officer, as to even up the odds as to give the underdog a fair chance..."equal justice."

Just my thoughts and opinions,
M. E. Wolf