Longstreet The General's Children...

[FarawayFriend]

I have looked in many sites and can't find name for the other child. All the sites say there were 10 children

So many Civil War generals and others had great personal tragedies. It is so sad.

Yes, that is true...

As for the 10th child, thanks to @Northern Light I had found out about the name of the first daughter, Harriet Margaret:

In Wert's Longstreet bio, p. 50 is said that they had a daughter, Harriet Margaret, who only lived from March 12th, 1856 until August 30th.

 

[donna]

FarawayFriend, great find. I was looking in so many sites, glad you found her name.

They sure had their tragedies when came to their children. Is she listed in Find A Grave? Maybe someone should add her to Longstreet's and his wife's memorials.

 

[Private Watkins]

I can't seem to open that link. I don't get a Blocked message but the message File Not Found.

Sorry about that, the file location must have changed since I originally posted. Here's the new link, which has also been included in the first post above...
http://www.longstreetsociety.org/who-buried-the-children.html

 

[MRB1863]

Hope this is not off topic.

The Country's beloved Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary (Mary Ann Todd) suffered many family tragedies as well. Here is an interesting article: https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/life.htm

 

[FarawayFriend]

FarawayFriend, great find. I was looking in so many sites, glad you found her name.

They sure had their tragedies when came to their children. Is she listed in Find A Grave? Maybe someone should add her to Longstreet's and his wife's memorials.

That is a good idea! I hope someone will find out more about the little one. She sure was much loved by her parents, she should not be forgotten!

Hope this is not off topic.

The Country's beloved Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary (Mary Ann Todd) suffered many family tragedies as well. Here is an interesting article: https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/life.htm

So many families suffered tragedies because of dying children or mothers dying in childbirth (which I personally find even more tragic). I often think people then had to be a lot tougher than we are.

 

[GELongstreet]

Think this could need a move to the Longstreet board, dear mods ... @chellers @kholland @jgoodguy

 

[donna]

I was thinking of their first daughter, Harriet Margaret Longstreet. She was born March 12, 1856 and died August 30, 1856. She was born and died in Ft. Bliss, El Paso County, Texas. She is not on find a grave. I wonder if there is old cemetery near Ft. Bliss where she is buried.

 

[Burning Billy]

I'd like to see research on what percent of prominent figures lost a first degree family member during the war. It seems almost unthinkable to us today that someone could suffer such a loss and just go on working, but to them it was such a common occurrence. If the world stopped every time a child died, not much would have gotten done..

Although it didn't affect a civil war figure, there was a similar tragedy in Theodore Roosevelt's family. On February 14th, 1884 both his wife and mother died hours apart, in the same home. His mother died from Typhoid, and his wife who was just 22 at the time, from a kidney ailment just two days after giving birth to a daughter.

I imagine before 'modern' medicine a lot of households went through similar tragedies.

Theodore, who had been head-over-heels in love with his wife, wrote this as his only diary entry for the day:

 

[FarawayFriend]

Here is another photo of the "three-in-one" tombstone; clearly one stone along the base with three individual memorials along the upper half. Three losses, three tragedies all at once... one set of heartbroken parents.

Stuart lost his daughter to scarlet fever right before Gettysburg.

Yes, and "Our little Flora" as well as "Our little Jeb" rest behind their father's grave at Hollywood Cemetery:

Think this could need a move to the Longstreet board, dear mods ... @chellers @kholland @jgoodguy

Paging @War Horse :
Did you see this thread? I remember you recently told us about the real burial of the Longstreet children... which was quite different from what Sallie Pickett described!

 

[kholland]

Think this could need a move to the Longstreet board, dear mods ... @chellers @kholland @jgoodguy

Done!

 

[War Horse]

Yes, and "Our little Flora" as well as "Our little Jeb" rest behind their father's grave at Hollywood Cemetery:
View attachment 128342



Paging @War Horse :
Did you see this thread? I remember you recently told us about the real burial of the Longstreet children... which was quite different from what Sallie Pickett described!

I'll have a look. Just arrived in Daytona. Unpacking and looking forward to diner.

 

[FarawayFriend]

I'll have a look. Just arrived in Daytona. Unpacking and looking forward to diner.

Have a great time on vacation!

 

[Eleanor Rose]

I'll have a look. Just arrived in Daytona. Unpacking and looking forward to diner.

Daytona!?! Have a blast!

 

[War Horse]

View attachment 79060

Great article posted over at the Longstreet Society...

Who Buried the Children?
Original research by Longstreet Society member Jan Vanderheiden

In Richmond, VA during winter 1862, the three youngest children of General James and Maria Louisa Longstreet died from scarlet fever. This personal tragedy is mentioned in biographies and discussions of Longstreet the General. However events that happened, or did not happen in regards to little Mary Ann, James Jr. and Augustus Baldwin Longstreet following their deaths seem vague and troubled. For many decades it was believed that in those dark hours James and Louise were too distraught to see to the children's funeral arrangements, or even attend the services. Longstreet's friend Brigadier General George Pickett, who was in Richmond at the time with 16 year-old LaSalle Corbell, intervened. It was George and Sally (soon to be the third Mrs. George Pickett) who took care of all arrangements and attended for the grief-stricken parents. However, this long established tale rings false for some Longstreet scholars, especially since the only source for its authenticity is contained within a letter of condolence written by LaSalle herself to Longstreet's second wife, Helen, upon the General's passing on January 4, 1904. ​

To read the rest of the article, please go here...
http://www.longstreetsociety.org/who-buried-the-children.html

We now know the Pickett story to be a another embellished attempt to reconstruct her beloved Gerorges memory. The death records still stored at Hollywood cemetery bare the signature of James, himself. The signature has been studied and believed to be authentic. Also the children were placed in a temporary vault with other unfortunate victims. Some years later the General returned and purchased the grave the children now spend eternity in. I do have the details however I won't have them available to me for a week.

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Does anyone know more information about the Longstreet children who lived to adulthood? When I visited his gravesite, two of his sons were buried in the family plot (Garland and Fitz Randolph). This got me thinking more about them as well as their two brothers and one sister. I know the other two sons are buried in Arlington and I discovered that Lulu is buried in Washington, DC. That solved a mystery for me as I had discovered that her husband was buried in Alta Vista in a family plot, but she was "missing." Lulu's grandparents (on her mother's side) are also buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC.

I only recently realized that Garland never married and that Fitz was married twice. His first wife who died around the age of 30 in their Gainesville home from a "nervous condition" is buried in the Longstreet family plot aside Fitz. His second wife is not. All three of his children - a son from the first marriage and a son and daughter (twins it appears) from the second marriage - are buried there as well. In looking for Lulu, I read that she was born in Michigan (1872). I wonder what Maria Louisa Longstreet was doing in Michigan of all places in 1872. Her mother was born in Detroit, but she was deceased before Lulu's birth. I thought General Longstreet and his family were living in New Orleans in 1872. Any ideas?

 

[Patrick H]

Does anyone know more information about the Longstreet children who lived to adulthood? When I visited his gravesite, two of his sons were buried in the family plot (Garland and Fitz Randolph). This got me thinking more about them as well as their two brothers and one sister. I know the other two sons are buried in Arlington and I discovered that Lulu is buried in Washington, DC. That solved a mystery for me as I had discovered that her husband was buried in Alta Vista in a family plot, but she was "missing." Lulu's grandparents (on her mother's side) are also buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC.

I only recently realized that Garland never married and that Fitz was married twice. His first wife who died around the age of 30 in their Gainesville home from a "nervous condition" is buried in the Longstreet family plot aside Fitz. His second wife is not. All three of his children - a son from the first marriage and a son and daughter (twins it appears) from the second marriage - are buried there as well. In looking for Lulu, I read that she was born in Michigan (1872). I wonder what Maria Louisa Longstreet was doing in Michigan of all places in 1872. Her mother was born in Detroit, but she was deceased before Lulu's birth. I thought General Longstreet and his family were living in New Orleans in 1872. Any ideas?

I am sorry that I don't. I am utterly ignorant about the children. However, I am glad you posed the question. I will be watching for informed responses.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Mary Garland Deas, her sister lived in Flint- she was visiting her. It sounds so odd though. Why journey so far from home, so pregnant?

 

[Eleanor Rose]

Mary Garland Deas, her sister lived in Flint- she was visiting her. It sounds so odd though. Why journey so far from home, so pregnant?

Thanks for this information. This does seem odd. I know General Longstreet made numerous enemies in New Orleans after battling against the Crescent White League and he and his family did not feel safe there. However, I'm pretty sure that event occurred after Lulu was born. Hopefully Mrs. Longstreet could travel mostly by riverboat when she went to visit her sister. I would think that would be much more pleasant than a train ride if you were expecting.

 

[GELongstreet]

The weather-worn gravestone of William Dent Longstreet (1853-1854). The son of Gen. Longstreet, probably named after the later`s brother (he in turn probably for the paternal grandfather and his mother`s family), was just one year old and accompanied his parents to Washington (D.C.) when he became ill and died, being buried there at Oak Hill Cemetery.

 

[BlueandGrayl]

Man, really tragic story of the Civil War.