James Longstreet Character Analysis

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James Longstreet was an integral man throughout the duration of the American Civil War. He played a part in almost every major battle that the Confederacy fought, he commanded troops at the first and second Battles of Bull Run, in addition to being Lee’s right hand man at Gettysburg. He was with his commanding officer, General Lee, to the Confederacy’s bitter end at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. James Longstreet was born January 8, 1821 in Edgefield, South Carolina. However, he spent most of his childhood at the home of his Uncle Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, who resided in Augusta, Georgia. It was from his time with his uncle that he gained his strong belief in states rights (Civil 1). General Longstreet attended West Point Military …show more content…

Alexander wrote to Pickett, "If you are to advance at all, you must come at once or we will not be able to support you as we thought . . . "(Genereal James Longstreet 1) The quote is an exceprt from a battlereport written by Longstreet. The quote is from Confederate Reserve Artillery Commander Alexander. He wrote in his battlefield dispatch that if Pickett’s charge was going to happen it needed to happen sooner rather than later. Or him and his men would not be able to hold out long enough to support the offensive. The failure of “Pickett’s Charge” was felt heavily through the Confederate Army. So much that Confederate officers felt that the war was doomed, with the defeat at Gettysburg. Many Confederate officers wanted to surrender and end the war rather than go through another deadly conflict like the Battle of Gettysburg (Nash …show more content…

His disdain grew when several of Longstreet’s staff wanted him to be removed from command. After the disagreement with Bragg, Longstreet and his forces were shipped to East Tennessee. While in Tennessee General Longstreet attempted to take Knoxville; he was unsuccessful and was defeated by Union General Ambrose Burnside (History 1). James Longstreet was injured by friendly fire in similar fashion to Stonewall Jackson. The bullet that struck General Longstreet resulted in him being paralyzed. He did not return to combat until October of the same year that he was injured. By that time his army was locked in defending the under siege city of Petersburg, Virginia. He was tasked with guarding the city of Richmond which was extremely important as it was the Confederate capital city. The Confederate defenses failed and the city was overtaken. Longstreet was with General Lee at the surrender on April 9th, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia (Civil

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