Re: Longstreet

Bob Rogers (rogers@sol.instrumental.com)
Fri, 1 Apr 1994 11:28:28 ECT

> Claude (claude5382@aol.com) writes:
> >From the keyboard of Cpt. P.R.M. Brooks Jr:
> >Clay,
>
> > ..... I had heard only the St. Lee and Jackson versions of
> Southern-Civil War History.
> >As I studied and read about the Civil War, I began to question why
> Longstreet
> >got such a bad rap by Southerners.
> > In relation to what Claude said about "Manassas to Appomatox" I don't
> >think Longstreet was necessarly loose with the truth, rather, he was an
> >embittered old man whose former friends were now his enemies and whose
> former enemies were now his friends.

I enjoyed reading William Garrett Piston "Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant:
James Longstreet and His Place in Southern History"; it gives a fine
account of the demonization of Longstreet at the hands of the Lost Causers
and of Longstreet's failure to responed effectively to their criticisms.

> roundtops. All to no avail; Lee was determined. IMHO the only action that
> Longstreet should be criticized for is trying to shift the burden of ordering
> the attack on 3 July of Pickett's and Pettigrew's divisions to his artillery
> commander, Col. Porter Alexander.

What might Longstreet have done differently? While his evident reluctance
to order the attack can be faulted as a breach of procedure, could he
have actually conducted the attack differently?

--
Bob Rogers            Internet:  rogers@instrumental.com
Instrumental, Inc.    GEnie:     R.C.ROGERS
Minneapolis, MN       Phone:     612-920-6188