Description
Very nice carte view of the famed general. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Longstreet, then serving in New Mexico Territory, resigned his commission after nearly twenty years of service. He was very quickly appointed Brigadier General under P.G.T. Beauregard and reported for duty in July of 1861. Following his first action at Blackburn’s Ford, Longstreet received praise for his coolness under fire and the manner in which he inspired his men. Longstreet and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson were both promoted to Major General under Joseph E. Johnston in October 1861. Following his promotion Longstreet commanded a division of six brigades–the nucleus of what would eventually become the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. Longstreet performed admirably during the Peninsula Campaign despite receiving news of the death by disease of his three children. That August, at Second Manassas, Longstreet’s wing of 28,000 men counterattacked the Union forces in what has been called “the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. The Union left flank was crushed and the army driven back to Bull Run.” Longstreet was also noticed for his excellent performance the following month at Antietam, and his extraordinary coolness under fire continued to be a trademark. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Longstreet commanded the Confederate right and nearly broke the Union line on July 2nd. On July 3, in perhaps the war’s most famous episode, troops from Longstreet’s corps under Maj. General George Pickett charged across open fields to assault the Union center only to be repulsed, again at a great loss. For the remainder of his life, Longstreet would continually assert his opposition to Lee’s command decisions at Gettysburg, much to the disdain of his fellow officers. This opposition, combined with allegations that he deliberately delayed the execution of Lee’s orders, did much to tarnish Longstreet’s reputation. At the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864, Longstreet and his men performed well, finding a hidden route from which they could attack Union forces, catching them in a deadly crossfire. On May 6th, in an incident very similar to Stonewall Jackson’s mortal wounding the year before, Longstreet was fired on by his own men. A minié bullet passed through Longstreet’s neck and shoulder, permanently paralyzing the general’s right arm. Though he survived, he did not return to his corps until October, by which time the Confederate army was dead-locked in defending the besieged city of Petersburg. Longstreet was assigned to protect Richmond and the vital railroads that supplied the city. On April 2, 1865, Union forces broke the Confederate line at Petersburg. When A. P. Hill was killed, Longstreet took command of his Third Corps. On April 9, 1865, however, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Longstreet and Lee parted ways on April 12, 1865. Longstreet moved to New Orleans, and the two men never saw each other again. No back mark on this one.
