Robert E. Lee

Today in History – 2 January 1904

Confederate General James Longstreet Died

On this day in 1904, Confederate general James Longstreet died at Gainesville, Georgia, USA. He was known by General Robert E. Lee as his ‘Old War Horse.’ He was also known as ‘Old Pete.’

James Longstreet was born on the 8th January 1821, in Edgefield District, South Carolina, USA. He served in the military for most of his early life. He served with distinction in the Mexican-American War, in Texas and in the Confederate States Army.

General James Longstreet was one of the Confederate army’s leading generals, serving in both the eastern and western theaters of the American Civil War. Longstreet was severley injured at the Battle of the Wilderness, though he returned to the war.

Following the war, Longstreet lost many of his civil war friends, as he joined the Republican Party, helped President U.S. Grant and because of his highly critical comments on Robert E. Lee. His reputation has suffered great damage at his own hand, though it seems it is being restored with the passing of time.

For more read:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Longstreet

– From Manassas to Appomattox, by James Longstreet (memoirs of the civil war in America, published in 1903)

Today in History – 18 April 1861

Robert E. Lee: Turns Down Offer to Lead Union Troops

On this day in 1861, with the Civil War in the United States in its very early stages, Colonel Robert E. Lee was offered the role of Major General in the United States Army. Knowing that Virginia was likely to secede from the Union, Lee turned the offer down and resigned from the United States Army two days later. This despite having said to his son in a letter that ‘I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union.’ However, it was love for and loyalty to his home state of Virginia, that forced his hand to join the Confederacy. On the 23rd of April Lee took command of the armed forces of Virginia and began his role in the southern rebellion, in which he would rise to be the General-in-Chief of all Confederate forces. Almost four years later, on the 9th April 1865, his role in the war ended with his surrender to U.S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.