James "Pete" Longstreet (1821-1904)

Confederate General James Longstreet, commonly known by the nickname "Pete" or "Old Pete," is one of the most controversial figures of the American Civil War. He was born in South Carolina on January 8, 1821. When he was nine years old, he went to live with his uncle, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, in Augusta, Georgia. He lived there for nine years until he was sent to the United States Military Academy at West point in 1838.

Longstreet graduated in 1842, very low in his class, but he was popular with his classmates, including George Pickett, LaFayette McClaws and John Bell "Sam" Hood. Another friend, Ulysses S. Grant, would graduate in the class of 1843. Longstreet introduced Grant to his fourth cousin, Julia Dent. The two of them would marry, and Longstreet served as the best man at their wedding.

Longstreet served gallantly during the Mexican War and slowly began to climb the military chain of command following that conflict. When the secession crisis emerged, he resigned his commission in the United States Army and offered his services to the Confederacy in June 1861.

By October 1862, Longstreet had risen to the rank of lieutenant general and had become one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted subordinates. During the war, Longstreet served at the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Chickamauga. It was his action, or inaction, at the Battle of Gettysburg that created the controversy that tarnished his military legacy in the eyes of many Southerners. Longstreet opposed General Lee's headlong attack of Union forces during that battle.

Following the war, Lee apologists, led by General Jubal Early, blamed Longstreet's opposition and subsequent belated attack for the Confederate loss. More recent scholarship has questioned that conclusion and attributed much of the anti-Longstreet sentiment to Longstreet's post-war politics, which were unpopular with many Southerners. Following the Civil War, Longstreet joined the Republican Party and held several federal positions during and after Reconstruction.

In 1896, Longstreet published his memoirs, From Manassas to Appomattox, which defended his actions at Gettysburg, at the expense of the immortalized Lee. This further alienated him from many Southerners. Longstreet died on January 2, 1904, at Gainsville, Georgia, and remains a controversial figure in Southern history.