Lieutenant General James Longstreet

James Longstreet, born in Edgefield District, S.C., on January 8, 1821, graduated from West Point in 1842 and served as a lieutenant with the 8th U.S. Infantry in the Mexican War, receiving a brevet as major for gallantry at the Battle of Molino del Rey. He resigned his commission as a major in the U.S. Army in May 1861, was appointed brigadier general in the Confederate States Army in June 1861, promoted to major general in October 1861, and promoted to lieutenant general in October 1862. As Gen. Robert E. Lee's second in command and the ranking lieutenant general in the Army of Northern Virginia, he led troops in the battles of First Manassas, the Peninsula, Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and Knoxville. At Gettysburg, soldiers of his command held and protected the army's right wing from July 2 to 4, 1863; on July 2 his First Corps attacked and dislodged Union forces at Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, and the Peach Orchard, and on July 3, under Lee's orders, he coordinated an attack against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge that was repulsed with great loss after penetrating the enemy's battle line. During the march back to Virginia, he and his First Corps played a prominent role in protecting the retreating army. Wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864, he returned to duty during the Union siege of Petersburg and was present with Lee at the surrender of the army at Appomattox. He died on January 2, 1904, and was buried at Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, GA.

Freedom Township, Pennsylvania · United States