Longstreet Felled

On the most successful day of James Longstreet’s career, he arrived early on the Wilderness battlefield to find the Confederate army in full retreat and in danger of being destroyed, and his troops prevented disaster. At midday, he had just launched a flank attack that drove the Union army back in confusion when, as he galloped down the road at the head of his victorious troops near this spot, he inadvertently rode between two Confederate lines maneuvering in the dense roadside foliage. One of them fired a volley, and a bullet struck Longstreet in the throat while another killed his subordinate Micah Jenkins, riding at his side. Like “Stonewall” Jackson a year before, Longstreet was felled by his own men, but unlike Jackson he survived. His wounding here on May 6 stalled the Confederate advance, and by the time Lee was able to revive it, the opportunity for victory had passed. Captain Francis W. Dawson of Longstreet’s staff recalled the sadness in General Lee’s face and the almost despairing movement of his hands when he was told that Longstreet had fallen.

Virginia · United States