James Longstreet served in the military service of the United States from 1838 to 1861. In June 1861 he became a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, was promoted to major general in May 1862, and to lieutenant general in September 1862. He commanded the First Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia until April 9, 1865. His career spanned from Palo Alto to Chapultepec and from Manassas to Appomattox, and is recalled with the words, “How sleep the brave who sink to rest / By all their country’s wishes blest.”