In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

“The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions”: James Longstreet in War and Peace William L. Richter St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a medieval French cleric, sponsor of the Crusades , and confessor to the Knights Templar, is credited with the aphorism that aptly describes those of good purpose whose best efforts fall short of expectations.1 The Civil War is full of officers on both sides who suffered from such frustration. But few of the war’s generals felt the sting of disappointment and failure more during their lifetime of high hopes and aspirations than General Robert E. Lee’s “old warhorse,” his ever-stalwart corps commander, Lieutenant General James “Old Pete” Longstreet.2 The man who would become arguably the Confederacy’s preeminent corps commander was born into a middle-class farm family in Edgefield District , South Carolina, on January 8, 1821.3 “Pete,” as the young Longstreet was called, applied to the national military academy, entering as a member of the class of 1842, where he graduated fifty-four out of sixty-two students.4 By the time of the war with Mexico, Longstreet was an infantry company commander . He fought under Major General Zachary Taylor in the battles across southern Texas and northern Mexico.5 Then Longstreet was transferred to Major General Winfield Scott’s army for Scott’s campaign against Mexico City, where he was seriously wounded in the hip at Chapultepec. After his wound had healed, Longstreet served a decade on the Texas frontier.6 Upon secession of the South, like many officers who transferred to the South (including Robert E. Lee),7 Longstreet received his Confederate commission as lieutenant colonel of infantry before he resigned from the U.S. Army and then a promotion to brigadier general. Described as “slightly below William L. Richter 204 middle height, broad shouldered and somewhat heavy,” Longstreet was considered “essentially a combat officer.”8 Longstreet’s assignment was as brigade commander for three Virginia regiments stationed at Manassas Junction under the overall command of Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard. As the Yankees heeded the Northern public’s demand, “On to Richmond,” Longstreet and the rest of the Confederate army in northern Virginia began to station themselves at the various crossings along Bull Run, north of Manassas. Longstreet’s Brigade guarded Blackburn’s Ford. Here, on July 18, 1861, three days before the Battle of First Manassas, in his first independent combat command, Longstreet beat off a Union reconnaissance in force and became the first hero of the impending Confederate victory. Blackburn’s Ford was a defensive battle; Longstreet’s attempt to counterattack using reinforcements of Jubal Early’s supporting brigade was stopped by difficulty fording the creek and the Union withdrawal. He took no further part in the real fight, which raged to his left a few days later. Although Longstreet missed the big battle, he received plaudits from General Beauregard for turning back the Yankee probe at Blackburn’s Ford. Beauregard considered Longstreet’s able defense as the key to making Union Brigadier General Irwin McDowell more cautious and hesitant in pushing his initial advantage at First Manassas. This allowed Confederates under General Joseph E. Johnston to arrive from the Shenandoah Valley in time to win the battle. The result was that Johnston, who outranked Beauregard, recommended Longstreet’s promotion from brigadier to major general, citing his “promptness of thought and action.”9 As winter approached, quarrels over rank and honors sprang up between President Jefferson Davis and both Beauregard and Johnston. Eventually Beauregard was sent west, while Davis and Johnston sniped at each other by letter in Virginia. Longstreet, meanwhile, took over a division and drilled his troops incessantly. He was the only division commander who drilled his whole division at once, giving himself and his men the feel for what it took to operate on future battlefields. Longstreet’s active command attitude, assisted by one of the best staffs on either side, prompted Johnston to ignore Major General G. W. Smith, his senior division officer, and assign the more difficult administrative tasks to Longstreet. Old Pete in effect became Johnston’s second in command. The close relationship between Longstreet and Johnston may have had other benefits , too. Johnston was an expert at defensive tactics (indeed, he really only fought two purely offensive battles in the war, Seven Pines [1862] and Bentonville [1865]), and Longstreet seems to have absorbed much of Johnston’s tactical preferences. But whereas Johnston favored retreat after his defense [3.129...

Share