Lieutenant General James Longstreet

      James Longstreet was a true Southern American man, born in Edgefield, South Carolina, on January 8, 1821. During his younger life, he lived in more than just South Carolina though, Georgia and Alabama were also called home by him, due to just moving, and his father dying at one point. Throughout his life, Longstreet's father and uncle pushed for him to join the military, as his father was a militaristic person. In 1837, his uncle Augustus, and another relative, Reuben Chapman, appointed James to join the United States Military Acadamy, of which Longstreet had extremely bad academic performance, finishing 54 out of 56 in his graduating class of West Point in 1842. Even with his horrible scores, Longstreet befriended much of the important men who would later serve in the Civil War, with and against him, including Ulysses S. Grant. Despite his graduation and it's probable shamefulness, Longstreet later served in the United States Army in the 8th Infantry during the Mexican-American War, earning him early military action.

     During the Civil War era, Longstreet was actually not extremely supportive about secession from the Union, but learned to accept it because of his uncle Augustus' enthusiasm about states' rights, which most likely helped him to resign from the U.S. Army to join the Confederate Army in June of 1861. Longstreet's first action was in the First Battle of Bull Run, where he was just recently promoted to a brigadier general, and although not playing a major role in the battle, was again promoted months later to a rank of major general; with this, he took lead of a section in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Later in the war, while fighting under Robert E. Lee, Longstreet and "Stonewall" Jackson were considered his best men; Longstreet being his defense, and Jackson being the heavy offense. James' defensive tactics proved especially useful in the Battle of Antietam, where he held the line against almost twice as many Union soldiers, until finally falling back to Stonewall's position. After this battle, Longstreet was greeted by Lee with "Ah! Here is Longstreet; here's my old war-horse!", leaving him with the nickname of 'Lee's Old War-Horse'. It was also after this battle that Longstreet was promoted to lieutenant general, becoming the senior lieutenant general in the entire Confederate Army; a huge accomplishment. Longsteet's most controversial, although smartest action took place during the Battle of Gettysburg, when Robert E. Lee ordered for Pickett's men to break open the Union line, with infamous Pickett's Charge; Longstreet didn't want to carry down this order, but had to, even while knowing it was going to be an indefinite slaughter of his own troops. Longstreet followed orders, but disagreed greatly with Lee, and expressed it greatly before and after the Charge. This did not interfere with the rest of the war, Lee and Longstreet fought greatly with each other, Longstreet still being considered Lee's Old War-Horse. James Longstreet was injured accidentally by his own men in 1864, taking him out of action for quite a few months, but he returned just in time during the end of the war, fighting in the Seige of Petersburg, and riding with Lee to Appomattox, where they later surrended, ending the war.