I think General Longstreet played the decisive role in the victory at 2nd Manassas. He was a stalwart in the repulse of the Union army on the Peninsula, where Jackson seemed to be asleep thru much of the seven day battle. His personal courage on Piper's Ridge at Sharpsburg made him a legend. The cannon he fired himself is still there on the hill overlooking bloody lane.
As a former soldier I can attest to the fact that personal courage and obedience to orders are how battles are won. Longstreet was Lee's "warhorse", whom he trusted explicitly. Not the pure genius of Jackson. More of a plodder.. But got the job done where others would have failed.
@@dennisivan85 another loser who tries to push the same old Lost cause b******* that the loss at Gettysburg was all Longstreet they can't accept their hero lee f***** up Longstreet got blamed because he was a friend of grants and became a Republican the fact that you're a marine has nothing to do but little boy a bunch of neo Confederate b*******!!!
@@dennisivan85 so you’re argument is that whenever someone is being commanded by someone else they are not doing anything. Hmm interesting. Just because you have people above you in the ranks doesn’t mean everything you do is because of that person
One of the best Corp commanders of the entire war. he had his faults, as they all did, but was very hard done by historically speaking and during the latter part of his life. I'm glad there has been a rehabilitation of the man in more recent times, I like him.
I just finished Longstreet's memoirs. He criticized Lee and Jackson, the two biggest saints of the Lost Cause, in no uncertain terms. If memory serves, by the time Longstreet published his memoirs (1896), he'd already run afoul of Jubal Early and the Lost Cause proponents. But he burned lots of bridges in his memoirs. I suppose Old Pete figured there was no way to patch things up with the Lost Cause crew...so he didn't bother trying. Looking forward to your July 3 video, and your take on what Lee honestly thought he could accomplish with Pickett's Charge. Did he really think he could smash Meade's force and make it combat-ineffective? Was he hoping to induce panic in the Federals, and get them to flee like they did at First Manassas? Was he trying to get Meade to retreat from the Gettysburg battlefield, so Lee could take the Army of Northern Virginia elsewhere? Lee had to know that Pickett's force, even if it did take Cemetery Hill, was going to be so beaten up that it couldn't exploit any gains it made. I've never been clear on what Lee was specifically trying to achieve on July 3rd, and whether Lee's goals were realistic, or achievable.
Longstreet's memoirs aren't as enjoyable to read as some others, in part because I think he took himself a little TOO seriously. He was playing defense by that point, too, which stacked the cards.
I think he hoped that Lincoln would be forced by public opinion and the advice of his own staff to negotiate a peace agreement favorable to the South if Lee could again defeat the Union Army. But I do agree that the cost of victory at Gettysburg would have been enormous.
It's important to remember that a lot of the criticism of Longstreet began well after the war when he jumped ship from the Democratic party and became a Republican. He was a marked man from that day on. Some things never change I guess. That being said, the battle of Gettysburg was decided by the end of the first day of fighting and Longstreet knew it. Although badly beaten, the Union 1st and 11th Corps had escaped to secure the high ground and five more Corps were in the vicinity but nobody had eyes on them. A.P. Hill's command was wrecked and pretty much rendered combat ineffective for an entire day and Lee had no knowledge of the land in front of him due to the absence of Jeb Stuart's cavalry. I think Longstreet was simply trying to buy time in hopes that Lee would see the reality of the situation before he sent the Army to be slaughtered. I'm a combat veteran myself and was in the Army for 21 years and the situation that the Army of Northern Virginia found itself in was in no way conducive to a successful offensive campaign. Unfortunately for them Longstreet was the only one that saw it.
@@faw3511 Stuart had 6 Cavalry Brigades available for the Gettysburg campaign. He took 3 of them and disappeared and left 3 with the main Army. He was SUPPOSED to screen the right flank of the army and provide forward observation and keep an eye on the Army of the Potomac which was traveling on a parallel course. Somehow he ended up completely on the opposite side of Meades Army. Lee just assumed that Stuart was out in front somewhere because normally he would have been. When Lee ordered everyone to concentrate in the vicinity of Gettysburg Stuart was unaware and found himself about 50 miles to the northeast and well out of position to communicate with anyone else. The other 3 brigades were screening the other flank and providing a rear guard and a number of companies had actually been sent in different directions to look for Stuart. Hampton's Brigade was charged with escorting several captured supply wagons and was moving at a snail's pace and was pretty much useless at that point. It has never been made clear why Stuart did what he did.
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@@faw3511 Lee was overly dependent on particular persons, rather than using all his assets. By particular persons, I mean people like Stuart who was off joyriding and Jackson who was off dead.
One might say it began publicly right after Lee's death in 1870. Ol' Jube, almost as soon as the war ended wanted to attack the Reconstruction policies but Lee counselled patience and endurance. In private letters Early attacked Longstreet; again Lee counselled patience. By 1871 Early and Ewell were both publicly attacking Longstreet and it grew from there.
@@johnnychaos152 What is undeniable is that Lee's orders to Stuart were self-contradictory and gave Stuart a great deal of discretion. Since Stuart never explained his actions we'll never know the deep motivations of his heart, but it seems most likely that he took the course of action that appealed to his personal sense of style - a daring, sweeping raid that would humiliate the Union cavalry and grab big headlines.
I think Longstreet was an excellent general . I think just about all the generals on both sides fought in the Mexican-American war and witnessed the power of attacking and out maneuvering your opponent using Napoleonic strategy. I think the casualty rate was so high do to the change in weapon technologies. A well fortified position was much harder to conquer then had been in the past . You look at the destruction at Gettysburg and Fredericksburg.
Delivered the most successful corps level deliberate attacks of the war, 2nd Manassas, 2 July Gettysburg, 20 SEP Chickamauga, and 6 May at the battle of Wilderness.
Longstreet was correct to want to Redeploy and pick their ground in between the Union Forces and Washington. Lee didn't want to give up ground men had died for fighting for two days. Lee also was trying to end the war at Gettysburg. Lee also was very sick. He told Longstreet that they were adrift in a sea of blood. He told Longstreet I want this to be the last battle..
@@dennisivan85 well genius, Grant was quite capable of understanding the larger picture when it came to vicksburg! Also, genius, Lee consistently fought to prevent reinforcements for the west to drawn from his army. While no commander ever wants to lose troops, I would think one who could grasp the overall strategic picture would might maybe could see the benefit of say, reinforcing the west to free up vicksburg. Nah, let's move north and try and destroy the AoP. Good enough answer? Genius!
@@dennisivan85 NEWS FLASH!! VICKSBURG WAS POINTLESS!! Hey keyboard warrior, this retired "pretend" green beret would love to show you all about war. However I will say one more thing followed by nothing more since you are possibly the dumbest individual I have had the misfortune of encountering here or ,quite possibly, anywhere else. According to your theory, the entire CSA was doomed to fall but Lee and his collection of losers would save the confederacy by keeping the dream alive in Virginia, if he had won?! As for Vicksburg, that was mentioned as an example of Operational thinking done by Grant as opposed to tactical thinking shown by your deity Lee. Never seen someone get so butt hurt over something so simple. Now jackass, go back into your moms basement and play video games based on my life and work on memorizing your keyboard Ranger Creed. LoL
Longstreet may have been correct in wanting to redeploy, but he also never explained how that would have worked. Both he and Lee seemed to have been indulging in a good deal of wishful thinking.
I disagree that Longstreet doesn’t hold any blame for the attack falling short. It was his call to make the assault en echelon. He was largely responsible for the timing of each segment of the en echelon attack going forward. What this meant was that each wave, from right to left, became essentially its own, piecemeal attack. They enjoyed brief success at multiple points, but the AotP was able to push back and plug up the gaps as it went along. We must at least consider the possibility that an attack with all pieces moving forward would have played out differently. And this is before taking into account the delay, marching and counter marching all afternoon. Longstreet shouldn’t hold all the blame for July 2nd. But he must hold a good deal of it.
It ticks me off that I can never find any reference to Billy Mahone's refusal to move on July 2, which effectively ended the en echelon attack. The man thrice refused direct orders to move his brigade forward; the brigades beyond Mahone never moved because they were depending on him to keep it going.
@@indy_go_blue6048 The classic modern treatment, required reading: "The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command", Edwin B. Coddington, Scribners (1968)
Doubtful Jackson would have talked Lee out of any attack. I can think of only 1-2 instances where he was against attack. But I don’t think these assaults were suicide charges by any stretch. They’ve been turned into that with hindsight and the Lost Cause, romanticizing soldiers that went into the vortex even though they knew they would die and the attack would fail. But there’s no reason the Confederates couldn’t have succeeded on July 2nd and even July 3rd.
One of the historians said that the small size of the horse was to represent Longstreet's supposed slowness at Gettysburg. Was his delay in the attack the critical factor of the outcome of the second day? I don't think I'm qualified to answer that but I think that his becoming the scapegoat for the loss of the battle has more to do with his after war embrace of the republican party and serving the government in various capacities.
Longstreet was one of the best generals of the war and indeed is unfairly criticized because he largely abandoned the South after the war, serving in Grant's administration. Lee had gone north to win a decisive battle to hopefully relieve the pressure around Vicksburg, and if the victory was big enough, maybe convince Washington to consider peace terms. He knew full well that time was running out on the South. They could not win a war of attrition. Considering that, it is understandable that Lee dismissed Longstreet's suggestion to wheel south. That would have merely delayed the battle, which was not in the best interest of the army, who was cut off from their supplies, or the South, who was about to lose Vicksburg. Longstreet's slowness to attack the federal left flank on July 2 greatly helped Warren get the men in place to defend Little Round Top. Even so, the Army of Northern Virginia successfully took a part of Cemetary Ridge that day but failed to hold it. This spurred Lee's belief that a greater force to take and keep the ridge on July 3.
Poor Ambrose Powell Hill ..he had a pretty bad couple of days.. As best i have read he was suffering from his disease that he contracted as a teenager.
Longstreet became a Republican after the war, which to the South, made him a traitor. Lee was the shining star, even though the Army of Northern Virgina sustained tremendous casualties throughout the war, and was merely a stalemate in the eastern theater. The war was won in the western theater, even though the battles in the east catch most of the historical attention.
All in all, I consider him a pretty reliable lieutenant to have in a council of war. Although somewhat obstinate, he was very competent. To me, his worst performance was the assault he ordered on Knoxville against Burnside.
Longstreet was a complex guy. He was not a romantic Virginian the way Lee, Stuart and most of the rest were. He also was nursing a broken heart because his children had died the previous year
@@Glicksman1 Can you imagine being called home by your spouse To find them standing at the door in total shock. When Longstreet asked Louise, his wife how the children were ,she kept repeating over and over the boy is dead! They had 4 children together ages 4 to 12. Three girls and one boy. Longstreet thought that she meant their son had died. He proceeded to move to the boys bedroom to find not only him dead but his two little daughter's as will. All three of them lying there on the bed together. Longstreet was so over come by the shock that he fainted and was bedridden. Both he and Louise were so overcome with grief that they were unable to make any funeral arrangements. His friend George Pickett came to their aide and took care of the arrangements. A year later at Gettysburg Longstreet wrote in his journal of the ongoing nightly nightmares of that day.
@@elviscobb5922 Such extreme tragedy surely shaped everything he did thereafter and all of his days and nights. Most people, including me, would not be able to go on. That he did go on is a testament to his extraordinary inner strength and sense of duty (albeit to the worst possible cause) and his apparent ability to compartmentalize that horrific event and to put it out of his mind when he needed to do so. It does not take a Psychiatrist to understand that that experience certainly grievously affected him for the rest of his life as it would any human being. It adds to his complexity in a very sad, brokenhearted way. Nevertheless, he was still correct as to his advice to Lee at Gettysburg, who should have heeded it, and I think would have done so if it had come from Gen. Jackson as everything we know of Jackson indicates that it certainly would have. Notwithstanding the terrible carnage that ensued for those three days, which all good people would rather had not occurred, I 'm glad he didn't. Thank you for informing me of this heartrending event.
Longstreet was a realist, Grant was too, only more so. Each was what we'd now call a "professional" . Go in and get the job done as quickly as possible.
"Oh! Oh!" Howard did fine in the Western Theater under Grant and Sherman; Sherman even took his corps on the march to Savannah whereas the sick, weak and wounded went to Nashville with Thomas. Seems like almost everyone stunk to some degree or another in the AoP with a few exceptions.
It’s very difficult to fault Lee in ordering the attack known as Pickett’s Charge. On the one hand, Longstreet’s maneuver to the Confederate right was a viable alternative if it was meant to be tactical in nature (since the road net in the area did not support a wider envelopment). Furthermore, Lee’s original plan was to entice the AotP into attacking the AoNV, and such a maneuver held out the possibility of enticing Meade into doing just that. Lastly, a frontal assault over a mile of open ground can easily be seen as foolhardy. On the other hand, a maneuver to the right would take time to draw the AotP into any attack- and by 3 July, Lee was rapidly running out of time. One reason for this was that the primary strategic objective of the campaign was to do something to remove pressure from the Confederate defenders at Vicksburg, and Vicksburg had been placed under siege before Lee’s campaign even got underway. Another reason was that the Confederates had not been foraging for two days since the battle began, and any maneuver around the Union left would further eat into the stocks accumulated since the army moved north. Additionally, the Confederate minor victory in the meeting engagement of 1 July had saddled Lee with a tactical initiative which he had never wanted- and so the possibility of the AotP carrying out any attack on the AoNV was very low. Lastly, the historical record shows that the men of the AoNV were supremely confident of victory at the onset of the campaign, and the previous two days of battle had been successful in nature. So what was Lee to do?
I have never read anything about Lee wanting to entice Meade into attacking, Lee's army didn't even do any entrenching like they would if they expected Meade to attack. Lee thoughts were completely on the offensive after the first day. Lee was hoping to destroy a few of the union corps and force them into retreating from their position where he could defeat them in succession.
@@marknace1736 Lee stated in his after action report that it had not been intended to fight a battle so far from the Confederates' base unless attacked. Longstreet stated in his memoirs that the campaign was to be waged utilizing defensive tactics. Yet the primary objective of the campaign was to do something to remove pressure from the Confederate defenders at Vicksburg. Lee went over to the strategic offensive by invading the north, but intended that the AotP should attack the AoNV. The unexpected meeting engagement on 1 July ruined Lee's initial plan of campaign because the minor defeat inflicted on the AotP all but ensured that Union forces would not be attacking the AoNV. As a result, Lee was saddled with a tactical initiative which he had not wanted- and the clock was ticking at Vicksburg. Your statement that "Lee thoughts were completely on the offensive after the first day" is accurate (special emphasis on the last four words).
Given the option of withdrawing in good order or ordering a suicidal attack that cost 9,000 casualties in an hour, I think we certainly can fault Lee. The fact that he should have withdrawn before the attacks of July 2 only make his blunder worse. And that fact that the whole strategic scheme of relieving pressure on the already-doomed Vicksburg by invading Pennsylvania makes the whole thing more of a farce than a military campaign.
If Longstreet had been in charge of strategy for the Army of Northern Virginia rather than Lee, the South would have had a better chance to win. Lee never really grasped that the Confederates could not get into a war of attrition with a foe that was so far ahead of them in man power and material.
Longstreet was not honored by the confederates because he rebelled against them, became a Republican, and approved of Reconstruction. He was not honored by the Union (states) because he was a Confederate during the time of the war and was not a northerner. I am sure that Robert E. Lee knew far better then any of us that Longstreet was an adept general and Longstreet would have been honored to the utmost had his post-war politics conformed to the southern majority. Some claim that Longstreet was not a good General for he did not individually and independenly (without direct orders) lead corps of men. Every man has their respective position in an army, Longstreet's was more as a correspondent, chief of staff, and a conservatively minded leader, fine with taking direct orders from Lee (when it came to command and military tactics). That does not mean that he was not an effective General and leader of men. For example, Marshal Berthier of Napleon's Grande Armee was far worse at individual command then any of the other Marshals (and likely worse then Longstreet for that matter) but he was the MOST trusted and reliable man to Napoleon himself. Napoleon states numerous times that without Marshal Berthier the war would have been a lost cause years before. Also, Berthier is honored in French History as one of the best Generals (despite the fact that he blundered many times when given independent command). Just because someone does not hold independent command and serves more as an advisor (whilst still being an effective leader) it does not mean they shouldn't be honored. For these reason, and numerous more I could think of, Longstreet should be honored and revered as a Great Civil War General and man.
Yes.. they did.. questionable orders were issued and refused to be swayed due to 'pride' and unrealistic expectations.. the federals showed their worth in that engagement..
Anyone watching the performance of the Army of the Potomac up to that point should have expected that victory. They had creamed the rebels every chance they got to fight on the defensive.
Thanks. As I am an oppositarian(?), Longstreet is one of my favorite characters. It’s easy to scapegoat Longstreet in these parts. Your right, mentioning Robert E. Lee around here without genuflecting causes apoplexy. But also, after the war Longstreet (1) became (gaah!) a Republican, (2) worked for the Grant (eek!) administration, and (3) (oh, horrors!) converted to Roman Catholicism late in life.
Everyone seems to write "Lee had cavalry at Gettyburg, why didn't he use it" Yes he had, but if my memory serves me right the cavalry the AVN had during this campaign where irregulars or mostly inexperienced cavalry. Why Lee ended upp with that cavalry is another question,
Lee ended up with that cavalry (which was guarding his rear and left flank) because he gave discretionary orders to Stuart, who ended up using his discretion to make a flamboyant raid around the Union army's right flank.
“Had I had Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg, I would have won a great victory” R.E.Lee Jackson was out to win, when “those people” invaded Virginia, Jackson defended it with passion!! Strike first, flank the enemy and take the high ground!!! How Lees heart must have sank when he realized he lost Jackson. I believe it’s fitting that Longstreets statue is behind Lee and in the woods at Gettysburg.
In hind sight...it appears Longstreet was ABSOLUTELY right. IF they had gone around the federal forces at Gettysburg and marched toward Washington, they COULD have picked a location to their advantage and defeated the federal forces the way they did at Fredericksburg. But in saying that, Lee's plan COULD ALSO have defeated the federal forces at Gettysburg IF he had used Stuart's cavalry to come at the center of the Union line, from behind. I always wondered WHY Lee did not order that tactical maneuver. I don't see how it would NOT have accomplished Lee's goals.
Take a look at the road network leading to Gettysburg. The Union army controlled the roads leading directly to Washington. To go "around the federal forces" Lee would have had to march west before turning south again, giving Meade - who as it turned out was energetic and nobody's fool - more than enough time to stay between Lee and Washington. Lee DID order Stuart to circle behind the Union center. Stuart's forces were exhausted and ran into a fresh force of Union cavalry who were looking out for exactly that sort of sneaky ploy. Meade, as I already noted, was energetic and nobody's fool.
Something else about Longstreet, as much as he fought for the South, his friendship with Grant never wavered and when Grant needed a man to fight white supremacy in the Reconstruction era US, he’d send Longstreet. Longstreet even went as far as to argue for the rights of blacks and vote Republican. If it weren’t for his home, he probably would have joined the Union instead of the CSA. Sure he had his flaws, supporting the CSA was a terrible decision, but Longstreet is more nuanced than most generals like Grant or Jackson who were archetypal of there sides.
People either don't remember or are not aware that a very important aspect of "the charge" was Gen. Jeb Stuarts part which failed. Stuart was to attack the center of the Union line from the rear which would have been from the east side of the Union line in a "pincer" movement and meet Pickets men. That action would have diverted Union reinforcements from the main attack coming from the west side. Unfortunately, Stuarts cavalry column was attacked head on by a very brash George Armstrong Custer and his command of 200+ Michigan cavalry. Stuart turned around and departed the battle thus leaving Gen. Armestead and his attacking Confederates to their fate. Would that have made a difference at the overall battle of Gettysburg? One can only speculate. That was the second failure that Stuart made at Gettysburg, the first being depriving Lee of sorely needed intelligence on the first day of battle.
Stuart didn't fail Lee. Lee gave Stuart two contradictory objectives which coincided in time, so that Stuart could not possibly have carried out both of them. Stuart in fact attempted to execute both of them, and failed. The mistake was Lee's, who issued those orders without attaching priority to either objective.
There's no official evidence that Stuart was to do anything but protect Ewells left and IF the attack succeeded to wreak havoc in the union rear. Stuart was bright enough to NOT Place himself between the Federal infantry and Gregg's Cavalry, i.e he becoming stuck between the hammer and the anvil...
I think plenty of people are aware of Stuart's role. It's just that Stuart's role would only succeed if the Union cavalry was a bunch of lazy, stupid, useless idiots. As it happened, they were energetic, alert, and ready for a fight.
Unlike most of the other ex-Confederate grandees, Longstreet became a Republican and a staunch Union defender; he even committed the blasphemy of defending Sherman's controversial war tactics in Georgia and South Carolina. How much of this is owing to the fact that he was Ulysses Grant's brother-in-law is open to speculation.
Sir you are right on..I am a Yankee but I agree Lee should have been more listern to Longstreet..He was right from day one...Move and chose there fight ground... Longstreet to me will always be a winner no matter what anyone has to say about the great man he was....thank you..
Based on the number of lawyers on those battlefields, I submit that when there are too many lawyers, Civil War is inevitable. Kirby Smith was not a lawyer, he was a warrior. He also was a gentleman of honor and a math professor at West Point and a Botanical Scientist that donated specimens to the University of Florida, AFTER the War of Northern Aggre$$ion. His statue has been removed from the capitol and has no home. Given, that he was nicknamed "Seminole" & his donation/contribution to the early days of the University of Florida, those institutions should step up and do what is right. Honor !
Although I admire Longstreet, I don't admire the statue. I made a Gettysburg park ranger choke one time when I said it looked like Jubilation T. Cornpone.
Gary Gallagher decries it as well. He says it looks like Tom Berenger with his fake beard riding a merry-go-round horse almost as if the sculptur really didn't want the job and made it as goofy looking as possible. Longstreet's horse stood 17 hands tall, even taller than Traveler.
I have nothing against secess. generals personally, expect for the pro slavery ones. I do take issue with monuments to ppl who are essentially traitors and who committed treason. I understand that many of them thought of their state as their home/country, but to me that’s a slap in the face to the Founding Fathers who risked everything to build this single great nation against tremendous odds. Wish they were able to address slavery back then at the beginning, but it may have proved impossible in the late 1700’s. The Civil War was bound to happen unfortunately because the South wouldn’t give up their free labor source without a fight. The economy was too dependent on it.
If it wasn't for the scout/spy Harrison Lee would have been destroyed in Pennsylvania. Lee had no scouts following the AOP due to some personal in-fighting within his Calvery and Stuarts being bogged down with captured Union supplies. Longstreet didn't fancy the idea of a full engagement until he knew the strength and positions of Union forces. He felt that moving closer to Virginia and preparing a defensive position was the wiser option.
I believe it was 10 or 11 am before JL had solid orders to move and assault. love how some think you could get a corps up and moving, in place and ready for the attack like pushing a chit or stand of miniatures around in a wargame. Time...lots of time to make masses of soldiers move. And...the round tops and devils den were NOT targets of the assault.
Also his very strong defensive position along the Sunken Road where his troops annihilated the Federals at Fredericksburg I'm sure also contributes to his "defensive" general reputation. Longstreet may be the most interesting character of the Civil War. His relationship to Grant?
Lee had a rush of winning and not of cost in lives that is ashame...This was the battle that would have come close to winning it all... History is history...What can you not change.
Lee by fighting in the war for State Rights pushed Lincoln to do the Emancipation Proclamation, to end any British or French support of the CSA, thank you, General Lee, are rights are dear. Lee was also a Mexican War hero.
Lee should have taken the War Horse's advice,he realized that the CSA couldn't win a prolonged conflict w the Union... most of the initial writings on the war were produced by former Confederates who had an overly respectful/romanticized view of their beloved commander... as a history nerd of color,obviously I'm glad they lost...
Every American ought to be glad they lost. Theirs was the worst cause in history, the dissolution of the United States, and the continuation of slavery. The Confederates were traitors and their leaders should have been hung.
It was Lee insisting on attacking a fortified defensive position. Lee should’ve remembered Fredericksburg and how he slaughtered the Union troops in a reversed situation
He not only supported Reconstruction, he also led a regiment of African American troops against an insurrection in New Orleans, and got wounded in the process. He became a pariah for the rest of his life, because of his views. I think that now would be the perfect time to honor him, for his Postbellum legacy.
1:15 you can't blame Hill for his part in the echelon attack. He was sick. His lazy division commander, Richard Anderson and Mahone were hiding well back of Seminary Ridge during the attack. Messengers brought requests for support and he never moved. Mahone was being protected by Anderson because his troops were Virginians. I believe Anderson should shoulder the blame for the echelon attack failure. 4:00 Chris White is absolutely right about the statue. I believe the NPS or who ever commissioned it was making fun of Longstreet. Possibly because of Lee. A troll on a Shetland pony is correct.
On the day of Gettysburg, Lee forgot he was the object of a War of Attrition with no backup men and material, the frontal assault on the Union line was a costly error. Lee should have followed Longstreets' advice and enticed the Union to attack and taken the high ground for is Army Hubris.
I don't wanna make this charge I don't see how it can succeed I wouldn't make it now but General Lee expects and demands it General James Longstreet Confederate Army
I think Longstreet was only honorable confederate general. If a confederate general could be counted as an honorable.. Where there any others that accepted the defeat and served United States after the war?
Colonel John Mosby. After the war Mosby became friends with U.S. Grant and served as his campaign manager in Virginia. Mosby later served as US Consul in Hong Kong.
Joe Wheeler and one of the Lee sons (Rooney IIRC) both served as generals in the Spanish-American War. Bedford Forrest, after leaving the KKK was deeply involved in civil rights for black Americans, winning an honorarium from the NAACP.
@@indy_go_blue6048 I can't find evidence that the NAACP recognized Nathan Bedford Forrest in any way. He gave a single speech near the end of his life calling for racial harmony (not equality) on invitation of a black voting rights organization, but was notably unapologetic about his past, saying only that he and the Confederacy were "misunderstood" by black people. So...no.
During the War, none of the Confederates were honourable. They were traitors and murderers. Some very few, more or less, redeemed themselves, the vast majority did not.
@@Glicksman1 who invaded whom? The constitution and the articles of confederation had no prohibition on secession. This is the reason confederate leaders were not tried at the wars end. The Emancipation Proclamation freed no one in Delaware,Maryland, Kentucky or Missouri. It only ended bondage in the Confederate states. It kept France and Britain from recognizing the Confederacy. The 13th amendment ended slavery in the US. No the bulk of battles were fought in the south with only two major battles being contested in Union states .
‘Ol Pete, was actually an outstanding general. He could’ve changed the entire debacle of Gettysburg if Lee had listened, the true blame is on JEB Stuart for being AWOL from the battle field the over the first two days.
Lee has god-like status in the South. Anyone who might have disagreed with him is reviled, even if, as in the case of Longstreet, he was correct. It's really nonsense, emotion over intelligence. Personally, I'm glad that Lee screwed it up at Gettysburg. The CSA needed to be destroyed and Lee made it possible. Longstreet would have been tougher to beat.
Did Lee recon Little Round Top? Was he aware of the huge advantage the Federals had? Why not flank the enemy? If Lee was such a genius, then he should not have gone into the teeth of the Federal line especially going uphill anf against such rocks where his lines would be dispersed. Could it be the Lee is an over rated General?
They had completely freedom of maneuver to hit the union line where ever they liked - including entirely in the rear. So it has always confounded me why they were so reluctant to maneuver into a more advantageous position. The ANV was eating better in PA than they ever had in VA, so it isn't like they had any reason to rush the decision. Meade pretty much had his entire available force committed by noon of the 2nd day, so the position was not going to get stronger than it already was by the time they did attack.
@@stanleyshannon4408 The clock was ticking at Vicksburg, the AoNV hadn't foraged in at least two days, and they weren't able to attack the AotP in their rear.
@@manilajohn0182 A victory in PA would have offset any thing happening in MS. The ANV was free to forage and maneuver all they liked. Who was going to stop them? The entire union force assembled for precisely that purpose was cowering behind rocks and trees on some hills afraid to come out and fight.
@@stanleyshannon4408 Only a decisive victory which effectively destroyed the AotP while leaving the AoNV essentially intact and able to continue operations would have sufficed to offset the loss of Vicksburg- something on the scale of Austerlitz or Jena. That was something beyond the ability of the AoNV to achieve- if for no other reason than that they lacked ample cavalry forces to pursue a routed enemy to prevent their reorganization.
Why Lee made a frontal assault on Union forces who were holding the commanding heights at Gettysburg I still do NOT understand. I think Lee may have persuaded himself if he could defeat the Union army at Gettysburg and throw them into a headlong retreat that may have been the key to ending a war Lee knew they could not win if it dragged on another two or three years. Lee knew he made a mistake after Pickett's charge.
I always liked Longstreet's plan to get between the Union army and Washington and choose the ground they wanted to defend. Especially true since Stuart was absent. The Federals would have to attack and hopefully Stuart would show up to assist by harassing the Union rear.
Logistics. A move east and south would have exposed Lee's supply line and risked his entire army. Maybe a justifiable risk in the circumstances, but certainly a major factor.
@@faw3511 That was one of Lee's reasons for not redeploying, the army had a considerable supply train to have to reposition. When they retreated the train was approximately 50 miles long.
Roads. Which roads would Lee have used? Meade controlled the direct routes and would easily have beaten Lee to any point between Gettysburg and Washington.
@@aaronfleming9426 Neither army knew where the other one was. Stuart was roughly northeast of Lee and was held up in Carlisle skirmishing with Union forces, of course Lee didn't know this. The army of northern Virginia and the army of the Potomac "bumped into each" at Gettysburg. While the Union army gathered it's forces moving towards Gettysburg, Longstreet wanted to leave a delaying force and move to the southeast towards or into Maryland, maybe even catching the Union's rear or western flank off guard. At the very least he wanted to dig in between the Union forces and Washington forcing them to go on the offensive. This would have been a risky move without the cavalry to reconnoiter in front of Lee, which is why Lee rejected this idea. Washington would have been vulnerable from the north with no river protecting it, and no Federal force of any size.
@@billymule961 Longstreet's idea was nice, but the problem with it is that Meade was between Lee and Washington, and the only way to get between Meade and Washington was to go through Meade. Again, look at a map and look at the roads. All the roads southeast from Lee's position lead directly into Meade's army. Catching Meade's rear or west/left flank off guard would have been a nice wish, but would have required that Meade, his generals, and his cavalry, all be stupid and lazy. They may not have been the world's greatest general staff, but I think they demonstrated pretty well at Gettysburg that they were neither stupid nor lazy.
From what I read about him, peers thought he was childish by being a pouting baby. He delay a lot of his actions which lost a lot of battles. Lee was screwed when Stonewall Jackson died.
You've read false information. Longstreet was well respected until long after the war when he became a Republican and the Lost Cause was looking for scapegoats. Didn't help him get the target off his back in that he was willing to criticize Lee.
No, he did not listen to his subordinate officers who advised to go around little round top. Stonewall Jackson was great because he adjusted strategy to the situation on the field. Longstreet in comparison was mediocre.
Going around Little Round Top would have taken a long time. Getting artillery through those woods would have been very difficult. It only would have worked if the Union soldiers were blind and deaf and didn't see and hear 10,000 men tromping through the woods. Longstreet did the right thing in the situation.
A Great Corp Commander ...... but he should’ve told his army to take the bayonets off stay low and move stealthy .... The north saw him moving right out of camp, the reflections on the bayonets that is a recorded sight from what soldiers picket lines and formed lines where he was going to, he was seen! But I’m a Tuesday night quarterback here!😂
Dude. The South was the “bad” guy. If they did win, guns and support would have flooded into the South to slaves and that Race Riot that the Slavers were so afraid of would have finally happened!
All Longstreet had to do was allow Hood to move his division a hundred yards to the right and they most likely would have taken Little Round Top. But Longstreet's forced errors at Gettysburg are hard to distinguish from those of everyone else in the Confederate high command during the battle...including Lee.
Lee was the commander. Lee decided against any deviation from his plan. Confederate sympathizers are always scapegoating someone to cover for Lee's ineptitude. Lee was a loser and a traitor. End of story.
On July 2nd Lee didn't know what was behind the round tops. He didn't know were the reserve corps on the union army were. This is why Lee needed the cavalry for reconnaissance.
When the enemy has all the high ground a frontal assault is usually hopeless. Longstreet was right about Gettysburg . Picketts charge had very little chance of success.
@@Glicksman1 I agree that their cause was despicable, but they had a great chance of success. We can all be grateful that they blundered so badly, while shivering at how close they came to pulling it off.
@@aaronfleming9426 I don't think that they ever had a ghost of a chance. Shelby Foote agreed with that, too. I think we are in greater danger of losing our country today to Trump and his MAGA army of idiotic, ignorant, criminal, racist, hateful traitors.
I am reading Pete Longstreet's life after the Civil War. This guy was a realist, not like Lee who was a bit of a dreamer. Lee could not accept loss after the war as did Pete. Pete moved to New Orleans and got involved in Republican government, accepted the new realities of former slaves as being productive individuals. I guess Longstreet had the longer view of life, unlike other nonrepetent rebels like Lee, Early and Davis.
Do you know why the rebels end up in Gettysburg...They where there only to find shoes for there troops And ran into General Buford calvery, A history mistake. Wrong place wrong time..
You have to give it to Buford he seen the entire beginning to end in his vision the high ground the key that won this battle at Gettysburg...And probably the entire war North and south...Lee went downhill from here.
the federal veteran did not wont confederate monument on thE GETTYSBURG BATTLE PARK. BUT THERE WISHES DID NOT COUNT. INSTEAD THE Y PUT A BUNCH OF TRATERS UP.
Do you not have spell check?? TRAITORS dumbass. If you can't even spell then nothing else you say is relevant. And as a matter of fact Union Veterans didn't have any issue with the Confederate monuments. It was actually Robert E. Lee who thought it was a bad idea. Evidently he could see into the future and knew that someday words and inanimate objects would have the ability to transform weak minded bottom feeders into sniveling pathetic crybabies.
If it happened today I would agree with the term traitor, but in the 19th century most Americans did not refer to themselves as Americans. They referred to themselves as Virginians or New Yorkers, Ohioans Iowans etc. And some of the Northern States did bring up the question of secession prior to the civil war.. that is one of the problems of today we have people from a different time and culture being judged by todays standards and culture...
I don't know about Longstreet. He wasted time getting his attack together, then the countermarch, he also attacked in a way that Lee did not want. If he would have attacked on time and in the way Lee wanted then the Union would not have had the time to occupy Little Round Top and the Rebels would probably have rolled up the Union flank, occupied LRT, and won the battle.
From Chris: He didn't attack the way Lee wanted because, when he got into position, he found Federals where there weren't supposed to be any. McLaws was supposed to lead off the attack but Longstreet quickly--and effectively, I think--adapted on the fly and shifted Hood further south to commence the attack. That, in turn, delayed things even longer than they'd already been delayed. Overall, it wasn't what ANYONE wanted (and McLaws held a grudge over it!), but Longstreet did what he could--and nearly succeeded.
@@emergingcivilwar8965 That is what Longstreet wrote. Is his writings, it seemed everything Lee ever planned was his idea in his memoirs. The face that he was upset at Lee and really lolly gagged around on Day 2 to start the attack because he felt he couldn't tell McLaw what to do. Instead he made Hood march all the way around McLaw to attack and wasted almost the whole day. Longsteet's attack was supposed to start in the morning when the attack on Cemetary Hill was supposed to attack. If he would have attacked then, there wouldn't have been anyone on LRT. Longstreet was mad, pouted, took his time, changed Lee's orders, and cost the Confederacy dearly on day 2.
And wasnt there an issue with Lees' engineers having scouted the wrong road that Longstreet was supposed to use as his jump off point?if Longstreet had attacked on time Sickels might have been in his original position and in better shape to repel that attack
If Longstreet would have attacked earlier, the Yankees would have had more daylight to chase and destroy the retreating rebels. Longstreet knew this crazy frontal assault would fail and minimized the casualties. Not to mention the lack of artillery ammo and support for the charge. Also not to mention that Jeb Stuart was missing because of Lee's radical flanking order. Lee should have listened to General Longstreet.
@@fateagle4life What are your sources for claiming that Longstreet's attack was supposed to begin in the morning? There is nothing in the Confederate OR showing that Longstreet was under orders to attack in the morning. Was Lee's plan for Longstreet to attack LTR? What attack on Cemetery Hill was supposed take place in the morning when Longstreet was supposed to have attacked? Hill's Corps? Ewell's Corp's? Have you ever seen any orders from Lee in the OR to that effect? I just want to make sure we are talking about the same battle.
An outstanding general who became Lee's scapegoat. He received an undeserved amount of criticism for his actions at Gettysburg.
From Chris: "I agree, although he brought on some of the criticism himself through his ongoing feud with Jubal Early and Co."
I think General Longstreet played the decisive role in the victory at 2nd Manassas. He was a stalwart in the repulse of the Union army on the Peninsula, where Jackson seemed to be asleep thru much of the seven day battle. His personal courage on Piper's Ridge at Sharpsburg made him a legend. The cannon he fired himself is still there on the hill overlooking bloody lane.
As a former soldier I can attest to the fact that personal courage and obedience to orders are how battles are won. Longstreet was Lee's "warhorse", whom he trusted explicitly. Not the pure genius of Jackson. More of a plodder.. But got the job done where others would have failed.
@@dennisivan85 another loser who tries to push the same old Lost cause b******* that the loss at Gettysburg was all Longstreet they can't accept their hero lee f***** up Longstreet got blamed because he was a friend of grants and became a Republican the fact that you're a marine has nothing to do but little boy a bunch of neo Confederate b*******!!!
@@dennisivan85 so you’re argument is that whenever someone is being commanded by someone else they are not doing anything. Hmm interesting. Just because you have people above you in the ranks doesn’t mean everything you do is because of that person
One of the best Corp commanders of the entire war. he had his faults, as they all did, but was very hard done by historically speaking and during the latter part of his life.
I'm glad there has been a rehabilitation of the man in more recent times, I like him.
General Longstreet thank you for the service you gave the CSA in the Civil War and the USA in Mexico.
I am a fan of Longstreet, the war horse!
Me too.
Lee referred to him as "my old warhorse", and really, outside of Jackson, his most effective general.
I just finished Longstreet's memoirs. He criticized Lee and Jackson, the two biggest saints of the Lost Cause, in no uncertain terms. If memory serves, by the time Longstreet published his memoirs (1896), he'd already run afoul of Jubal Early and the Lost Cause proponents. But he burned lots of bridges in his memoirs. I suppose Old Pete figured there was no way to patch things up with the Lost Cause crew...so he didn't bother trying.
Looking forward to your July 3 video, and your take on what Lee honestly thought he could accomplish with Pickett's Charge. Did he really think he could smash Meade's force and make it combat-ineffective? Was he hoping to induce panic in the Federals, and get them to flee like they did at First Manassas? Was he trying to get Meade to retreat from the Gettysburg battlefield, so Lee could take the Army of Northern Virginia elsewhere? Lee had to know that Pickett's force, even if it did take Cemetery Hill, was going to be so beaten up that it couldn't exploit any gains it made. I've never been clear on what Lee was specifically trying to achieve on July 3rd, and whether Lee's goals were realistic, or achievable.
Longstreet's memoirs aren't as enjoyable to read as some others, in part because I think he took himself a little TOO seriously. He was playing defense by that point, too, which stacked the cards.
@Philip Freeman The war was Union vs Confederacy. The Second Civil War the South won by guerilla warfare, a lesson not learned Vietnam defeat.
I think he hoped that Lincoln would be forced by public opinion and the advice of his own staff to negotiate a peace agreement favorable to the South if Lee could again defeat the Union Army. But I do agree that the cost of victory at Gettysburg would have been enormous.
Longstreet was right about going around the Union left at Gettysburg and not assaulting directly (evidenced by Pickett’s Charge).
It's important to remember that a lot of the criticism of Longstreet began well after the war when he jumped ship from the Democratic party and became a Republican. He was a marked man from that day on. Some things never change I guess. That being said, the battle of Gettysburg was decided by the end of the first day of fighting and Longstreet knew it. Although badly beaten, the Union 1st and 11th Corps had escaped to secure the high ground and five more Corps were in the vicinity but nobody had eyes on them. A.P. Hill's command was wrecked and pretty much rendered combat ineffective for an entire day and Lee had no knowledge of the land in front of him due to the absence of Jeb Stuart's cavalry. I think Longstreet was simply trying to buy time in hopes that Lee would see the reality of the situation before he sent the Army to be slaughtered. I'm a combat veteran myself and was in the Army for 21 years and the situation that the Army of Northern Virginia found itself in was in no way conducive to a successful offensive campaign. Unfortunately for them Longstreet was the only one that saw it.
Lee had other cavalry at Gettysburg. One of the questions in all this is why he didn't use them.
@@faw3511 Stuart had 6 Cavalry Brigades available for the Gettysburg campaign. He took 3 of them and disappeared and left 3 with the main Army. He was SUPPOSED to screen the right flank of the army and provide forward observation and keep an eye on the Army of the Potomac which was traveling on a parallel course. Somehow he ended up completely on the opposite side of Meades Army. Lee just assumed that Stuart was out in front somewhere because normally he would have been. When Lee ordered everyone to concentrate in the vicinity of Gettysburg Stuart was unaware and found himself about 50 miles to the northeast and well out of position to communicate with anyone else. The other 3 brigades were screening the other flank and providing a rear guard and a number of companies had actually been sent in different directions to look for Stuart. Hampton's Brigade was charged with escorting several captured supply wagons and was moving at a snail's pace and was pretty much useless at that point. It has never been made clear why Stuart did what he did.
@@faw3511 Lee was overly dependent on particular persons, rather than using all his assets. By particular persons, I mean people like Stuart who was off joyriding and Jackson who was off dead.
One might say it began publicly right after Lee's death in 1870. Ol' Jube, almost as soon as the war ended wanted to attack the Reconstruction policies but Lee counselled patience and endurance. In private letters Early attacked Longstreet; again Lee counselled patience. By 1871 Early and Ewell were both publicly attacking Longstreet and it grew from there.
@@johnnychaos152 What is undeniable is that Lee's orders to Stuart were self-contradictory and gave Stuart a great deal of discretion. Since Stuart never explained his actions we'll never know the deep motivations of his heart, but it seems most likely that he took the course of action that appealed to his personal sense of style - a daring, sweeping raid that would humiliate the Union cavalry and grab big headlines.
I think Longstreet was an excellent general . I think just about all the generals on both sides fought in the Mexican-American war and witnessed the power of attacking and out maneuvering your opponent using Napoleonic strategy. I think the casualty rate was so high do to the change in weapon technologies. A well fortified position was much harder to conquer then had been in the past . You look at the destruction at Gettysburg and Fredericksburg.
Delivered the most successful corps level deliberate attacks of the war, 2nd Manassas, 2 July Gettysburg, 20 SEP Chickamauga, and 6 May at the battle of Wilderness.
I think the movie Gettysburg portrays this very well.James was a very good General.All generals have good and bad days.Honor and glory to you James.
Longstreet was correct to want to Redeploy and pick their ground in between the Union Forces and Washington. Lee didn't want to give up ground men had died for fighting for two days. Lee also was trying to end the war at Gettysburg. Lee also was very sick. He told Longstreet that they were adrift in a sea of blood. He told Longstreet I want this to be the last battle..
@@dennisivan85 I'm not sure Lee saw the big picture, he couldn't seem to see beyond Virginia or rather the war in the East
@@dennisivan85 well genius, Grant was quite capable of understanding the larger picture when it came to vicksburg! Also, genius, Lee consistently fought to prevent reinforcements for the west to drawn from his army. While no commander ever wants to lose troops, I would think one who could grasp the overall strategic picture would might maybe could see the benefit of say, reinforcing the west to free up vicksburg. Nah, let's move north and try and destroy the AoP. Good enough answer? Genius!
@@dennisivan85 NEWS FLASH!! VICKSBURG WAS POINTLESS!! Hey keyboard warrior, this retired "pretend" green beret would love to show you all about war. However I will say one more thing followed by nothing more since you are possibly the dumbest individual I have had the misfortune of encountering here or ,quite possibly, anywhere else. According to your theory, the entire CSA was doomed to fall but Lee and his collection of losers would save the confederacy by keeping the dream alive in Virginia, if he had won?! As for Vicksburg, that was mentioned as an example of Operational thinking done by Grant as opposed to tactical thinking shown by your deity Lee. Never seen someone get so butt hurt over something so simple. Now jackass, go back into your moms basement and play video games based on my life and work on memorizing your keyboard Ranger Creed. LoL
Wrong Lee could have been surrouned.
Longstreet may have been correct in wanting to redeploy, but he also never explained how that would have worked. Both he and Lee seemed to have been indulging in a good deal of wishful thinking.
I disagree that Longstreet doesn’t hold any blame for the attack falling short. It was his call to make the assault en echelon. He was largely responsible for the timing of each segment of the en echelon attack going forward. What this meant was that each wave, from right to left, became essentially its own, piecemeal attack. They enjoyed brief success at multiple points, but the AotP was able to push back and plug up the gaps as it went along. We must at least consider the possibility that an attack with all pieces moving forward would have played out differently.
And this is before taking into account the delay, marching and counter marching all afternoon. Longstreet shouldn’t hold all the blame for July 2nd. But he must hold a good deal of it.
Lee was the hero of the Lost Cause Myth. Of course they had to blame Longstreet for the failure of the attack.
It ticks me off that I can never find any reference to Billy Mahone's refusal to move on July 2, which effectively ended the en echelon attack. The man thrice refused direct orders to move his brigade forward; the brigades beyond Mahone never moved because they were depending on him to keep it going.
Coddington (p. 421) calls it the "bigger mystery." He blames Anderson and calls it a "breakdown in command."
@@faw3511 I'm unfamiliar with him. What book?
@@indy_go_blue6048
The classic modern treatment, required reading: "The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command", Edwin B. Coddington, Scribners (1968)
I've been to the Longstreet Museum in Tennessee, a little north of Knoxville. Cool place 😎
I always wonder if Jackson had been alive at Gettysburg whether or not he could have talked Lee out of what was essentially a suicide charge.
Jackson was often reckless and tended to feed Lee's reckless streak.
If Jackson was alive Chancellorsville would have been a more decisive defeat and Gettysburg may not have happened
Doubtful Jackson would have talked Lee out of any attack. I can think of only 1-2 instances where he was against attack.
But I don’t think these assaults were suicide charges by any stretch. They’ve been turned into that with hindsight and the Lost Cause, romanticizing soldiers that went into the vortex even though they knew they would die and the attack would fail. But there’s no reason the Confederates couldn’t have succeeded on July 2nd and even July 3rd.
No, but Jackson sure as hell would have taken Cemetery Hill on the evening of July 1.
One of the historians said that the small size of the horse was to represent Longstreet's supposed slowness at Gettysburg. Was his delay in the attack the critical factor of the outcome of the second day? I don't think I'm qualified to answer that but I think that his becoming the scapegoat for the loss of the battle has more to do with his after war embrace of the republican party and serving the government in various capacities.
Old Pete as he was called, was friends with Grant all the way back to West Point having been one year ahead of Grant.
Longstreet was one of the best generals of the war and indeed is unfairly criticized because he largely abandoned the South after the war, serving in Grant's administration.
Lee had gone north to win a decisive battle to hopefully relieve the pressure around Vicksburg, and if the victory was big enough, maybe convince Washington to consider peace terms. He knew full well that time was running out on the South. They could not win a war of attrition.
Considering that, it is understandable that Lee dismissed Longstreet's suggestion to wheel south. That would have merely delayed the battle, which was not in the best interest of the army, who was cut off from their supplies, or the South, who was about to lose Vicksburg.
Longstreet's slowness to attack the federal left flank on July 2 greatly helped Warren get the men in place to defend Little Round Top. Even so, the Army of Northern Virginia successfully took a part of Cemetary Ridge that day but failed to hold it. This spurred Lee's belief that a greater force to take and keep the ridge on July 3.
Poor Ambrose Powell Hill ..he had a pretty bad couple of days.. As best i have read he was suffering from his disease that he contracted as a teenager.
Thanks.I am a big Longstreet fan.He got screwed as the war ended,and he became a Republican,which didn't help!!Old Pete,I thought was damn great..
Longstreet became a Republican after the war, which to the South, made him a traitor. Lee was the shining star, even though the Army of Northern Virgina sustained tremendous casualties throughout the war, and was merely a stalemate in the eastern theater. The war was won in the western theater, even though the battles in the east catch most of the historical attention.
All in all, I consider him a pretty reliable lieutenant to have in a council of war. Although somewhat obstinate, he was very competent. To me, his worst performance was the assault he ordered on Knoxville against Burnside.
Longstreet was a complex guy. He was not a romantic Virginian the way Lee, Stuart and most of the rest were. He also was nursing a broken heart because his children had died the previous year
Everyone is complex.
@@Glicksman1 Can you imagine being called home by your spouse
To find them standing at the door in total shock. When Longstreet asked Louise, his wife how the children were ,she kept repeating over and over the boy is dead! They had 4 children together ages 4 to 12. Three girls and one boy. Longstreet thought that she meant their son had died.
He proceeded to move to the boys bedroom to find not only him dead but his two little daughter's as will. All three of them lying there on the bed together.
Longstreet was so over come by the shock that he fainted and was bedridden. Both he and Louise were so overcome with grief that they were unable to make any funeral arrangements. His friend George Pickett came to their aide and took care of the arrangements.
A year later at Gettysburg Longstreet wrote in his journal of the ongoing nightly nightmares of that day.
@@elviscobb5922 Such extreme tragedy surely shaped everything he did thereafter and all of his days and nights. Most people, including me, would not be able to go on. That he did go on is a testament to his extraordinary inner strength and sense of duty (albeit to the worst possible cause) and his apparent ability to compartmentalize that horrific event and to put it out of his mind when he needed to do so. It does not take a Psychiatrist to understand that that experience certainly grievously affected him for the rest of his life as it would any human being. It adds to his complexity in a very sad, brokenhearted way.
Nevertheless, he was still correct as to his advice to Lee at Gettysburg, who should have heeded it, and I think would have done so if it had come from Gen. Jackson as everything we know of Jackson indicates that it certainly would have. Notwithstanding the terrible carnage that ensued for those three days, which all good people would rather had not occurred, I 'm glad he didn't.
Thank you for informing me of this heartrending event.
Longstreet was a realist, Grant was too, only more so. Each was what we'd now call a "professional" . Go in and get the job done as quickly as possible.
@@BELCAN57 All else aside, Longstreet was a traitor to his country, Grant was not.
well said. Here's to Longstreet, the real history.
Lee's plan was Ridiculous & Longstreet new it but what could he do .pickets charge was a prequel to what would happen in ww1 .
"Oh! Oh!" Howard did fine in the Western Theater under Grant and Sherman; Sherman even took his corps on the march to Savannah whereas the sick, weak and wounded went to Nashville with Thomas. Seems like almost everyone stunk to some degree or another in the AoP with a few exceptions.
It’s very difficult to fault Lee in ordering the attack known as Pickett’s Charge. On the one hand, Longstreet’s maneuver to the Confederate right was a viable alternative if it was meant to be tactical in nature (since the road net in the area did not support a wider envelopment). Furthermore, Lee’s original plan was to entice the AotP into attacking the AoNV, and such a maneuver held out the possibility of enticing Meade into doing just that. Lastly, a frontal assault over a mile of open ground can easily be seen as foolhardy.
On the other hand, a maneuver to the right would take time to draw the AotP into any attack- and by 3 July, Lee was rapidly running out of time. One reason for this was that the primary strategic objective of the campaign was to do something to remove pressure from the Confederate defenders at Vicksburg, and Vicksburg had been placed under siege before Lee’s campaign even got underway. Another reason was that the Confederates had not been foraging for two days since the battle began, and any maneuver around the Union left would further eat into the stocks accumulated since the army moved north.
Additionally, the Confederate minor victory in the meeting engagement of 1 July had saddled Lee with a tactical initiative which he had never wanted- and so the possibility of the AotP carrying out any attack on the AoNV was very low. Lastly, the historical record shows that the men of the AoNV were supremely confident of victory at the onset of the campaign, and the previous two days of battle had been successful in nature.
So what was Lee to do?
Did you mean "it's NOT very difficult to fault Lee ..."?
@@sanjursan No.
I have never read anything about Lee wanting to entice Meade into attacking, Lee's army didn't even do any entrenching like they would if they expected Meade to attack. Lee thoughts were completely on the offensive after the first day. Lee was hoping to destroy a few of the union corps and force them into retreating from their position where he could defeat them in succession.
@@marknace1736 Lee stated in his after action report that it had not been intended to fight a battle so far from the Confederates' base unless attacked. Longstreet stated in his memoirs that the campaign was to be waged utilizing defensive tactics. Yet the primary objective of the campaign was to do something to remove pressure from the Confederate defenders at Vicksburg. Lee went over to the strategic offensive by invading the north, but intended that the AotP should attack the AoNV. The unexpected meeting engagement on 1 July ruined Lee's initial plan of campaign because the minor defeat inflicted on the AotP all but ensured that Union forces would not be attacking the AoNV. As a result, Lee was saddled with a tactical initiative which he had not wanted- and the clock was ticking at Vicksburg. Your statement that "Lee thoughts were completely on the offensive after the first day" is accurate (special emphasis on the last four words).
Given the option of withdrawing in good order or ordering a suicidal attack that cost 9,000 casualties in an hour, I think we certainly can fault Lee.
The fact that he should have withdrawn before the attacks of July 2 only make his blunder worse.
And that fact that the whole strategic scheme of relieving pressure on the already-doomed Vicksburg by invading Pennsylvania makes the whole thing more of a farce than a military campaign.
If Longstreet had been in charge of strategy for the Army of Northern Virginia rather than Lee, the South would have had a better chance to win. Lee never really grasped that the Confederates could not get into a war of attrition with a foe that was so far ahead of them in man power and material.
Lee has since assumed diety status..no blame can or will be attached to him..
Common sense did not prevail that day at Gettysburg; pride did..
Longstreet was not honored by the confederates because he rebelled against them, became a Republican, and approved of Reconstruction. He was not honored by the Union (states) because he was a Confederate during the time of the war and was not a northerner. I am sure that Robert E. Lee knew far better then any of us that Longstreet was an adept general and Longstreet would have been honored to the utmost had his post-war politics conformed to the southern majority. Some claim that Longstreet was not a good General for he did not individually and independenly (without direct orders) lead corps of men. Every man has their respective position in an army, Longstreet's was more as a correspondent, chief of staff, and a conservatively minded leader, fine with taking direct orders from Lee (when it came to command and military tactics). That does not mean that he was not an effective General and leader of men. For example, Marshal Berthier of Napleon's Grande Armee was far worse at individual command then any of the other Marshals (and likely worse then Longstreet for that matter) but he was the MOST trusted and reliable man to Napoleon himself. Napoleon states numerous times that without Marshal Berthier the war would have been a lost cause years before. Also, Berthier is honored in French History as one of the best Generals (despite the fact that he blundered many times when given independent command). Just because someone does not hold independent command and serves more as an advisor (whilst still being an effective leader) it does not mean they shouldn't be honored. For these reason, and numerous more I could think of, Longstreet should be honored and revered as a Great Civil War General and man.
How about the Union troops performed better then expected and won.
Yes.. they did.. questionable orders were issued and refused to be swayed due to 'pride' and unrealistic expectations.. the federals showed their worth in that engagement..
Anyone watching the performance of the Army of the Potomac up to that point should have expected that victory. They had creamed the rebels every chance they got to fight on the defensive.
@@aaronfleming9426 Fortunately Lee did not think so and paid dearly.
@@michellejean11 Agreed. Very fortunate that Lee was not a better general.
@@aaronfleming9426 Lee apologist will be cross with both of us for telling the truth.
Thanks. As I am an oppositarian(?), Longstreet is one of my favorite characters. It’s easy to scapegoat Longstreet in these parts. Your right, mentioning Robert E. Lee around here without genuflecting causes apoplexy. But also, after the war Longstreet (1) became (gaah!) a Republican, (2) worked for the Grant (eek!) administration, and (3) (oh, horrors!) converted to Roman Catholicism late in life.
Dennis Harrington ----He also pointed out that Lee was not omnipotent . The " Lost Cause " crew could not have that .
Everyone seems to write "Lee had cavalry at Gettyburg, why didn't he use it" Yes he had, but if my memory serves me right the cavalry the AVN had during this campaign where irregulars or mostly inexperienced cavalry. Why Lee ended upp with that cavalry is another question,
Lee ended up with that cavalry (which was guarding his rear and left flank) because he gave discretionary orders to Stuart, who ended up using his discretion to make a flamboyant raid around the Union army's right flank.
Longstreet is the man. Definitely has his downside. But no one anywhere hit like he did.
“Had I had Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg, I would have won a great victory” R.E.Lee
Jackson was out to win, when “those people” invaded Virginia, Jackson defended it with passion!! Strike first, flank the enemy and take the high ground!!!
How Lees heart must have sank when he realized he lost Jackson.
I believe it’s fitting that Longstreets statue is behind Lee and in the woods at Gettysburg.
What's the source for that Lee quote about Jackson? We've never heard it before.
“Life and Letters of Gen. Robert Edward Lee” by Dr. J.W. Jones
P. 259
He had said this to a Professor at Washington and Lee University after the war.
Jackson was also reckless and often drove himself and his troops to exhaustion, leading to him falling asleep at inopportune moments.
I can relate
In hind sight...it appears Longstreet was ABSOLUTELY right. IF they had gone around the federal forces at Gettysburg and marched toward Washington, they COULD have picked a location to their advantage and defeated the federal forces the way they did at Fredericksburg. But in saying that, Lee's plan COULD ALSO have defeated the federal forces at Gettysburg IF he had used Stuart's cavalry to come at the center of the Union line, from behind. I always wondered WHY Lee did not order that tactical maneuver. I don't see how it would NOT have accomplished Lee's goals.
Take a look at the road network leading to Gettysburg. The Union army controlled the roads leading directly to Washington. To go "around the federal forces" Lee would have had to march west before turning south again, giving Meade - who as it turned out was energetic and nobody's fool - more than enough time to stay between Lee and Washington.
Lee DID order Stuart to circle behind the Union center. Stuart's forces were exhausted and ran into a fresh force of Union cavalry who were looking out for exactly that sort of sneaky ploy. Meade, as I already noted, was energetic and nobody's fool.
The only hero in this whole mess is Longstreet, who tried to keep Lee from ordering the wholesale massacre in Gettysburg.
Something else about Longstreet, as much as he fought for the South, his friendship with Grant never wavered and when Grant needed a man to fight white supremacy in the Reconstruction era US, he’d send Longstreet. Longstreet even went as far as to argue for the rights of blacks and vote Republican. If it weren’t for his home, he probably would have joined the Union instead of the CSA. Sure he had his flaws, supporting the CSA was a terrible decision, but Longstreet is more nuanced than most generals like Grant or Jackson who were archetypal of there sides.
People either don't remember or are not aware that a very important aspect of "the charge" was Gen. Jeb Stuarts part which failed. Stuart was to attack the center of the Union line from the rear which would have been from the east side of the Union line in a "pincer" movement and meet Pickets men. That action would have diverted Union reinforcements from the main attack coming from the west side. Unfortunately, Stuarts cavalry column was attacked head on by a very brash George Armstrong Custer and his command of 200+ Michigan cavalry. Stuart turned around and departed the battle thus leaving Gen. Armestead and his attacking Confederates to their fate. Would that have made a difference at the overall battle of Gettysburg? One can only speculate. That was the second failure that Stuart made at Gettysburg, the first being depriving Lee of sorely needed intelligence on the first day of battle.
Stuart didn't fail Lee. Lee gave Stuart two contradictory objectives which coincided in time, so that Stuart could not possibly have carried out both of them. Stuart in fact attempted to execute both of them, and failed. The mistake was Lee's, who issued those orders without attaching priority to either objective.
There's no official evidence that Stuart was to do anything but protect Ewells left and IF the attack succeeded to wreak havoc in the union rear. Stuart was bright enough to NOT Place himself between the Federal infantry and Gregg's Cavalry, i.e he becoming stuck between the hammer and the anvil...
I think plenty of people are aware of Stuart's role. It's just that Stuart's role would only succeed if the Union cavalry was a bunch of lazy, stupid, useless idiots. As it happened, they were energetic, alert, and ready for a fight.
Unlike most of the other ex-Confederate grandees, Longstreet became a Republican and a staunch Union defender; he even committed the blasphemy of defending Sherman's controversial war tactics in Georgia and South Carolina. How much of this is owing to the fact that he was Ulysses Grant's brother-in-law is open to speculation.
Sir you are right on..I am a Yankee but I agree Lee should have been more listern to Longstreet..He was right from day one...Move and chose there fight ground... Longstreet to me will always be a winner no matter what anyone has to say about the great man he was....thank you..
Based on the number of lawyers on those battlefields, I submit that when there are too many lawyers, Civil War is inevitable. Kirby Smith was not a lawyer, he was a warrior. He also was a gentleman of honor and a math professor at West Point and a Botanical Scientist that donated specimens to the University of Florida, AFTER the War of Northern Aggre$$ion. His statue has been removed from the capitol and has no home. Given, that he was nicknamed "Seminole" & his donation/contribution to the early days of the University of Florida, those institutions should step up and do what is right. Honor !
I would love to visit Gettysburg.
Although I admire Longstreet, I don't admire the statue. I made a Gettysburg park ranger choke one time when I said it looked like Jubilation T. Cornpone.
Gary Gallagher decries it as well. He says it looks like Tom Berenger with his fake beard riding a merry-go-round horse almost as if the sculptur really didn't want the job and made it as goofy looking as possible. Longstreet's horse stood 17 hands tall, even taller than Traveler.
@@indy_go_blue6048 Best Traveler yet is in the John Paul Strain paintings,
I have nothing against secess. generals personally, expect for the pro slavery ones. I do take issue with monuments to ppl who are essentially traitors and who committed treason. I understand that many of them thought of their state as their home/country, but to me that’s a slap in the face to the Founding Fathers who risked everything to build this single great nation against tremendous odds. Wish they were able to address slavery back then at the beginning, but it may have proved impossible in the late 1700’s. The Civil War was bound to happen unfortunately because the South wouldn’t give up their free labor source without a fight. The economy was too dependent on it.
If it wasn't for the scout/spy Harrison Lee would have been destroyed in Pennsylvania. Lee had no scouts following the AOP due to some personal in-fighting within his Calvery and Stuarts being bogged down with captured Union supplies. Longstreet didn't fancy the idea of a full engagement until he knew the strength and positions of Union forces. He felt that moving closer to Virginia and preparing a defensive position was the wiser option.
I believe it was 10 or 11 am before JL had solid orders to move and assault. love how some think you could get a corps up and moving, in place and ready for the attack like pushing a chit or stand of miniatures around in a wargame. Time...lots of time to make masses of soldiers move. And...the round tops and devils den were NOT targets of the assault.
Also his very strong defensive position along the Sunken Road where his troops annihilated the Federals at Fredericksburg I'm sure also contributes to his "defensive" general reputation. Longstreet may be the most interesting character of the Civil War. His relationship to Grant?
Lee had a rush of winning and not of cost in lives that is ashame...This was the battle that would have come close to winning it all... History is history...What can you not change.
Lee by fighting in the war for State Rights pushed Lincoln to do the Emancipation Proclamation, to end any British or French support of the CSA, thank you, General Lee, are rights are dear. Lee was also a Mexican War hero.
Lee should have taken the War Horse's advice,he realized that the CSA couldn't win a prolonged conflict w the Union... most of the initial writings on the war were produced by former Confederates who had an overly respectful/romanticized view of their beloved commander... as a history nerd of color,obviously I'm glad they lost...
Every American ought to be glad they lost. Theirs was the worst cause in history, the dissolution of the United States, and the continuation of slavery. The Confederates were traitors and their leaders should have been hung.
It was Lee insisting on attacking a fortified defensive position. Lee should’ve remembered Fredericksburg and how he slaughtered the Union troops in a reversed situation
He had to attack to either win or keep open his line of retreat.
@@edwardclement102 Why did he have to attack to keep open his line of retreat?
He not only supported Reconstruction, he also led a regiment of African American troops against an insurrection in New Orleans, and got wounded in the process. He became a pariah for the rest of his life, because of his views. I think that now would be the perfect time to honor him, for his Postbellum legacy.
1:15 you can't blame Hill for his part in the echelon attack. He was sick. His lazy division commander, Richard Anderson and Mahone were hiding well back of Seminary Ridge during the attack. Messengers brought requests for support and he never moved. Mahone was being protected by Anderson because his troops were Virginians. I believe Anderson should shoulder the blame for the echelon attack failure.
4:00 Chris White is absolutely right about the statue. I believe the NPS or who ever commissioned it was making fun of Longstreet. Possibly because of Lee.
A troll on a Shetland pony is correct.
That's a small horse for a big man.
Notice that his arms and torso are huge compared to his legs and that tiny horse.
On the day of Gettysburg, Lee forgot he was the object of a War of Attrition with no backup men and material, the frontal assault on the Union line was a costly error. Lee should have followed Longstreets' advice and enticed the Union to attack and taken the high ground for is Army Hubris.
Longstreet had the misfortune of surviving the war and becoming a republican afterwards. So he became the scapegoat
Well said!
I don't wanna make this charge I don't see how it can succeed I wouldn't make it now but General Lee expects and demands it
General James Longstreet
Confederate Army
I think Longstreet was only honorable confederate general. If a confederate general could be counted as an honorable.. Where there any others that accepted the defeat and served United States after the war?
Colonel John Mosby. After the war Mosby became friends with U.S. Grant and served as his campaign manager in Virginia. Mosby later served as US Consul in Hong Kong.
Joe Wheeler and one of the Lee sons (Rooney IIRC) both served as generals in the Spanish-American War. Bedford Forrest, after leaving the KKK was deeply involved in civil rights for black Americans, winning an honorarium from the NAACP.
@@indy_go_blue6048 I can't find evidence that the NAACP recognized Nathan Bedford Forrest in any way. He gave a single speech near the end of his life calling for racial harmony (not equality) on invitation of a black voting rights organization, but was notably unapologetic about his past, saying only that he and the Confederacy were "misunderstood" by black people. So...no.
During the War, none of the Confederates were honourable. They were traitors and murderers. Some very few, more or less, redeemed themselves, the vast majority did not.
@@Glicksman1 who invaded whom? The constitution and the articles of confederation had no prohibition on secession. This is the reason confederate leaders were not tried at the wars end. The Emancipation Proclamation freed no one in Delaware,Maryland, Kentucky or Missouri. It only ended bondage in the Confederate states. It kept France and Britain from recognizing the Confederacy. The 13th amendment ended slavery in the US. No the bulk of battles were fought in the south with only two major battles being contested in Union states .
Longstreet was right
‘Ol Pete, was actually an outstanding general. He could’ve changed the entire debacle of Gettysburg if Lee had listened, the true blame is on JEB Stuart for being AWOL from the battle field the over the first two days.
Lee has god-like status in the South. Anyone who might have disagreed with him is reviled, even if, as in the case of Longstreet, he was correct. It's really nonsense, emotion over intelligence.
Personally, I'm glad that Lee screwed it up at Gettysburg. The CSA needed to be destroyed and Lee made it possible. Longstreet would have been tougher to beat.
Did Lee recon Little Round Top? Was he aware of the huge advantage the Federals had? Why not flank the enemy? If Lee was such a genius, then he should not have gone into the teeth of the Federal line especially going uphill anf against such rocks where his lines would be dispersed.
Could it be the Lee is an over rated General?
Lee the best, but he was without cavalry, Silkes moved, and his Corp commanders were not moving well like at Second Bull Run.
Lee's battle plan was to attack a larger army entrenched on high ground. That strategy failed at Longstreet knew it would.
They had completely freedom of maneuver to hit the union line where ever they liked - including entirely in the rear. So it has always confounded me why they were so reluctant to maneuver into a more advantageous position. The ANV was eating better in PA than they ever had in VA, so it isn't like they had any reason to rush the decision. Meade pretty much had his entire available force committed by noon of the 2nd day, so the position was not going to get stronger than it already was by the time they did attack.
@@stanleyshannon4408 The clock was ticking at Vicksburg, the AoNV hadn't foraged in at least two days, and they weren't able to attack the AotP in their rear.
@@manilajohn0182 A victory in PA would have offset any thing happening in MS. The ANV was free to forage and maneuver all they liked. Who was going to stop them? The entire union force assembled for precisely that purpose was cowering behind rocks and trees on some hills afraid to come out and fight.
@@stanleyshannon4408 Only a decisive victory which effectively destroyed the AotP while leaving the AoNV essentially intact and able to continue operations would have sufficed to offset the loss of Vicksburg- something on the scale of Austerlitz or Jena. That was something beyond the ability of the AoNV to achieve- if for no other reason than that they lacked ample cavalry forces to pursue a routed enemy to prevent their reorganization.
Burnside learned the same lesson.
Lee was not in is right mind due to sickness
As per one source, one of Longstreet's nicknames was 'Old Snail'.
Why Lee made a frontal assault on Union forces who were holding the commanding heights at Gettysburg I still do NOT understand. I think Lee may have persuaded himself if he could defeat the Union army at Gettysburg and throw them into a headlong retreat that may have been the key to ending a war Lee knew they could not win if it dragged on another two or three years. Lee knew he made a mistake after Pickett's charge.
Longstreet was a great general and if stonewall Jackson was still alive at that time no telling how the outcome would have been
Has any Confederate Commander stayed in high level command longer?....
Surprising his statute is still standing in todays political climate.
NO one dares touch a statue on a National Battlefield.
@@BELCAN57 Nor should they. In such a setting, the emphasis is clearly on American history.
Love Longstreet. Can't say that about any other Rebel general.
He foresaw the end of the tradition of big infantry battalions marching forward in line to face the enemy
I always liked Longstreet's plan to get between the Union army and Washington and choose the ground they wanted to defend. Especially true since Stuart was absent. The Federals would have to attack and hopefully Stuart would show up to assist by harassing the Union rear.
Logistics. A move east and south would have exposed Lee's supply line and risked his entire army. Maybe a justifiable risk in the circumstances, but certainly a major factor.
@@faw3511 That was one of Lee's reasons for not redeploying, the army had a considerable supply train to have to reposition. When they retreated the train was approximately 50 miles long.
Roads. Which roads would Lee have used? Meade controlled the direct routes and would easily have beaten Lee to any point between Gettysburg and Washington.
@@aaronfleming9426 Neither army knew where the other one was. Stuart was roughly northeast of Lee and was held up in Carlisle skirmishing with Union forces, of course Lee didn't know this. The army of northern Virginia and the army of the Potomac "bumped into each" at Gettysburg. While the Union army gathered it's forces moving towards Gettysburg, Longstreet wanted to leave a delaying force and move to the southeast towards or into Maryland, maybe even catching the Union's rear or western flank off guard. At the very least he wanted to dig in between the Union forces and Washington forcing them to go on the offensive. This would have been a risky move without the cavalry to reconnoiter in front of Lee, which is why Lee rejected this idea. Washington would have been vulnerable from the north with no river protecting it, and no Federal force of any size.
@@billymule961 Longstreet's idea was nice, but the problem with it is that Meade was between Lee and Washington, and the only way to get between Meade and Washington was to go through Meade.
Again, look at a map and look at the roads. All the roads southeast from Lee's position lead directly into Meade's army.
Catching Meade's rear or west/left flank off guard would have been a nice wish, but would have required that Meade, his generals, and his cavalry, all be stupid and lazy. They may not have been the world's greatest general staff, but I think they demonstrated pretty well at Gettysburg that they were neither stupid nor lazy.
From what I read about him, peers thought he was childish by being a pouting baby. He delay a lot of his actions which lost a lot of battles. Lee was screwed when Stonewall Jackson died.
You've read false information. Longstreet was well respected until long after the war when he became a Republican and the Lost Cause was looking for scapegoats. Didn't help him get the target off his back in that he was willing to criticize Lee.
Of course he's depicted as Berenger portrayed him in the movie and not as he actually was in reality.
His name is James not jimmy
General Nolfi or “Pete”
No, he did not listen to his subordinate officers who advised to go around little round top. Stonewall Jackson was great because he adjusted strategy to the situation on the field. Longstreet in comparison was mediocre.
Going around Little Round Top would have taken a long time. Getting artillery through those woods would have been very difficult. It only would have worked if the Union soldiers were blind and deaf and didn't see and hear 10,000 men tromping through the woods. Longstreet did the right thing in the situation.
A Great Corp Commander ...... but he should’ve told his army to take the bayonets off stay low and move stealthy .... The north saw him moving right out of camp, the reflections on the bayonets that is a recorded sight from what soldiers picket lines and formed lines where he was going to, he was seen! But I’m a Tuesday night quarterback here!😂
Soldiers fixed bayonets, Longstreet fixed his beard
IMHO if Lee had accepted Longstreet's plan to diengage and go around thde Union lines the South would have won the war and its independance!!!
Dude. The South was the “bad” guy. If they did win, guns and support would have flooded into the South to slaves and that Race Riot that the Slavers were so afraid of would have finally happened!
All Longstreet had to do was allow Hood to move his division a hundred yards to the right and they most likely would have taken Little Round Top. But Longstreet's forced errors at Gettysburg are hard to distinguish from those of everyone else in the Confederate high command during the battle...including Lee.
Wrong. Lee the traitor just didn't use them. Lee was inept.
Lee was the commander. Lee decided against any deviation from his plan. Confederate sympathizers are always scapegoating someone to cover for Lee's ineptitude. Lee was a loser and a traitor. End of story.
On July 2nd Lee didn't know what was behind the round tops. He didn't know were the reserve corps on the union army were. This is why Lee needed the cavalry for reconnaissance.
When the enemy has all the high ground a frontal assault is usually hopeless. Longstreet was right about Gettysburg . Picketts charge had very little chance of success.
The Confederate "cause" and traitorous military insurgency had no chance of success. Pity them not, they and their "cause" were despicable.
@@Glicksman1 I agree that their cause was despicable, but they had a great chance of success. We can all be grateful that they blundered so badly, while shivering at how close they came to pulling it off.
@@aaronfleming9426 I don't think that they ever had a ghost of a chance. Shelby Foote agreed with that, too.
I think we are in greater danger of losing our country today to Trump and his MAGA army of idiotic, ignorant, criminal, racist, hateful traitors.
Not Jimmy Longstreet, Pete Longstreet
Chris calls him "Jimmy," short for "James," because he spends a lot of time with him on the battlefield and in writing (sort of)
A man thought brilliant for lack of things on his mind
longstreet is related to me
Lee's Workhorse...
yes. ap hill and 3rd corp messed up bad on july 2. if they did what lee ordered.. vgurg would ha e been a cs victory
The charge was stupid ,,dum , kind of like charging at the little bighorn ,
He was a known liar. He was one of the lowest ranking students in his class at west point. But damn he was a brilliant commander.
I am reading Pete Longstreet's life after the Civil War. This guy was a realist, not like Lee who was a bit of a dreamer. Lee could not accept loss after the war as did Pete. Pete moved to New Orleans and got involved in Republican government, accepted the new realities of former slaves as being productive individuals. I guess Longstreet had the longer view of life, unlike other nonrepetent rebels like Lee, Early and Davis.
Do you know why the rebels end up in Gettysburg...They where there only to find shoes for there troops And ran into General Buford calvery, A history mistake. Wrong place wrong time..
Worst monument at Gettysburg, it’s really underwhelming not being on a pedestal
You have to give it to Buford he seen the entire beginning to end in his vision the high ground the key that won this battle at Gettysburg...And probably the entire war North and south...Lee went downhill from here.
the federal veteran did not wont confederate monument on thE GETTYSBURG BATTLE PARK. BUT THERE WISHES DID NOT COUNT. INSTEAD THE Y PUT A BUNCH OF TRATERS UP.
Do you not have spell check?? TRAITORS dumbass. If you can't even spell then nothing else you say is relevant. And as a matter of fact Union Veterans didn't have any issue with the Confederate monuments. It was actually Robert E. Lee who thought it was a bad idea. Evidently he could see into the future and knew that someday words and inanimate objects would have the ability to transform weak minded bottom feeders into sniveling pathetic crybabies.
WELL TARNATION!
@@johnnychaos152 Well said, brother!
If it happened today I would agree with the term traitor, but in the 19th century most Americans did not refer to themselves as Americans. They referred to themselves as Virginians or New Yorkers, Ohioans Iowans etc. And some of the Northern States did bring up the question of secession prior to the civil war.. that is one of the problems of today we have people from a different time and culture being judged by todays standards and culture...
OK!!!
General Longstreet was right
Lee was right it shows at the Wilderness battle.
Except for being a traitor to his country.
I don't know about Longstreet. He wasted time getting his attack together, then the countermarch, he also attacked in a way that Lee did not want. If he would have attacked on time and in the way Lee wanted then the Union would not have had the time to occupy Little Round Top and the Rebels would probably have rolled up the Union flank, occupied LRT, and won the battle.
From Chris: He didn't attack the way Lee wanted because, when he got into position, he found Federals where there weren't supposed to be any. McLaws was supposed to lead off the attack but Longstreet quickly--and effectively, I think--adapted on the fly and shifted Hood further south to commence the attack. That, in turn, delayed things even longer than they'd already been delayed. Overall, it wasn't what ANYONE wanted (and McLaws held a grudge over it!), but Longstreet did what he could--and nearly succeeded.
@@emergingcivilwar8965 That is what Longstreet wrote. Is his writings, it seemed everything Lee ever planned was his idea in his memoirs. The face that he was upset at Lee and really lolly gagged around on Day 2 to start the attack because he felt he couldn't tell McLaw what to do. Instead he made Hood march all the way around McLaw to attack and wasted almost the whole day. Longsteet's attack was supposed to start in the morning when the attack on Cemetary Hill was supposed to attack. If he would have attacked then, there wouldn't have been anyone on LRT. Longstreet was mad, pouted, took his time, changed Lee's orders, and cost the Confederacy dearly on day 2.
And wasnt there an issue with Lees' engineers having scouted the wrong road that Longstreet was supposed to use as his jump off point?if Longstreet had attacked on time Sickels might have been in his original position and in better shape to repel that attack
If Longstreet would have attacked earlier, the Yankees would have had more daylight to chase and destroy the retreating rebels. Longstreet knew this crazy frontal assault would fail and minimized the casualties. Not to mention the lack of artillery ammo and support for the charge. Also not to mention that Jeb Stuart was missing because of Lee's radical flanking order. Lee should have listened to General Longstreet.
@@fateagle4life What are your sources for claiming that Longstreet's attack was supposed to begin in the morning? There is nothing in the Confederate OR showing that Longstreet was under orders to attack in the morning. Was Lee's plan for Longstreet to attack LTR? What attack on Cemetery Hill was supposed take place in the morning when Longstreet was supposed to have attacked? Hill's Corps? Ewell's Corp's? Have you ever seen any orders from Lee in the OR to that effect? I just want to make sure we are talking about the same battle.
"Uh-Oh" Howard!!!! That's a good one!!!