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Authors: Martin Dugard
Tags: HIS020040
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crossing, Longstreet would happily be in the thick of the fight. And then, he was sure, he would methodically dispose of anyone who tried to stop him.
Longstreet was Dutch on his father’s side, descended from Puritans who had fled to America in 1630 and settled in New Jersey. It was Longstreet’s grandfather William who moved his family south, settling near Augusta, Georgia, where he invented a steamboat prototype that successfully traveled eight miles on the Savannah River. But William was unable to procure a patent, despite years of trying, and never received proper credit for his revolutionary invention. Ten years later he moved again, this time to South Carolina.
It was on his grandfather’s plantation in Edgefield, 20 miles north of Augusta and 150 miles northwest of the bustling port at Charleston, that James Longstreet the future soldier was born on January 8, 1821. The third of seven children, he was named after his father. His mother was the former Mary Ann Dent, who claimed she could trace her lineage to both Chief Justice John Marshall and William the Conqueror. Longstreet had no middle name but was given the nickname Peter at an early age — “rock” in Greek — for his strength and sturdy character.
Longstreet spent his childhood roaming the fields and forests around his father’s large farm, learning to shoot and ride, feeling at home in the out-of-doors. Daily chores developed muscle to go with instinct, and Longstreet grew into a strapping, independent young boy, seemingly destined for a life in the country.
But he dreamed of being a general. Longstreet loved reading books about great warriors like Napoleon and Washington, and believed wholeheartedly that his ancestral link with William the Conqueror made him a natural soldier.
His father not only respected those dreams but also put forth a plan to help make them come true. When the boy was nine years old, his father packed him off to Augusta, where he would live with his uncle and get the sort of proper education that would allow him to enter West Point. The move from countryside to city was a dramatic lifestyle change, yet Longstreet adapted and even flourished. His uncle, a portly and influential local figure, sent the youngster off to the Richmond County Academy, a rigid private school where classes were conducted from dawn until dusk, ten months a year. By the time Longstreet matriculated at West Point at the age of sixteen, he had been educated in math, Latin, and Greek.
Sadly, his father didn’t live to see Longstreet become a soldier. A cholera epidemic killed him in 1833, and Longstreet’s mother moved away from the farm and relocated to the Alabama coast. Longstreet never saw much of her after that.
At West Point, Pete Longstreet was an even greater rebel and poorer cadet than Sam Grant. He graduated fifty-fourth out of fifty-six in the class of 1842, an esteemed bunch that would see seventeen of its members become generals. Longstreet was their equal in many ways, but his standing was pulled down by demerits, a fondness for sports above study, and a disdain for military discipline. (For instance, the food at West Point was a daily variation on overcooked beef, with boiled potatoes thrown in for variety, so Longstreet was fond of sneaking off the grounds to eat and drink at a local inn that was expressly off-limits to cadets.) Comfortable in his own skin, he was equally at home displaying proper etiquette at a formal military ball and swearing crudely in the field. “As I was of a large and robust physique,” Longstreet admitted years later, “I was at the head of most larks and games.” His classmates, noting that physique, named him Most Handsome Cadet. That description would stick for years to come, though he would eventually grow a long beard to hide his mouth, which a classmate once described as coarse.
Longstreet’s poor grades meant that he, like his good friend Grant, couldn’t select his postgraduate posting. As a
Longstreet was Dutch on his father’s side, descended from Puritans who had fled to America in 1630 and settled in New Jersey. It was Longstreet’s grandfather William who moved his family south, settling near Augusta, Georgia, where he invented a steamboat prototype that successfully traveled eight miles on the Savannah River. But William was unable to procure a patent, despite years of trying, and never received proper credit for his revolutionary invention. Ten years later he moved again, this time to South Carolina.
It was on his grandfather’s plantation in Edgefield, 20 miles north of Augusta and 150 miles northwest of the bustling port at Charleston, that James Longstreet the future soldier was born on January 8, 1821. The third of seven children, he was named after his father. His mother was the former Mary Ann Dent, who claimed she could trace her lineage to both Chief Justice John Marshall and William the Conqueror. Longstreet had no middle name but was given the nickname Peter at an early age — “rock” in Greek — for his strength and sturdy character.
Longstreet spent his childhood roaming the fields and forests around his father’s large farm, learning to shoot and ride, feeling at home in the out-of-doors. Daily chores developed muscle to go with instinct, and Longstreet grew into a strapping, independent young boy, seemingly destined for a life in the country.
But he dreamed of being a general. Longstreet loved reading books about great warriors like Napoleon and Washington, and believed wholeheartedly that his ancestral link with William the Conqueror made him a natural soldier.
His father not only respected those dreams but also put forth a plan to help make them come true. When the boy was nine years old, his father packed him off to Augusta, where he would live with his uncle and get the sort of proper education that would allow him to enter West Point. The move from countryside to city was a dramatic lifestyle change, yet Longstreet adapted and even flourished. His uncle, a portly and influential local figure, sent the youngster off to the Richmond County Academy, a rigid private school where classes were conducted from dawn until dusk, ten months a year. By the time Longstreet matriculated at West Point at the age of sixteen, he had been educated in math, Latin, and Greek.
Sadly, his father didn’t live to see Longstreet become a soldier. A cholera epidemic killed him in 1833, and Longstreet’s mother moved away from the farm and relocated to the Alabama coast. Longstreet never saw much of her after that.
At West Point, Pete Longstreet was an even greater rebel and poorer cadet than Sam Grant. He graduated fifty-fourth out of fifty-six in the class of 1842, an esteemed bunch that would see seventeen of its members become generals. Longstreet was their equal in many ways, but his standing was pulled down by demerits, a fondness for sports above study, and a disdain for military discipline. (For instance, the food at West Point was a daily variation on overcooked beef, with boiled potatoes thrown in for variety, so Longstreet was fond of sneaking off the grounds to eat and drink at a local inn that was expressly off-limits to cadets.) Comfortable in his own skin, he was equally at home displaying proper etiquette at a formal military ball and swearing crudely in the field. “As I was of a large and robust physique,” Longstreet admitted years later, “I was at the head of most larks and games.” His classmates, noting that physique, named him Most Handsome Cadet. That description would stick for years to come, though he would eventually grow a long beard to hide his mouth, which a classmate once described as coarse.
Longstreet’s poor grades meant that he, like his good friend Grant, couldn’t select his postgraduate posting. As a
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