Born February 23, 1838, in Savannah, Georgia, Gilbert Moxley Sorrel was adjutant and chief of staff of the First Corps for much of the war. Possessing a keen mind and a marked ability at organization, he quickly became, as his aptly titled memoir suggests, the “right hand” of General Longstreet.
     At the outbreak of war, Sorrel was working as a clerk in a Savannah bank. Enlisting as a private in the Georgia Hussars, a volunteer cavalry company, his first tour of duty was at the newly captured Fort Pulaski. With little chance for action on the Georgia coast, however, Sorrel traveled to Richmond in July of 1861 to “seek employment there.” With a letter of introduction gained from Colonel Thomas Jordan, a family friend and P.G.T. Beauregard’s adjutant general, Sorrel reported to General Longstreet’s command on July 21 and was soon appointed to the rank of captain.
     Longstreet placed great confidence in his staff members. They were kept well informed, knowing virtually everything about a given situation that Longstreet himself knew, and were given wide latitude in making decisions. In his memoirs, Sorrel emphasizes this when giving a description of his duties, writing that Longstreet

left much to me, both in camp and on the field. As chief of staff it was my part to respond to calls for instruction and to anticipate them. The General was kept fully advised after the event, if he was not nearby at the time; but action had to be swift and sure, without waiting to hunt him up on a different part of the field.

Another anecdote from Sorrel’s memoirs further relates just how close Sorrel was to his chief and how much authority Longstreet gave him. During the fighting at Chickamauga, Sorrel noticed a Federal column ripe for the picking and directed the closest troops, part of Bragg’s army under the command of Gen. A. P. Stewart, to attack. “His answer,” Sorrel writes, “was that he was there by orders and could not move until he got others. I explained that I was chief of staff to Longstreet and felt myself competent to give such an order as coming from my chief, and that this was customary in our Virginia service.” The Army of Tennessee, however, was an entirely different beast with potentially harsh repercussions for acting without positive orders. Sorrel was forced to find Longstreet to get confirmation, wasting valuable time in the process, adding that his chief’s “thunderous tones need not be described” when he finally relayed the situation to Longstreet. This was precisely the type of situation Longstreet strove to avoid in giving such deference and intelligence to his staff members.
     Sorrel’s finest moment, perhaps, and the one that shows just how integral and trusted a member of Longstreet’s staff he was, came at the Battle of the Wilderness in May of 1864. Sorrel was directed by Longstreet to take command of a flanking movement that would prove to be instrumental in routing the Union left and securing a Confederate victory. Sorrel’s performance would not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. At the recommendation of General Longstreet, Sorrel was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, due in no small part to his Wilderness exploits, and within a few short months was given command of a brigade in the Third Corps.
     Sorrel would finish the war a brigadier general, and would remain close to Longstreet for the next 40 years. The jewel of the First Corps staff, Sorrel was “one of the finest in the army” when it came to his duties as chief of staff in what may be the most able staff of the war on either side. In the post-war years, Sorrel would branch out into business, perhaps unsurprising giving his wartime experience in organization and command, becoming, among other things, an executive in the Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah, Georgia. He died on August 10, 1901, in Virginia and is buried in his hometown of Savannah. His memoirs, At the Right Hand of Longstreet: Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, were published posthumously in 1905.
     Unlike most memoirs, Sorrel’s Recollections focuses less on military matters and more on the personalities of the men and commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. While an obvious supporter of his old chief, Longstreet, Sorrel also criticizes Longstreet where he feels it proper, most notably in his description of the Gettysburg campaign. Describing Longstreet’s performance as apathetic and lacking the usual focus and precision that characterized his generalship, Sorrel seems to give credence to the Southern Historical Society presentation of Longstreet as sullen and slow at Gettysburg. Whether Sorrel was attempting to appease Longstreet’s detractors in order to stave off further attacks or simply stating his own views on the matter is still a subject of debate.

© 2006 by Barry Dancer

For a more in-depth look at Sorrel’s life and career, see Sorrel, Gilbert Moxley, At the Right Hand of Longstreet: Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer. New York: Neal Publishing Co., 1905. Reprint, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.