The General's Life

Lieutenant General James Longstreet lived from 1821 to 1904 and participated in the period of his country's history that has defined it to this day. The most constant aspect of his personality was his tenacity in doing what he believed was right, no matter what the consequences. He remained loyal and true to the entity he considered his country from first to last, although he worked hard to maintain the culture and integrity of the old South during reconstruction. Within these pages you may have a glimpse of the General best known as Lee's Old War Horse and the Bulldog of Chickamauga.

One of Longstreet's Men

by T. C. Harbaugh

One day deep in the thicket's core,
Where nod the somber pines,
I found a grave with grass o'ergrown
Where stood the battle lines.
The headboard on the round reclined;
I lifted it, and then
I read: "The solder sleeping here
Was one of Longstreet's men."

For him no longer waved the plume
That led the men in gray;
The musket's crash, the cannon's boom
Fore'er had died away;
A little bird with golden crest---
A songster of the glen---
Was singing near her little nest
To one of Longstreet's men.

His cherished cause he bravely served,
And deemed it right and just;
Where is the foeman who would 'sturb
That valiant soldier's dust?
The Shenandoah, as it flowed
Through meadow, brake, and fen,
Recalled the times when life was strife
For one of Longstreet's men.

I set the broken headboard right
That dreamy summer day,
And left beneath the soughing pines
The chevalier in gray;
And as I sent a farewell look
Adown the little glen,
A ray of sunshine kissed the grave
Of one of Longstreets men.

Learn the details about General Longstreet's life by clicking on the headings at the top of the page!

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