Longstreet by Elizabeth Varon - A Review

We all know James Longstreet - Robert E. Lee’s most trusted lieutenant who fell from grace in the postwar South. Having the audacity to criticize Lee in print, he wound up heartily attacked by Lost Cause warriors, shouldering the blame for the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, and thus the war. And to make matters worse, he turned Republican. Oh my…if his popularity wasn’t already in question among most Reconstruction era white southerners, that pretty much did the trick. It’s no wonder there is scarcely a monument to be found honoring Lee’s “Warhorse” in all of former Rebeldom.

I very much enjoyed Elizabeth Varon’s new take on this controversial historical figure. As you know, I am a fan of her pervious work, and have been known to cite Varon’s Armies of Deliverance as among the most influential books I’ve read win some time. With Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, she once again offers a compelling story - this time on a most enigmatic man.

Longstreet’s conversion from ardent Confederate to southern apostate is worthy of our attention, if only to suggest that ideologies and individuals are seldom cast in bronze. Before I read this, I imagined Longstreet as the postwar pragmatist, maybe even opportunist - seeking political favor and status in a highly volatile postwar landscape and using his connections with the likes of none other than old army buddy Ulysses S. Grant to get there. But in short I came to rethink and revise my position. The hostility Longstreet faced in treacherous political climes, and his political positions - what included black civil rights - struck me as reasons to reconsider the man. Did he genuinely reject Lost Cause mythology? Did he genuinely embrace interracial alliances? He certainly serves as a symbol for political evolution during a complex and often violent period.

For Longstreet, the most promising path forward for the American South was putting distance between the former Confederacy and antiquated institutions, embracing Republican Party policies, and of course, promoting sectional reconciliation. As I have noted in my own work, usually reconcliationist posturing was exactly that - empty nods to some sort of brotherhood of arms that didn’t amount to much when anyone pressed the veterans to explain the conditions of reconciliation. I am fairly certain now that Longstreet saw himself above the sectional differences that informed sectional proclivities. Whether this is actually true or he was just kidding himself…only he could answer, as he seemed well connected to his former command long after Appomattox. Proud of his military acumen and service, I have no doubt, but at least he believed that “before the war, and during its continuation, that the people would eventually get again in stronger bonds of friendship that those of their first love.” As Varon notes, he fashioned himself “a prophet of national reconciliation.” (286) I might remind my readers that perception is everything.

There’s been a lot of work on Longstreet over the last several decades - those interested in Civil War memory studies will surely have encountered them. But a reassessment of Longstreet’s postwar career is a welcome addition to the field. Not incidentally, I think a biography on Helen Longstreet would be pretty cool too. If anybody out there is listening…maybe give it a go. A study assessing her attempt to restore her husband’s legacy, well into the twentieth century, seems a worthy endeavor.

One little quibble - Varon’s subtitle. Subtitles are weird things (I hate the subtitle of my first book, which was kinda forced on my by the publisher…) and can steer one’s impression of an argument before reading even the first pages. Here, defying the South strikes me as ambiguous. Yes, I am one of those annoying guys who thinks that there are many Souths taking many forms defined by racial, ethnic, ideological, and social characteristics. And to say THE South in this particular case sort of lumps them all in together. I would say he defied the Confederate South - that’s for sure. But I would also say he championed THE South and sought to bring it up to speed in the wake of the Confederacy’s failure. Rebels be damned.

But like I said, this is a quibble…a minor critique of an otherwise outstanding book. I hope you grab a copy and have a crack at it. Then we can discuss.

With compliments,

Keith