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After surrendering with Robert E.
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox in 1865, James Longstreet
relocated to New Orleans. Facing business failures amid political ostracism, he
embraced Reconstruction, joining the Republican Party and endorsing Ulysses S.
Grant's 1868 presidency. Appointed surveyor of customs in New Orleans, he
earned Southern scorn as a "scalawag."
As Louisiana militia commander,
Longstreet defended integrated government against white supremacists, leading
black troops in the 1874 Battle of Liberty Place, where he was wounded. Moving
to Gainesville, Georgia, in 1875, he held several federal posts from 1878 to
his death in 1904.
Vilified by Lost Cause proponents like
Jubal Early for alleged failures at Gettysburg and critiques of General Robert
E. Lee, Longstreet rebutted charges in his 1896 memoirs, From Manassas to
Appomattox.
He died of pneumonia on January 2,
1904, at age 82.
The Great Northern Rebellion of 1860 (alternate history)
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