At James Longstreet's grave in Georgia, taking measure of a man whose reputation gets stronger with time -- and through a new biography

Longstreet's grave on Sunday, birthday cake later at the Piedmont Hotel (Picket photos)

With a copy of the new biography of James Longstreet in tow, I drove Sunday to Gainesville, Ga., for the annual memorial service honoring the Confederate general.

I’ve been to Alta Vista Cemetery before (though I don’t remember it being as chilly) and I was long familiar with (and have written about) Lt. Gen. Longstreet’s controversial life – his performance at Gettysburg and, later, support for Reconstruction, black suffrage and the Republican Party.

When I visited and interviewed people about the Southern pariah nearly 15 years ago, his story was little-known to most Americans. Yes, the novel “The Killer Angels” and the film “Gettysburg,” coupled with scholarship by historians, helped to usher in a reassessment of the general.

But I think America’s current political divide – a take no prisoners philosophy – and its racial reckoning since Charlottesville and Charleston have made for perfect  timing for Elizabeth R. Varon’s “Longstreet:The Confederate General Who Defied The South.” In the past couple months, I have noticed more articles about Longstreet than ever before. Varon’s biography, which I read over the holidays, has generally been well-received.

A small gathering Sunday at Longstreet's grave in Gainesville, Ga. (Picket photo)

On Sunday, I stood near a dozen other people – many members of the Gainesville-based The Longstreet Society -- circling the family plot. While an impressive monument mentions the general’s Confederate service and an iron Southern Cross of Honor is positioned nearby, it’s notable a U.S. flag flies above the grave and violinist played the National Anthem during the brief service –- 120 years after the man’s passing.

Society president Richard Pilcher gave a brief summary of the general’s life, mentioning his military prowess, public service and courage away from the battlefield – working for reconciliation after the war. “Many Southerners considered him a traitor to the cause, and blamed him for the Confederacy’s defeat,” he said.

Of the people I spoke with at the cemetery and at the society’s headquarters about a mile away, only a couple had read much of Varon’s book, which dubs Longstreet “Confederate Judas” in the prologue. But they know the general’s story – and have been his defender for a generation. (Sharon Johns plays during the memorial service at Alta Vista, below)

Longstreet lived in Gainesville the last 30-plus years of his life, filling federal jobs, writing his memoirs, defending his war record and lobbying for the reunification of North and South. The society has held the memorial service for 29 consecutive years.

Member Doug Smith, a lifelong resident of the area, at the service read Theodore Roosevelt’s famous passage about bravery – the kind Longstreet demonstrated as he defended himself when he was assailed by Southerners who deemed him a turncoat for supporting former enemy Ulysses S. Grant and Reconstruction.

Longstreet, who supported slavery before and during the conflict, did an about-face on race and famously led black and white troops in New Orleans during a violent white uprising in the 1870s. And while he was not a racial egalitarian, Longstreet pushed for black suffrage in the decade after Appomattox (He was not an active civil rights activist in his last years.)

The worthy man, Roosevelt wrote, is he who fights for something despite the pain, willing to fail “while daring greatly.”

I spoke with Smith afterward at the historic Piedmont Hotel, the society’s headquarters. Longstreet operated the hotel and lived there for a time, welcoming those who took a buggy from the rail depot a couple blocks away. He famously served them Southern fried chicken, according to legend.

“You could be flawless if you sat on the couch every day,” Smith told me, providing his perspective on Roosevelt’s words and their application to Longstreet.

As members and visitors enjoyed birthday cake (Longstreet’s birthday is January 8), Smith told me he learned nothing as a child about the general. Southern leaders and educators had brushed Longstreet aside, and veneration for his valor was out of the question.

“I never heard of him one bit until the Gettysburg movie came out,” Smith said of the 1993 film that starred Tom Berenger as Longstreet.

The movie focused heavily on the Gen. Robert E. Lee-Longstreet relationship during the battle. The latter, who Lee called his “old war horse,” lobbied for a more defensive posture.

Longstreet in postwar years voiced his opinion that Lee should not have launched the disastrous Day Three attack at Gettysburg. Advocates of the romantic Lost Cause myth lashed out at him, and said he failed Lee at Gettysburg by delaying the execution of orders.

But many Confederate veterans lionized him and he was popular at reunions, including a notable gathering at Gettysburg in 1888.

The society’s museum mostly covers Longstreet’s military service, his family and the hotel. Pilcher estimates about 60 percent of the interest in the general is about his Civil War record.

Longstreet supporters, like those I spoke with Sunday, defend his actions at Gettysburg. Interestingly, one portrays Lee at various events, such as he did Sunday.

“I love Lee, but Lee made a mistake at Gettysburg,” Raymond E. Loggins, dressed in uniform (left), said on the porch of the remaining portion of the hotel.

Smith said Longstreet was a pragmatist and believed it made sense for the South to accept defeat and move forward. As for the general’s motivation?

“The war is over. We lost. Get over it. I’ve got to make a living,” Smith theorized, who has read portions of the new biography.

Even after reading Varon’s book, I still don’t know exactly why Longstreet took the path he did after the Civil War. Was it because of his deep friendship with Grant? Was it by taking federal jobs in Republican administrations, as he did, he would be exempt from foes firing him if he held a local position? Or, maybe he wanted the South to lower its head and do what it was needed to be full equals.

We may never know, and a framed piece of text at the museum, entitled “PRESENTISM,” goes to the difficulty of understanding the thoughts of people who lived 160 years ago.

Only the first floor of the old Piedmont Hotel survives (Picket photos)

“Presentism is an ugly virus invading journalism, history, religion and other fields,” the message reads. “It is the idea that we should apply the modern world’s moral and ethical standards to judge people of the past who had different standards. And, if people from our past are found wanting in the judgment of the present, the virus would eradicate their names and their memorials from the world.”

Of course, many Americans vociferously disagree when it comes to the Confederacy, saying actions speak louder than words. Civil rights activists, according to CNN, say monuments are racist and offensive because they honor those who promoted the enslavement of Black people.

“Destroying these monuments and these memorials will not erase the legacy of slavery,” said Southern Poverty Law Center researcher Kimberly Probolus in 2022. “But abolishing these memorials is a first and essential step in combating the white supremacist values of the Confederacy.”

Dan Paterson, a great-grandson of Longstreet who lives in Virginia, was unable to attend Sunday’s memorial. But he told me beforehand he plans to read Varon’s book soon.

“I was aware of the book coming out for quite some time and my anticipation was guarded as it usually has been regarding Longstreet books over the years,” Paterson wrote in an email, adding he has enjoyed some biographies of the general.

“Given the monument destruction of the last several years, including grave desecration, I am a bit leery of the angle taken on any former Confederate commander, much less my ancestor,” said Paterson, who said he had ancestors who fought on both sides. He faulted the recent removal of the Confederate monument at Arlington National Cemetery.

“Taking down a reconciliation monument right before Christmas is not a good look.”

Regarding Longstreet, Paterson said: “It seems to me, from what I am told, he will probably be the only former Confederate not canceled. Those are the words of my son. who also added that the liberals/progressives are backing him up or his reputation, as it were.”