At Camp Lawton stockade site in Georgia, archaeology students searching for sutler's cabin find POW buckles, nails and more

Nails may have had multiple uses, a Federal trouser buckle (Camp Lawton Archaeological Project)

Archaeology students trying to learn more about a Confederate prison that operated for less than two months in southern Georgia are exploring where Federal soldiers were held captive, and they’ve thus far turned up buckles, nails, a Rebel musket ball and intriguing turtle remains.

Georgia Southern University Associate Professor Ryan McNutt said this season’s dig on the site of Camp Lawton began in January and will go through April or early May. This is the first time the project has been on the Federal side of the stockade since 2014.

Hundreds of POWs died at Lawton during its brief existence in fall 1864. Prisoners were shuttled among several Southern prisons, most notably Andersonville as Union forces advanced on Savannah. The camp was built near Millen; a portion lies within Magnolia Springs State Park and the rest is on the grounds of a former federal fish hatchery.

Since the announcement in 2010 of the discovery of the Lawton site, GSU has studied several areas to get a better understanding of prisoner and guard life. McNutt responded this month to a series of questions from the Civil War Picket. His responses have been edited.

Q. One (Facebook) post said a prime focus is the sutler's cabin. Was it within the prison area (where Federal soldiers roamed)? What does the record say about the cabin, its purpose and operation? Why would you like to find evidence of the cabin?

Sutler cabin (top) at Camp Sumter/Andersonville (Library of Congress)

A. The sutler cabin seems to have been across the stream from the gate, and directly in line with it on the main west-east running road (in modern cardinal directions, not Robert Knox Sneden's). The record is frustratingly quite vague.

We know there was one, as there was at Andersonville (photo above, log structure with slanted roof), as POWs discuss it.

Sneden (see Union POW’s drawing below of Camp Lawton) seems to place it in the same general location, though in at least several instances he places it on opposite sides of the road leading to the bridge. 

Detail of Sneden's drawing shows sutler cabin, police area in center (Library of Congress)

The sutler at Andersonville seems to have been a James Selman Jr., followed by a James Duncan, who may have been a Confederate guard and was possibly replaced again by a James Selman. One of these individuals likely ran the sutler's (cabin) at Camp Lawton. They were authorized by the prison commandants to sell to the prisoners authorized items. From their stories, prisoners with money that they were able to hang on to, or make, could buy eggs, flour, bacon, cornbread, beans, baking soda, and blackberries; soap, shaving equipment, clothing, tobacco, tobacco pipes, cigars, reading material, and so on -- for eyewatering prices that were much higher than regular marker prices. Examples: Fifty cents an egg, six dollars for a pound of bacon, and 25 cents a spoon for baking soda.

We're looking for evidence of the cabin as part of a graduate student's thesis work, which is focused on shadow and underground economies inside prison camps. As one of the only sources of goods coming into the prison, it's like the sutler's cabin was the center point of much of the legal and illegal trade between prisoners, guards and prisoners and the sutler. 

We're hoping to find evidence of this in the material culture around the cabin, to get an idea of how heavily trafficked and used it may have been. Sneden certainly seems to imply the area around the cabin was always crowded. 

Students sift through soil (Camp Lawton Archaeological Project)

Q. What else are the students concentrating on this spring?

A. Essentially, just the area around the bank on the west side of the stream. Interestingly, while Sneden shows it lightly occupied, he does show an area of shebangs labeled 'Police' with no explanation, as well as potentially a chapel, though this might be reading too much into Sneden's maps and images.

We're also getting a better idea of how densely the camp was occupied, where we have evidence of POW activity, and in a very real way, the extent of past impacts on the site during its transition from timberland to state and then federal fish hatchery, and CCC work.

We used Lidar data to pinpoint potential anomalies that might be the sutler's cabin, and the students are learning how to locate those on the ground, test them and get an understanding that even with the most accurate technology you can get, archaeologists still have to dig to confirm our guess of flat areas and odd shapes that show up in Lidar.

Q. Can you briefly summarize what has been learned thus far in this field school? And what more you want to work on for the remainder of this session.

Q. So far we've got clear indications of a lightly occupied area of the stockade, and our current grid is likely just off of where the sutler’s cabin should be, but we have another area just west that might have more promise. We're working from our known to our unknown, from areas that were lightly tested in the past to areas that the project has never looked at before. We're almost finished with our current grid, which has clearly showed some POW occupation. Turtle bones and shells (left) possibly came from a hearth, and we have a few other spots that might be POW shelters. We'll explore these with test units, and we'll establish another area over our area of interest that might be closer to the sutler's cabin and the main road.

But we also clearly have empty spots, with no artifacts at all that seem to indicate the presence of roads and paths shown on the plan created by the Confederates as the camp was being built, and Sneden's water colors. 

Q. Social media photos by the project show numerous buckles -- trousers, knapsack or elsewhere. Are these believed to be from Union POWs? What about the iron nails --- suspected use for them?

A. So far, we have one whole and one partial trouser buckle, as well as three that are likely haversack or knapsack buckles. We also have some different files -- metal and wood working, that seem to have been fairly degraded when they were dropped. As well as one piece of ceramic and some fragments of glass bottles. One of which was likely a pickle or sauce bottle. These were all probably dropped by POWs. The trouser buckles are standard issue on several Federal trouser types, and the buckles match Federal issued equipment. While this isn't to say they are absolutely from POWs, the Confederates present at the camp do not seem to ever have been issued anything close to uniform items.

Some of the iron nails (right) are interesting, in that they fall into two groups. A couple (of them) are big enough to be structural and used to pin the corners of wooden structures together. Most, however, are of the size to come from express boxes (like those used on US Sanitary Commission aid boxes), and may represent the distribution of this material to the POWs, who are then repurposing the boxes.

The nails may have just been dropped -- most of them seem to have been pulled and bent, and aren't modified in any clear way. But we haven't done a full analysis yet.

We've also found a host of unknown items, and some personal effects such as what is possibly part of a match safe, and maybe even a cigar case. 

 [An] unexpected moment was one of our artifacts that is also the most puzzling. An iron strap with copper rivets, and a hinge on one side, and a threaded rod on the other, it still has preserved leather around several of the rivets. And it looks as though whatever it is, it may be period.

(The GSU team also found what appears to be a spent Confederate bullet. The Picket will have a separate article about this soon.)

Cast copper alloy buckle with iron tongue (Camp Lawton Project)

Q. Anything else readers might want to know?

A. I'd be interested in being contacted by anyone who might have an ancestor inside the stockade who left any memories, or anyone with photos of Magnolia Springs State Park and the stream going back to the CCC activity. Individuals are also always welcome to email me (rmcnutt@georgiasouthern.edu) with any questions, and I'll get back as soon as I can. They're also welcome to stop by the site, even if we're not running a public day. (The GSU team usually is on site Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during this field school.)

COMING SOON: Recovered Confederate bullets at Camp Lawton raise questions about how often and why guards fired upon prisoners there, at Andersonville and other sites. 

Previous coverage:

-- Students find likely evidence of brief cavalry skirmish

-- Stirrup is a surprise find during Camp Lawton dig

-- Percussion caps and friction primers

-- The trauma endured by Civil War POWS was passed on to their sons

Sultana will rise from the ashes as Arkansas city breaks ground on permanent museum focused on the Civil War maritime disaster

Haizlip Studio's museum rendering for the moment of explosion (SHPS)

An Arkansas town close to where the steamboat Sultana exploded and caught fire at the Civil War’s end will see a decade-long dream fulfilled on Veterans Day when it breaks ground for a new museum that will honor soldiers who died in the disaster and residents who helped save others plunged into the Mississippi River.

Officials in Marion -- a bedroom community just a 15-minute drive from Memphis, Tenn. -- say it’s important that the little-known story of greed, fraud, valor and sacrifice be told in a bigger way than what’s covered in a tiny museum that opened in 2015.

The Sultana Historical Preservation Society last month announced it had reached its $6 million goal for phase 1 of the project at the gymnasium-auditorium in the town’s old high school. Officials are hopeful the museum will be ready for business in early 2024.

Survivor William Lugenbeal claimed he killed an alligator on board
to use a crate to escape. He made this box afterward (SHPS)

It’s been a protracted and dogged march to raise awareness of the episode in Civil War history and bring in a large amount of money for a permanent museum. The Picket has written several articles on the museum, dating to 2012.

“Not only will the tragic story of the Sultana be remembered forever, but the new museum will be a wonderful storehouse of Sultana-related artifacts, photos, research and documentation,” said Norman Shaw of the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends (Sultana Association).

The Sultana exploded and caught fire on April 27, 1865, killing about 1,200 passengers and crew. Hundreds of Federal soldiers, many recently freed from Confederate prisons, including Andersonville and Cahaba, perished on their way home, a cruel fate after enduring months or years of privation.

A photo of the overcrowded Sultana a day before the fire (Library of Congress)

No one was formally held accountable for putting too many men on the Sultana, despite documented concerns about the safety of one of the boat's boilers. Accounts of the largest maritime tragedy in U.S. history were overshadowed by headlines about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Authors Gene Salecker and Jerry Potter have written about a kickback scheme between the vessel's financially strapped captain and an Army quartermaster, Lt. Col. Reuben B. Hatch. According to Potter, the transport fee was $5 for an enlisted man, $10 for an officer. Capt. J. Cass Mason agreed to take the enlisted men for $3; Hatch kept the $2.

The Sultana Historical Preservation Society, which has spearheaded the project in collaboration with the city, believes a compelling museum and effective marketing can bring in up to 50,000 visitors a year who collectively will spend millions of dollars to support the economy in Marion and nearby communities.

The main focus will be on those who endured the ordeal (SHPS)

“I’m just very excited for the City of Marion, as I’m glad to see this historic (school) space put to use – a use that will bring in thousands upon thousands of visitors to our town. I’m also glad to see the victims of the Sultana disaster finally get a fitting memorial,” Wyly Bigger, director of special operations and projects for the Sultana Disaster Museum, told the Picket in an email.

The expanded museum will include scores of artifacts or memorabilia related to the disaster and exhibits on steamboats on the Mississippi River, the Sultana’s service, Civil War prisons, corruption involved in its overloading, the explosion, the struggle for survival, rescue efforts and the disaster’s aftermath. Many of the artifacts were donated by Salecker.

Among the items be displayed are bricks and shaker plates from the doomed vessel's furnace, a cotton bale hook, a cartridge box sling, combs carved by soldiers while they were in prison and items created by passengers after the fire. Numerous items made for annual reunions of survivors (left) also will be showcased.

Haizlip Studio in Memphis took the lead in architectural and exhibit plans. The Picket reached out this week to the company about its part in the project but did not receive a response.

In 2021, architect Mary Haizlip said among the design features at the converted school building on Military Road  -- a few blocks from the current museum -- will be exterior smokestacks meant to evoke images of the Sultana. Visitors will be provided “experiential moments” in the lives of passengers, from their departure from prison camps to the moment of the explosion and the aftermath.

Backers say the 1939 gymnasium’s 35-foot ceilings will help provide “for a new, modern, high-tech museum that will entertain and educate visitors of all ages. It also allows us to preserve and repurpose one of the most historical buildings in eastern Arkansas.” Officials say the new venue will encompass more than 22,000 square feet.

The museum will include exhibits on the era of steamboats (Haizlip Studio/SHPS)

Bigger said the $6 million is the anticipated cost for renovations of the existing gymnasium structure and construction of the new addition to be built on the south end of the building. About $3.1 million of the current funding comes from government sources. Another $761,000 is from foundations and $1.58 million is linked to businesses who hope the museum will boost tourism spending in the area.

“As we are starting this phase, we will be continuing to raise money, with our next goal being $4 million to go towards constructing the actual exhibit within the building. After that phase is complete, fundraising will continue with a goal of another $3 million for an endowment to be put towards early operational expenses as the new museum is getting off the ground,” Wyly wrote.

First steps will include abatements (removing any traces of hazardous substances, for example lead paint or asbestos). Construction will ideally start by New Year’s Day, “but it could be March before any visible work is started. The schedule is not firm just yet, but the process is underway,” said Bigger.

Some local residents have questioned whether the project is the best use of money and will bring in enough visitors. “I think Marion needs a lot more things to be more attractive than a Sultana museum right now. Let’s bring things that will actually grow marion and help lower our taxes," one commenter wrote on the city's Facebook page in 2021.

A Reddit page on the Civil War has spirited comments about the museum, with some saying it will tell an important story while others say the story could be included in an existing venue. One reader said more populous areas are struggling to draw big numbers to maritime-related museums and that Marion will also encounter a general declining interest in history.

Gene Salecker's 14-foot model will be displayed at the new site (SHPS)

Museum supporters disagree, citing the museum’s anticipated economic impact and the unique story of the disaster.

The story of the Sultana runs deep in the blood of Judge John Fogleman, president of the Sultana society, and his cousin Frank, the city’s longtime mayor who is leaving office after this term. Their great-great-grandfather, John Fogleman, after lashing two or three logs together, poled his way through the current of the Mississippi River and toward survivors.

The Fogleman and Barton families, descendants of local men who were part of that rescue effort, donated $100,000 for the project.

Survivors of the Sultana disaster lobbied 25 years for Congress to provide money for a monument along the Mississippi River. It never happened.

“The survivors of this tragedy and those family members of those that died deserve better,” John Fogleman said during a capital campaign kickoff event in 2021.

Shaw, founder of the Sultana Association, said the goal of the Sultana’s survivors was to ensure their ordeal would not be forgotten.

1920 Knoxville survivors reunion; Pleasant Keeble at far left, John H. Simpson
second from right (Knox County Public Library, McClung Historical Collection)

“That's why they held annual reunions, to which many people attended, most importantly their families, to carry on the legacy,” Shaw said. This has always been our group's driving motivation -- keep the story alive. I feel the old veterans would be proud of our efforts.”

He touted the Foglemans’ leadership and the role of Salecker as historical consultant.

The association meets every year in different cities. It will hold its annual reunion in Marion the same year the museum opens, Shaw said. Sultana survivor descendants have been encouraged to consider donating or loaning their items to the museum.

The groundbreaking is set for 10 a.m. CT on Nov. 11 at the former Marion High School gymnasium and auditorium at 54 Military Road, Marion, Ark.

COMING SOON: A closer look at the planned exhibits and artifacts

Previous Sultana coverage:

• Documentary, events mark 150th anniversary

• Descendants drop flowers in memory of the lost

• Model captures every detail of Sultana

• Disaster took lives of those who had endured so much
• Siblings recall learning of disaster

Haizlip Studio rendering of new museum features replica smokestacks (Courtesy SHPS)

Rally to the sound of the guns: Fort Pulaski near Savannah is looking for cannon crew volunteers. Here's what you need to know before enlisting

Crew fires a Parrott gun and trains on a howitzer; Doherty in foreground (NPS photos)

WANTED: Able-bodied men and women. No experience required. Applicants will undergo training and must pass a test. Requirements include working well with others and following orders. Job includes wearing a woolen uniform in hot weather. The position is a lot of fun, but safety comes first -- always. You’ll be firing cannons.

Fort Pulaski National Monument outside Savannah, Ga., recently took to social media to find folks for its cannon crew, with a special focus on Saturdays. While the Facebook post was not written quite like the Picket’s mock ad above, the job does entail those requirements.

Shannon L. Doherty, a park guide at Pulaski and its historic weapons supervisor, says it’s been tough to always field a crew because core volunteers sometimes can’t attend every event and staffers can’t always work extra days.

That’s where you might come in.

The cannon crew has typically been made up of older volunteers, many military veterans. But Doherty welcomes all those who can qualify.

“No experience is fine, because you have to be trained either way,” she says. “Firing a historic cannon is exhilarating. It’s loud and there’s the sulfur smell. The visitors come up and talk about how much they enjoyed it.”

The Fort Pulaski cannon crew portrays Union artillerymen.

They fire a reproduction 30-pounder Parrott rifle -- which recoils a bit -- and a 12-pounder smoothbore field howitzer, both made by Steen. The latter was not used in the Pulaski siege, but was a common anti-infantry weapon during the war.

National Park Service cannon and rifle crews do not fire period weapons. Chief Ranger George Elmore of Fort Larned National Historic Site in Kansas told the Picket in 2014 the agency does not want to risk destroying an historic artifact.

Various stages of the making of artillery rounds, not in sequence.
Doherty, trained in black powder, supervises  the work. (NPS photos)

Fort Pulaski has about two dozen cannons, several of which date to the Civil War. The Confederate masonry fortification surrendered in April 1862 after withering fire from Federal rifled guns destroyed parts of the wall and threatened its magazine. The innovative rifled weapons brought an end to that type of fort construction.

NPS venues that fire reproduction 18^th and 19^th century small arms and artillery must have an employee certified in their use and safety. Of course, actual rounds are not fired. Doherty, who underwent required NPS black-powder training in March, must be present at all cannon firings and she trains and supervises the crew.

Crew members must have awareness and aptitude

Both of Fort Pulaski’s demonstration weapons are in the parade ground. Each is fired during a typical 25-minute program. “We are trying to connect it to the theme of the park,” says Doherty. One example is the freedom story – how the Federal army helped the emancipation process.

National parks that fire cannons must follow a lengthy safety manual that is remarkably close to standards during the Civil War. “We try to be historically accurate and as safe as possible,” says Doherty.

Cannoneers sponge the Parrott barrel at Pulaski (NPS photo)

Accidents are exceedingly rare, but the work does come with danger. In 2014, the breech of a gun fired at Fort McHenry National Monument failed, leaving one member of the cannon crew slightly injured.

Fort Pulaski requires volunteers to read the rules and take a 24-question test on safety. A couple questions are, “If the cannon fails to fire, what command is given?” and “The minimum waiting time before the piece is reprimed after a misfire is:”

The NPS manual of instruction begins with a sobering reminder for crews to be well-trained and prepared. It lists the four primary causes of accidents in historic weapons demonstrations using artillery:

1. Rapid firing

2. Poorly maintained or improper equipment

3. Improper drill

4. Improper ammunition

Cannon crew members march in for a demonstration at Pulaski (NPS photo)

During the Civil War, guns typically had a crew of eight. Crews firing replica weapons typically have six members, with one member fulfilling three spots, involving retrieving a charge and moving it up to the cannon.

Doherty makes sure they go over equipment and members understand all positions. Unlike, the Civil War, when all those in a battery needed to be interchangeable because of death or injury, volunteers don’t have to serve at every position.

For example, the No. 1 position involves sponging the barrel and ramming the round down the tube. “That can freak some people out.” 

The crew drills the morning of any cannon firings.

“(It’s) being comfortable into whether it was in one position or others, feeling confident. Not being shaky on anything,” Doherty says. “I am watching to see proficiency, if someone isn’t doing too well.” (At right, Parrott sponger, rammer and wormer at Fort Pulaski, NPS photo)

Another view of the howitzer training (NPS photo)

Elmore, who has conducted safety courses for NPS staffers, said each park is required to have its own magazine, meet ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) requirements and to have a loading area.

Doherty says the crew routinely goes over equipment, for example ensuring there are no holes in hand gloves are splinters in the sponge rammer. They are equipped with hearing protection.

The cannon cannot be fired more than once every 10 minutes. Visitors are 50 feet away and no one can be downrange of the barrel.

“This is not a race. We do need to be deliberate in the steps and not a rush. That’s when errors happen.”

Making the rounds safely is exacting work

Doherty – following ATF and NPS rules -- works with a mold to make the replica rounds, which contain aluminum foil, black powder and peat moss; the latter adds length and volume to the shell. On the day of firing, a friction primer causes ignition, setting off the black powder.

Black powder, finished rounds are kept in powder magazine

The black powder and finished rounds are stored in a World War II-era magazine.

The powder comes in a plastic bottle. The larger Parrott gun requires all 16 ounces while the howitzer uses about half of that.

Doherty takes the powder from the magazine, places it in a locked non-sparking box and works in another room after park hours.

While Doherty solely can do a few of the steps, others can help certain parts of the preparation – but only under her supervision.

To prevent a fire or explosion, Doherty works with a wooden table that has no exposed nails. It takes about 30-45 minutes to prepare six rounds, enough for three firings a day.

The rounds, weighing about a pound, are returned to the magazine for future use.

When the Picket wrote about NPS black-powder training in 2014, powder cost about $15 a pound. Like everything else, it’s gotten a lot more expensive.

A recent order of 50 pounds cost about $1,200 with shipping, Doherty says.

Fort Pulaski has helped other parks, including Fort Sumter National Monument, with supply.

More crew members, more cannon firings

The venue hopes the addition of a few more volunteers might ensure Saturday firings throughout the year.

Interestingly, the park did artillery demonstrations on Wednesdays during June and July because of higher staffing that day and the fact that visitors tended to travel on the weekends.

A crew moves the limber in the Fort Pulaski parade ground (NPS photo)

Fort Pulaski is particularly busy in November and December for holidays, thus the push to recruit more crew members. Doherty has three core members, all area retirees, to depend on, but she needs a bigger pool of recruits.

Sometimes, re-enactors come in with different standards. Doherty stresses people need to be open to learning and follow NPS rules.

For all the safety concerns, serving on a crew has its rewards.

“We can provide unrivaled weekend entertainment and outstanding camaraderie,” the park’s callout said.

Recruits can enlist with the Fort Pulaski cannon crew by emailing Historic Weapons Supervisor Shannon Doherty at shannon_Doherty@nps.gov. Applicants will also speak with the park's volunteer coordinator.

James Longstreet, worried Confederate service might disqualify him, sought a federal pension based on his Mexican-American War wound. A namesake society now has his letter

James Longstreet is at center at 1888 Gettysburg reunion (NPS photo)

The Longstreet Society recently acquired a brief but fascinating letter from the legendary Confederate general seeking a federal pension 20 years after the Civil War’s end.

In an Oct. 2, 1885, letter from Gainesville, Ga., where he lived the last 25 years of his life, James Longstreet expresses guarded hope that his valiant service in the U.S. Army in the Mexican-American War will outweigh any concerns about him later fighting for the Confederacy against the Union.

Here’s the transcription of his correspondence to officials in Washington, D.C.

The general's pension request (click to enlarge, courtesy of The Longstreet Society)

“I beg your indulgence to inquire if I am entitled to a pension for a severe wound received in storming Chapultepec in Mexico on the 13th of September 1847.

“At the same time I will ask that the matter be so investigated that it shall not reach the newspapers, unless the decision should be favorable as an advance discussion will put me in position not very pleasant.

“I have frequently been told by surgeons who examine applicants that my claims is a just one, but the fact of being in the Confederate Army since the war casts a doubt in my mind, as to (the) law in this case.

“I remain Respectfully +
truly your obt servant

James Longstreet”

The Longstreet Society, based in Gainesville, said it believes the letter was successful but it wants to verify that.

Jeffry D. Wert, author of the 1993 book “General James Longstreet: The Confederacy’s Most Controversial Soldier,” told the Picket he was reasonably certain Longstreet (left) did not receive the federal pension, “which was the case for high ranking Confederate officers.”

But it is difficult to know for sure.

“When the general's house burned to the ground, history lost much, if not nearly all, of his personal papers,” Wert wrote in an email.

Interestingly, the U.S. Pension Bureau worked to provide benefits for Union – not Confederate – veterans. The latter usually turned to their states for pensions and other relief. The Clara Barton Museum says the agency distributed about $138 million to nearly 1 million Union veterans and surviving relatives.

Longstreet, a West Point graduate, served in several battles during the Mexican-American War and suffered a thigh wound while carrying the flag for the 8^th US Infantry at Chapultepec. He handed the flag to George E. Pickett, who would also gain fame during the Civil War as Longstreet’s subordinate at Gettysburg. Longstreet continued serving in the U.S. Army until the Civil War.

Dan Paterson, great-grandson of the general, said he did not know whether Longstreet got the federal pension. Helen Dortch Longstreet, the general’s second wife, apparently did receive a stipend for his service in Mexico, Paterson said.

A pension card on Ancestry.com notes an 1887 application from the general for the "Mexican War" and another for Helen in 1904, after his death. James was married to his first wife, Maria Louisa, until her death in 1889.

James and Helen Longstreet in 1900 (courtesy of Dan Paterson)

“The pension was not something I recollect coming up in discussion when my grandmother was still around in the 70's when we were kids,” Paterson wrote in an email.

A search of the Georgia Archives shows Helen applied in 1937 – 33 years after the general’s death – for a pension from the state as a widow of a Confederate veteran. Helen, 69, indicated James had received a state pension while living in Gainesville.

A letter, in approving Helen’s pension request, said the general “performed actual military service as a Confederate soldier and was honorably separated from such service.”

The letter did not indicate what amount the widow would receive.

Helen Longstreet's pension request (click to enlarge, Georgia Archives)

Maria Lagonia, vice president of the Longstreet Society, said the group spent less than $1,000 to purchase the letter from a seller on eBay.

The individual “worked with us on the price because he felt (and so did we) that the James Longstreet Museum was a good safe home for the letter and because we could share it with our visitors.”

In 1885, when he wrote the letter, Longstreet was both famous and infamous in the South, depending on one’s point of view. He remained immensely popular with the Confederate veterans he once led. His most masterful moments during the Civil War were at Chickamauga, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and Antietam.

The veteran of Indian wars and the Mexican-American War was devoted and loyal to Gen. Robert E. Lee, who leaned heavily on Longstreet and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The latter was killed at Chancellorsville only a few months before Gettysburg.

A cabal, which included former generals Jubal Early and John Gordon, claimed Longstreet stubbornly resisted Lee’s plans at Gettysburg, resulting in the loss of the July 1863 battle – and perhaps the war.

They said Lee’s “Old War Horse”, his principal subordinate, was insubordinate at Gettysburg. That he wouldn’t support the attacks. That he moved his 14,000 troops in a slow manner.

Longstreet’s supporters and some scholars counter this. Although Gettysburg may not have been his best effort, they say, the general fought effectively on Days 2 and 3. The veteran, however, earned enmity when he dared to criticize Lee’s actions at Gettysburg publicly, and he spent the rest of his life trying to restore his reputation.

Two years after war’s end, Longstreet said that he believed in reconciliation and black suffrage. His business in New Orleans began to fail after critics accused him of being a scalawag – a Southern white who supported Reconstruction.

After the war, Longstreet held several federal offices and was a friend of President Ulysses S. Grant and Dan Sickles, former foes on the battlefield. While living in Louisiana, Longstreet led a black militia against unruly white supremacists.

Old Piedmont Hotel in Gainesville is home to The Longstreet Society (Picket photo)

Southerners did not forget that affront or his Republican Party loyalties. While there is no evidence he was progressive on race, Longstreet thought giving blacks full citizenship and voting rights was the practical thing to do.

Besides defending himself, the aging warrior also contended with the effects of a grievous wound to his throat, the result of friendly fire during the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.

Longstreet moved to Gainesville in the late 1870s. He bought the 120-acre farm near downtown and pruned muscadine vines on property that featured an old colonial-style home.

The home burned in April 1889, and the general’s wife, Maria Louisa, died in December. (photo at right, courtesy of Dan Paterson). The fire destroyed the home, Longstreet's uniform, sword, a sash given to him by J.E.B. Stuart, relics, papers and more.

He held other offices, wrote his memoirs, “From Manassas to Appomattox,” and ran a hotel, which today is the home of the Longstreet Society.

In 1897, The “Old War Horse” at age 76 married Helen, 34, at the Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta. “She would live until 1962, spending many of those years defending Longstreet against his many harsh critics,” the society says.

James Longstreet, 82, died in January 1904. He is buried at Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville.

Richard Pilcher, president of the Longstreet Society, said the organization has few items directly related to the general. Among the documents are those related to promotions and civilian and political appointments.

Lagonia said the society will display the pension request letter on special occasions. It is seeking donations to help with the purchase.

“We like to study Longstreet's non-military life as well as his military and political life. The letter was very personal and allowed us a glimpse into his thoughts and circumstances,” she wrote in an email.

The Atlanta Journal article about 1897 wedding (courtesy of Dan Paterson)