James Longstreet: Lee's Old War Horse | Full Biography and Documentary

it was May 1890 when an old General stepped out of a carriage in front of a gathered crowd in the old capital of the Confederacy Richmond Virginia initially he had not been invited the organizers of the unveiling of Robert El Le's equestrian statue did not want this General in attendance but when some of

the General's former artillery men insisted that he joined the group of veterans of America's bloodiest war the organizers relented the general climbed the stairs and sat on the stage with other Veterans of the Civil War knowing that through his decisions especially in the last few Decades of his life he was seen by some as a traitor to the

Confederacy the general was James Long Street he was known as Lee's old warhorse and Lee's Bulldog during the war and being commander of the first core of the army of Northern Virginia he should have been a Natural Choice to join other veterans on the day of the unveiling of Lee statue but his story is

much more complicated James Long Street was born in South Carolina on on January 8th 1821 to James and Maryanne Dent Long Street neither his father nor his mother were from the South Carolina Georgia border region where they owned a cotton Plantation near the modern day town of Gainesville his father James was born in

New Jersey his mother was born in Maryland his first Long Street ancestor stepped foot on the North American continent in the Dutch colony of New Netherlands in 1657 his name was Dirk stles Long Street the family stayed in that area until William with the new siiz last name of Long Street moved from their family home

in New Jersey to Augusta Georgia bringing along the father of the confederate general William and his wife Hannah settled into life in the South with William building a steamboat propelled not by a Paddle Wheel but by a series of long poles driven by the engine against the river bottom because of its complexity he couldn't get