Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South by Elizabeth R. Varon (review)

Reviewed by: Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South by Elizabeth R. Varon William A. Link (bio) Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South. By Elizabeth R. Varon. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023. Pp. 480. Cloth, $35.00.) In this elegantly written and thoroughly researched study, Elizabeth Varon considers the controversial and contested subject of Confederate James Longstreet and his legacy. She interrogates her subject to explain a larger biographical riddle: how an ardent Confederate who, during wartime, defended slavery and eagerly captured and reenslaved Black people became a maverick in the postwar white South. How did a secessionist such as Longstreet become a postwar Republican and advocate of Black political rights? While the book pays attention to Longstreet's general-ship and how he perfected defensive warfare, most of Varon's study discusses his emergence during and after Reconstruction as an enthusiastic Republican and, for many white southerners, as a traitor. In a skillful command of the scholarly literature and primary sources, Varon explains the enigmatic nature of his life. Longstreet is divided into three parts. In the first, Varon describes Longstreet's boyhood in Georgia, his appointment to West Point, his experiences as a soldier in the Mexican War, his vigorous support of secession and the defense of slavery, and his emergence as a leading figure, as Lee's "war horse," in the Army of Northern Virginia at Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chickamauga. Although his belief in the Confederacy remained steadfast during the war, once the guns were silenced the defining moment for Longstreet was the surrender at Appomattox Court House. [End Page 397] There, he grasped the "hand of clemency" that the victorious U. S. Grant extended and became committed to undoing the damage of disunion (xviii). In the book's second part, Varon describes how Longstreet defied southern white orthodoxy by becoming an avid advocate of Republican Reconstruction and even supporting voting by Black men. Why did Longstreet follow this path and become what Varon calls a "Confederate Judas"? In the violent environment of postwar New Orleans, Longstreet attempted unsuccessfully to defend Reconstruction against white supremacists' all-out assault. By then Longstreet was no longer simply advocating Black rights; he was defending them militarily by training militias who could resist white violence. Such intervention proved ineffective, however. In April 1873, at the Colfax massacre—Reconstruction's bloodiest day—Redeemers murdered more than 150 Black militiamen when they refused to surrender. The book's third part narrates the last phase in Longstreet's life, including his 1874 return to Georgia until his death in 1904. Although he experienced the undoing of Reconstruction in Louisiana, Longstreet remained a Republican partisan and consistent defender of Black political rights. He profited from patronage, including securing appointments to various federal offices in Georgia, as ambassador to the Ottoman Turks, and as U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Georgia. These years also witnessed Longstreet's battle to defend his reputation as a military commander. During the early 1870s, memoirists such as former Confederate lieutenant general Jubal Early and artillerist William Nelson Pendleton blamed Longstreet for Confederate defeat at Gettysburg. While defending himself against such criticism and contesting the Lost Cause narrative, Longstreet's views about his past appeared in his memoir, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896). In the meantime, however, he vigorously advocated reconciliation and participated in Blue-Gray reunions of Union and Confederate veterans. The battle over Longstreet's legacy continued as his second wife, Helen, promoted her husband's legacy until her death in 1962. Longstreet is a fine book, essential reading not only for Civil War scholars but also for those interested in the larger issues raised by sectional conflict and the Lost Cause. Varon, as an established scholar and talented biographer, provides a balanced account that contextualizes Longstreet's life against the contradictory trends of the post-Reconstruction South. As she reminds us, his life exemplifies the lasting importance of the Civil War. [End Page 398] William A. Link william a. link is Richard J. Milbauer Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida. He recently published The Last Fire-Eater: Roger A. Pryor and the Search for a Southern Identity (Louisiana State University Press...