Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/33

 LONGSTREET

LONGSTREET

where he resumed his law practice and established a weekly newspaper, the Sentinel, which was united with the Chronicle as the Chronicle and Sentinel in 1838. He became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1838, and preached in Augusta and ministered to the sufferers from the epidemic of yellow fever that visited the city that year. He was president of Emory college, Oxford, Ga., 1839-48; of Centenary college, Jackson, La., 1848-49, and of the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss., 1849-56. He engaged in agricultural pursuits, 1856-57, and was president of South Carolina college, 1857-61, and again pres- ident of the University of Mississippi as successor to Frederick A. P. Barnard for a short time in 1861. His library with valuable unpublished MS. was destroyed by fire during the civil war. He took part in the debate in the general conference of 1844 in New York city which resulted in the separation of the Methodist church north and south. He received the honorary degrees: A.M. from the University of Georgia in 1823, LL.D. from Yale in 1841 and D.D. from the University of Mississippi in 1856. TJie Methodist Quarterly, The Southern Literary Messenger, The Southern Field and Fireside, The Magnolia and The Orion published his Letters to Clergymen of the North- ern Methodist Church, Letters from Georgia to Massachusetts, and A Revieiv in the Decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Case of McCulloch vs. the State of Maryland; and he is also the author of: Georgia Scenes (1840), and Master William Mitten (1864), humorous pro- ductions. He died in Oxford, Miss., Sept. 9, 1870. LONGSTREET, James, soldier, was born in Edgefield District, S.C, Jan. 8, 1821; son of James and Mary Ann (Dent) Longstreet; grand- son of William and Hannah (Randolph) Long- street, and a descend- ant of the Long- streets and Randolphs of New Jersey and of the Dents and Marshalls of Mary- land and Virginia. Richard Longstreet, the progenitor of the name in America, settled in Monmouth county. New Jersey. James Longstreet re- moved with his par- ents to Alabama in 1831 and was gradu- ated from the U.S. Military academy in 1842. He was promoted in the army as brevet 2d lieutenant of the 4th infantry, July 1, 1842, and served in garrison at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1842-44; on frontier duty

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at Natchitoches, La., 1844-45; was promoted 2d lieutenant of the 8th infantry, March 4, 1845; was in military occupation of Texas, 1845-46, and served in the war with Mexico, 1840-47. He participated in the battle of Palo Alto, May 8, 1846; the battle of Resaca de la Palma, May 9, 1846; and the battle of Monterey, Sept. 21-23, 1846; was promoted first lieutenant, 8th infan- try, Feb. 23, 1847, and participated in the siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847; the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 17-18, 1847; the capture of San An- tonio, and the battle of Churubusco, Aug. 20, 1847; the battle of Molino del Rey, Sept. 8, 1847; and the storming of Chapultepec, Sept. 13, 1847, where he was severely wounded in the assault on the fortified convent. He was brevetted captain, Aug. 20, 1847, " for gallant and meritorious con- duct in the battles of Churubusco and Contreras " and major, Sept. 8, 1847, " for gallant and meri- torious conduct at the battle of Molino del Rey." He served as adjutant of the 8th infantry, 1847- 49; was in garrison at Jefferson Barracks, 1848- 49, and served on frontier duty in Texas in 1849. He was chief of commissariat of the Department of Texas, 1849-51, and served on scouting duty in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico, 1851-61. He was promoted captain Dec. 7, 1852, and major of staff and paymaster July 19, 1858. He resigned his commission in 1861 and was appointed briga- dier-general in the Confederate army, and com- manded a brigade at Blackburn's Ford, Va., from July 18 to and including July 21, 1861. He was promoted major-general and commanded the rear guard of Joseph E. Johnston's army during the retreat from Yorktown, Va. He commanded the Confederate forces in the field composed of his own and part of D. H. Hill's divisions and Stuart's cavalry brigade at the battle of Williams- burg, May 5, 1862, commanded the right wing of Johnston's army at Seven Pines, May 31-June 1, 1862; his own and A. P. Hill's divisions in the seven days' battles before Richmond, and com- manded the right wing of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 29-30, 1862; and in the Maryland campaign, Sep- tember, 1862; the first corps (Confederate left) at the battle of Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. He was on duty south of the James river in April, 1863, and was ordered to rejoin General Lee at Chancellorsville, Va., but Lee, without awaiting his return, made precipitate battle May 2-4. 1863. He commanded the right wing of the Army of Northern Virginia at the battle of Gettysburg July 1-3, 1863. He served under General Bragg in the Army of the Tennessee and commanded the left wing of that army composed of Hindman's division, Polk's corps, Buckner's corps, and two divisions and artillery of Longstreet's corps, at the battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20, 1863. He