One cannot visit Gainesvlle without coming across the name Longstreet -- Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, CSA, sir! General Longstreet was General Robert E. Lee’s right-hand man in the American Civil War -- “My old war horse,” as General Lee was fond of saying.General Longstreet moved to Gainesville GA in 1875 -- ten years after the Civil War had ended. He remained here until he passed away in January, 1904. He was the last of the Confederate high command to leave this earth.
We learned today that James Longstreet was born in 1821 and grew up in South Carolina, lived in New Orleans for ten years after the Civil War and finally settled in Gainesville GA for the last 35 years of his life. He bought the two-year-old, 45-room Piedmont Hotel near the train depot for $6,000. It was famous for serving batter-fried Southern chicken.
There are statues of Longstreet, streets named after him and lots of evidence that he was here, including The Longstreet Society of Gainesville’s mover and shakers. http://www.longstreet.org The culture of the South, we have learned, is not that the South lost the Civil War, but “they almost won.” They were great military leaders and they could have won.
Longstreet's forces crushed the Union forces at Antietem. He was blamed in part for the
Confederate loss at Gettysburg, the turning point in the American Civil War. Georgia and I have visited both battle fields and understand that the difference between success and failure in those historic events was very small indeed.
The Longstreet Society is engaged in refurbishing the Piedmont Hotel. It will require a lot more than the original purchase price.
2 comments:
Hi Dad and Lois,
Wow, you guys have done a lot of things so far! How do you hear about them? Will you run out activities soon? Who knew a little town would have so many fun attractions and history! GLF4
I don't think we'll run out of things to do. We keep bumping into new stuff all the time. That's what makes it fun.
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