TE

JAMES LONGSTREET.

HE subject of this sketch was born in Virginia, and entered as a cadet at West-Point in 1838. He was breveted a Second Lieutenant of the Fourth regular infantry on July first, 1842. In March, 1845, he was appointed to the Eighth infantry; and commanded a light artillery company at Monterey in Mexico, where he greatly distinguished himself. He was a First Lieutenant in February, 1847, and acted as Adjutant from June the same year, till July, 1849.

After the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, he was, on the twentieth August, 1848, made brevet Captain "for gallant and meritorious conduct;" and on the eighth of September following, was brevetted a Major for distinguished bravery in the battle of El Molino del Rey. He also figured conspicuously in the assault on Chapultepec, where he was severely wounded.

In 1861, when the rebellion commenced, Major Longstreet immediately offered himself to the rebels, and received an appointment under General Beauregard. At the battle of Bull Run, July eighteenth, 1861, his brigade covered Blackburn's Ford, and he himself was especially praised by the rebel commander for his efforts on that occasion.

In March, 1862, Longstreet was with the rebel army, at Winchester, when defeated by General Shields. He then accompanied General Lee to the Peninsula, and commanded the rear-guard in the retreat from Yorktown. At Williamsburgh he vainly tried to arrest the onward progress of the victorious Federals; and, in the battles that followed, on and about the Chickahominy, he was conspicuous for coolness, bravery, and skill.

In August, 1862, when the rebel army again moved North, Longstreet was directed to join Stonewall Jackson, which he did, on the twenty-ninth, by passing thorough Thoroughfare Gap. On the following day he shared in the second battle of Manassas Plains, and then accompanied Lee across the Potomac into Maryland, joining in the battle of Antietam. With the rebel army, he then retreated to Winchester; but, soon afterward, he proceeded to Warrenton, and thence to Fredericksburgh, at which place he commanded the left of the rebel forces in the attack made upon them by Burnside.

In April, 1863, we find Longstreet investing Suffolk in North-Carolina; and then again, in May, he is at Chancellorsville with his veteran soldiers. From

there he proceeds once more to Fredericksburgh; then back to Culpeper, and thence with Lee again to Maryland. At the battle of Gettysburgh he was on the right of the rebel army, and opposed to General Sickles. In September, he was sent to reënforce Bragg, in East-Tennessee, and, on the twentieth, commanded the left of the rebel army at the battle of Chickamagua.

On the eighteenth of October, Grant took command of the Department of Tennessee, the Union army being then at Chattanooga, and the rebel forces on Lookout Mountain. Soon after this, Longstreet was detached from Bragg and sent on an expedition against Knoxville. Orders were, therefore, forwarded to Burnside, who commanded in that department, to lure him away as far as possible. Accordingly, Burnside moved from Knoxville to meet Longstreet, which he did at Loudon, and, after a sharp Contest, the rebels were repulsed. Burnside, however, withdrew to Knoxville to fortify his position there; and Longstreet immediately laid siege to it, surrounding the city on the eighteenth of November. On the twenty-ninth, reënforced by the troops of Jones, Jackson, and Williams, he made the assault. In strong force, he charged upon General Ferrero's position at Fort Saunders, but was met by such a murderous discharge of grapeshot and canister, and by such a steady fire from the Union rifle-pits, that his troops faltered and fell back, and, finally, were repulsed with great slaughter. General Burnside humanely offered a truce to Longstreet, until the evening, to afford time for removing the wounded and burying the dead.

The attack having failed, and hearing that Sherman was approaching to join Burnside, Longstreet made a hasty retreat toward Virginia, with the Union troops in close pursuit. At Bean's Station, on December fourteenth, an encounter took place, without any material result; and Longstreet then proceeded to Redbridge and Bull Gap, where he made a stand, on account of its great natural advantages.

On the sixteenth of December, General Averill succeeded in cutting off Longstreet's communications with Richmond by damaging the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at Salem, and destroying several depots and wagons with rebel stores. But the rebels succeeded elsewhere in capturing large quantities of Union supplies, which thus counterbalanced it, and enabled Longstreet to subsist his army. In January, 1864, he was heavily reënforced, and again made a movement upon Knoxville. On the route a partial success over a portion of the Union forces sent to intercept the rebels, enabled him to advance within a few miles of the city; but, after some short stay in the neighborhood, he was once more compelled to retreat to the old position at Bull's Gap, with his headquarters at Greenville. Here he remained until, in March, he was ordered to join Lee.

In the battles of the Wilderness, Longstreet's corps was opposed to the Union troops under Hancock. On Thursday, May fifth, about four P.M., the fight between them began, and continued furiously till night. Hancock, with his

accustomed daring and skill, making the most impetuous assaults upon his foe, who, however, were veterans of well-trained soldiers, and thus, for a time, drove back the fresh recruits of the Union army. But the indomitable courage of our troops, under Hancock's own eye and personal encouragement, finally drove Longstreet back over a mile.

Next morning, at daylight, the fight was renewed. Longstreet was reënforced by Lee sending some fresh troops to him, and a part of Burnside's corps was accordingly detached to the assistance of Hancock. But the nature of the battlefield was such, owing to the quantity of timber and its accompanying undergrowth, that the rebels, well acquainted with the ground, had an advantage, which they turned to good account. Occupying a close forest, it was found impossible to dislodge them, and thus Longstreet was able, about eleven A.M., to throw the National forces into some temporary confusion, and drive Hancock back to his breastworks. Soon afterward the rebels succeeded in actually planting their colors inside these breastworks, but not being able to sustain themselves, were soon ejected. The charge of Longstreet was completely overwhelming and crushing. Solid masses of infantry were hurled upon Hancock, line after line, with an impetuosity which nothing could withstand. It was exceedingly fortunate for the whole army that he was checked at the critical period, and driven back with as much precipitation as he came. In this battle, Longstreet was severely wounded in the neck or shoulder, and was removed to Lynchburgh for quiet and proper attendance.

J

JAMES LOUIS PETIGRU.

AMES LOUIS PETIGRU was born tenth May, 1789, at Abbeville, SouthCarolina. The place had been settled by his maternal grandfather, Mr. Gibert, a refugee from Bordeaux on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He was pastor of his little band, and endured many hardships, ending in exile and disappointment for conscience sake. Mr. Petigru inherited the same spirit of quiet devotion to principle, and he was of the stuff of which martyrs are made. His father, a man of the quaintest humor, was from the North of Ireland, where the family still resides. His physiognomy, his wit, and mental endowments he derived from his Celtic blood. But he was a universal man. Living in a small community, among the most prejudiced people, there was nothing provincial about him. His opinions, his manners, his ways of thinking were entirely his own. On none of the questions that agitated South-Carolina did he ever share the popular passion. His mind rose far above their delusions, and neither fear nor favor could ever influence his judgment. Yet his local attachment was so strong as to keep him all his life at that spot, although from the time of nullification he said he knew there was no State in the Union where he should have so little political influence, and after the rebellion broke out he "regretted every day more and more that he had not emigrated north of the Potomac forty years before." He was the real head of the Union party in nullification. He called the first meeting, consisting of himself and two others. They gathered all that was wise and good in the State, and if the battle with disunion had then been fought out, happy would it have been for the country and for him; for he would then have seen the triumph of the Constitution, instead of going out in these dark days of anguish, when his bitter lament was, that having come in with the Union he should live long enough to see it broken up.

His opposition to the political creed of the South was fundamental; he was a sincere Republican. They are Oligarchists - he was a Federalist, and the State Rights doctrine was his abhorrence, though no one would more boldly have resisted any encroachment on the constitutional rights of the States. But he denied that there had ever been the least attempt on the part of the Government to infringe upon the liberties of a State or an individual up to the time of the rebellion.

The unanimity of South-Carolina, which is her boast, he pronounced the