My father’s retirements from law enforcement and professorial pursuits were, let’s say, atypical. Travel, outdoors and spending more time with grand kids, yes, but he was never idle where a juicy controversy hung ripe for picking.
His first choice was literally close to home. Gainesville Georgia’s most famous resident is a one James G. Longstreet—Confederate general, Reconstructionist, Industrialist, and Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), among other titles. There’s way too much to go into with this man; hit Wikipedia or another reference for the deep dive. His controversy involved ceaseless, false attacks from a politically-opposed southern press, accusing him of treasonous leadership in battle as a favor to his long-time U.S. Army friend, Ulysses S. Grant. While Longstreet came to be honored with Confederate memorials in Gainesville, very little of his professional post-war efforts in soldiering and other services to a freshly-united United States were known, let alone circulated. Cue Professor Taylor …
Cancel Culture is Nothing New
Now, I’m not going to entertain modern derisions of anything Confederacy. “Longstreet fought for the south; he’s a traitor, full stop.” Yes, he did. Nobody’s defending that here. The part that’s generally omitted is the leadership structure, honor, and professionalism in a white-hot post-war atmosphere. It was a career. You went where you were told by those who commanded you. Refusal meant the gallows. It could also mean a private lynching. That very thing happened to one of our own deep-south ancestors who, in good conscience, fought for the north. The family killed him upon return. Conscientious Objection was a difficult prospect during the Civil War. I’ll leave it there. Different times, as the maxim goes.
President Taylor
After lengthy consultation and carousing with other like-minded academics, Dad thought it a good idea to co-found and inaugurate the Longstreet Society. It’s mission to educate, honor and celebrate a man who served his country (and I’ll use this word again) professionally to the highest standard, and worked to mend its deepest wounds. Quite a task in that era, especially when viewing it during a time when forces perpetually work to divide us.
The photo above is from the Gainesville Times, dated July 3rd (tactful date?), 1994. Although my father has long since departed the organization (there were no costume balls), the Longstreet Society continues to this day. Since it’s difficult to read, here’s the text authored by the Time’s Sandra Stringer below, with additional commentary following:
Longstreet’s Legacy
Society honors famed Gainesville resident, Civil War soldier who sought peaceful aims in later life
Confederate Gen. James G Longstreet continues to be an influential figure in Gainesville. And a new group is finding that Longstreet’s legacy stretches around the world.
In March, the Longstreet Society, a non-profit organization, was founded and making Gainesville the recognized post-war home of Longstreet among its objectives. And the group has received inquiries from other countries for information about the Longstreet Society.
The society focuses on Longstreet’s post-war life and his devotion to ideals of union, brotherhood, peace and understanding among all people.
Longstreet lied out the last 20 years of his life in Gainesville.
The society has several projects planned.
An International Symposium on Longstreet is scheduled for April 1995 on the Brenau University campus. It will be sponsored by the Longstreet Society and Brenau University.
The Symposium will address the controversies surrounding Longstreet’s life. He was accused of disobeying [General] Lee’s orders at Gettysburg and causing the South’s defeat during the Civil War.
The Society is based on an academic, scholarly approach to Longstreet and top-notch scholars are expected to attend the event, said Alex Taylor, president of the society.
Projects planned
Also, the group is sponsoring the development of the Beulah Rucker Educational Foundation. Rucker was a well-known and well-respected black educator in Gainesville.
One of the society’s projects includes establishing a Longstreet Chair at Brenau, Taylor said.
A costume ball, with participants dressed in Civil War uniforms, is scheduled for late October or early November.
The organization plans to make the ball an annual event, Taylor said.
The society has more than 60 members, and it’s growing with members from California, New York City, and other cities and countries.
“It’s been well beyond our expectations so far,” Taylor said.
The goal is to have 200 members by October, but the group expects to top that by September, he said.
“Our goal within a year is to have 1,000 members,” said Garland Reynolds, a local architect and historian for the group. Interestingly, Longstreet had a son named John Garland who became an architect.
Gainesville life
Gainesville became the home of the Longstreets in 1875.
James Longstreet purchased 40 acres outside of the town and he built a house and planted vineyards.
Granite steps from the home and part of the vineyard remain at the site today, on the corner of Longstreet Circle across from Green Street Pool [closed, and a memorial statue now occupies the hilltop]. A stone marker about the site’s history is near the street sign.
Few monuments honoring Longstreet are in Hall County, Reynolds said.
The statue of the confederate soldier “Old Joe” was placed in the downtown square by the Gainesville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1909.
Life wasn’t easy for Longstreet in Gainesville, either. People ignored him and would not speak to him because of his tarnished image and the Gettysburg controversy. During services at Grace Episcopal, other members of the congregation would not sit in the same pew with Longstreet.
But the Confederate veterans did show respect for Longstreet as he passed by.
Longstreet served as postmaster beginning in 1879. The old post office is on the corner of Greet Street and Washington Street — now the U.S. Federal Building. He later became U.S. Administer to Turkey.
Garland Reynolds said his grandfather often sat and talked with Longstreet in the old post office.
Longstreet operated the three-story Piedmont Hotel, on Main Street. Woodrow Wilson was one of the many guests at the hotel.
The Longstreet home was burned during a mysterious fire in 1889. The flames destroyed war mementos and Longstreet’s memoirs. Longstreet and his wife, Maria Louise, we unable to rebuild their home and they moved to a small out-building. Maria Louise died in December of that year.
His second wife, Helen D. Longstreet, died in 1962 and she’s buried in Atlanta. She married Longstreet when she was 34 years old. He was 76.
Longstreet died in Gainesville on Jan. 2, 1904, and his funeral — believed to be the largest ever in Hall County — was held in the old Hall County Courthouse. He had pneumonia and his coughing aggravated a throat wound from his Civil War days.
His grave in Alta Vista Cemetery is in an area near Jesse Jewell Parkway. His grave is alongside that if his first wife, Maria Louise, and two of his 10 children.
The rest of the article’s transcript is unavailable; however, I’m told it covers additional details on Gainesville’s Longstreet exhibits—many of which have been updated and are outlaid on the Longstreet Society’s website.
Of course, in the nearly 30 years since the Society’s inception, Gen. Longstreet’s legacy has enjoyed a cultural revolution of its own, creating a deeper understanding of a complex man operating in a complex and difficult era. Gainesville largely embraces that legacy now, with additional pride as a humanity bridge-maker. A restaurant by his name has enjoyed popularity for 25 years, and the owners know a one Prof. Alex Taylor well.
Alex Taylor Tuesday’s Legacy PART II is vastly more controversial and <cough> nationally sensitive, meaning, some thought required.
~ More soon!
/T
