James longstreet civil war biography for kids
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James Longstreet was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He was known as a skilled strategist and one of Robert E. Lee's most reliable commanders.
He was born on Jan.
8, 1821, in the Edgefield District of South Carolina.
James longstreet civil war biography for kids
He grew up on his parents' northeastern Georgia plantation until he was 9, when his father, also named James, sent him to Augusta, to live with his uncle, Augustus, and to further his education. Young James attended Richmond County Academy and entered the U.S.
Military Academy in 1838.
Longstreet was not a good student. He did graduate, in 1842, near the bottom of his class. Among the friends that he made at the Academy was a young Ohio cadet named Ulysses Grant. Longstreet exited West Point with a commission as a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S.
Infantry, assigned to Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
He served under Gen. Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American War, taking part in the siege of Veracruz and the assault on Mexico City, sustaining