Editing James Longstreet (section)

==Early life==
===Childhood===
James Longstreet was born on January 8, 1821, in [[Edgefield Historic District (Edgefield, South Carolina)|Edgefield District, South Carolina]],{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=19}} now part of North Augusta, [[Edgefield County, South Carolina|Edgefield County]]. He was the fifth child and third son of James Longstreet, of Dutch descent, and Mary Ann Dent of English descent, originally from New Jersey and Maryland respectively, who owned a cotton plantation close to where the village of [[Gainesville, Georgia|Gainesville]] would be founded in northeastern Georgia. James's ancestor Dirck Stoffels Langestraet immigrated to the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] colony of [[New Netherland]] in 1657, but the name was [[Anglicisation of names|Anglicized]] over the generations.<ref>Longstreet wrote in his memoirs, p. 13, that "It is difficult to determine whether the name sprang from France, Germany, or Holland."</ref> The family was moderately prosperous and held dozens of [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]].{{sfn|Varon|2023|pp=4–5; 369}} James's father was impressed by his son's "rocklike" character, giving him the nickname [[Saint Peter|Peter]], and he was known as Pete or Old Pete for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=19–22}}{{sfn|Longstreet|1991|p=13}}{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=1213}} Longstreet's father decided on a military career for his son but felt that the available local education would not be adequate preparation. At age nine, James was sent to live with his aunt Frances Eliza and uncle [[Augustus Baldwin Longstreet]] in [[Augusta, Georgia]]. James spent eight years on his uncle's plantation, Westover, just outside the city while he attended the [[Academy of Richmond County]]. His father died from a [[cholera]] epidemic while visiting Augusta in 1833. Although James's mother and the rest of the family moved to [[Somerville, Alabama]], following his father's death, James remained with his uncle.{{sfn|Dickson|2000|p=1213}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=22–26}}

As a boy, Longstreet enjoyed swimming, hunting, fishing, and riding horses. He became adept at shooting firearms. Northern Georgia was very rural frontier territory, and [[planter class|Southern aristocratic traditions]] had not yet taken hold. As a result, Longstreet's manners were sometimes rather rough in spite of his plantation background. He dressed unceremoniously and at times used coarse language, although not in the presence of women. In later life, Longstreet described his aunt and uncle as caring and loving.{{sfn|Piston|1987|pp=2–3}} He made no known political statements before the war and appears to have been largely uninterested in politics. But Augustus, as a lawyer, judge, newspaper editor, and [[Methodist]] minister, was a fierce [[states' rights]] partisan who supported South Carolina during the [[Nullification crisis]] (1828–1833), ideas to which Longstreet probably would have been exposed.{{sfn|Piston|1987|p=3}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=24–25}} Augustus was also known for drinking whiskey and playing cards at a time when many Americans considered them immoral, habits he passed on to Longstreet.{{sfn|Piston|1987|p=3}}

===West Point and early military service===
In 1837, Augustus attempted to obtain an appointment for his nephew to the [[United States Military Academy]], but the vacancy for his congressional district had already been filled. Longstreet was appointed the following year by a relative, [[Reuben Chapman]], who represented the First District of Alabama, where Mary Longstreet lived. Longstreet was a poor student.{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=26–29}} By his own admission in his memoirs, he "had more interest in the school of the soldier, horsemanship, exercise, and the outside game of foot-ball than in the academic courses".{{sfn|Longstreet|1991|p=15}}

Longstreet ranked in the bottom third of every subject during his four years at the academy. In January of his third year, Longstreet initially failed his mechanics exam, but took a second test two days later and passed. Longstreet's engineering instructor in his fourth year was [[Dennis Hart Mahan]], who stressed swift maneuvering, protection of interior lines, and positioning troops in strategic points rather than attempting to destroy the enemy's army outright. Although Longstreet earned modest grades in the course, he used similar tactics during the Civil War. Longstreet was also a disciplinary problem at West Point. He earned a large number of demerits, especially in his final two years. His offenses included visiting after taps, absence at roll call, an untidy room, long hair, causing a disturbance during study time, and disobeying orders. Biographer [[Jeffry D. Wert]] says, "Longstreet was neither a model student nor a gentleman."{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=30–31}}

Longstreet was popular with his classmates, however, and befriended a number of men who would become prominent during the Civil War, including [[George Henry Thomas]], [[William Rosecrans]] (his roommate), [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]], [[Daniel Harvey Hill]], [[Lafayette McLaws]], [[George Pickett]], and [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. Longstreet ranked 54th out of 56 cadets when he graduated in 1842. He was commissioned a [[brevet (military)|brevet]] [[second lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in the [[United States Army]].{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=30–32}}{{sfn|Longstreet|1991|pp=16–17}}{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=353}}

After a brief furlough, Longstreet was stationed for two years at the [[4th Infantry Regiment (United States)|4th U.S. Infantry]] at [[Jefferson Barracks Military Post|Jefferson Barracks]], Missouri, under the command of [[Lieutenant colonel]] [[John Garland (general)|John Garland]].{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=32–33}} In 1843, he was joined by his friend, Lieutenant Ulysses Grant.{{sfn|Wert|1993|p=34}} In 1844, Longstreet met Garland's daughter and his future first wife Maria Louisa Garland, called Louise by her family.{{sfn|Wert|1993|p=34}} At about the same time as Longstreet began courting Louise, Grant courted Longstreet's fourth cousin, [[Julia Grant|Julia Dent]], and that couple eventually married. Longstreet attended the Grant wedding on August 22, 1848, in St. Louis, but his role at the ceremony remains unclear. Grant biographers [[Jean Edward Smith]] and [[Ron Chernow]] state that Longstreet served as [[Groomsman|best man]].{{sfn|Smith|2001|p=73}}{{sfn|Chernow|2017|p=872}} John Y. Simon, editor of Julia Grant's memoirs, concluded that Longstreet "may have been a groomsman", and Longstreet biographer Donald Brigman Sanger called the role of best man "uncertain" while noting that neither Grant nor Longstreet mentioned such a role in their memoirs.{{sfn|Sanger|Hay|1952|p=13}}

Later in 1844, the regiment, along with the [[3rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|Third Infantry]], was transferred to Camp Salubrity near [[Natchitoches, Louisiana]], as part of the Army of Observation under Major General [[Zachary Taylor]]. On March 8, 1845, Longstreet was promoted to second lieutenant and transferred to the Eighth Infantry, stationed at [[Fort Marion]] in [[St. Augustine, Florida]]. He served for the month of August on [[court-martial]] duty in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]]. The regiment was then transferred to [[Corpus Christi, Texas]], where he was reunited with the officers of the Third and Fourth Regiments, including Grant. The men passed the winter by staging plays.{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=35–36}}