Editing James Longstreet (section)

==Later life==
[[File:James Longstreet later life.jpg|thumb|right|James Longstreet in later life (1896), affecting the [[sideburns]] of his [[Ambrose Burnside|opponent]] at [[Battle of Fredericksburg|Fredericksburg]] and [[Knoxville Campaign|Knoxville]] |alt=Longstreet as an elderly man with a cleanshaven chin and long white sideburns]]
[[File:ALTA VISTA CEMETERY, HALL COUNTY.jpg|right|thumb|Longstreet's grave at Alta Vista Cemetery, Gainesville, Georgia]]

Longstreet applied for various jobs through the [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] administration of 1877–1881 and was briefly considered for [[Secretary of the Navy]]. He served briefly as deputy collector of [[Internal Revenue Service|internal revenue]] and as postmaster of Gainesville. Longstreet's chief ambition was to be [[U.S. Marshal]] of Georgia. President Hayes appointed Longstreet as his [[United States Ambassador to Turkey|Minister Resident]] to the [[Ottoman Empire]], a position he held from December 14, 1880, to April 29, 1881. Longstreet suffered from the high cost of living in [[Constantinople]]. It prevented him from bringing his family, and the entertainment that he was expected to provide left him financially worse off than when he arrived. His only known accomplishments were ordering a disaster relief expedition and convincing Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] to reverse his position forbidding American archeologists from undertaking research in Ottoman territories. He was granted a 60-day leave to tour Europe before being recalled in accordance with his own desires after the marshal position became available.{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=353}}{{sfn|Varon|2023|pp=244-259}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=417–419}}{{sfn|Piston|1987|pp=137–139}}

Longstreet served as a U.S. Marshal of Georgia from 1881 to 1884, when he resigned amid allegations of corruption.{{sfn|Varon|2023|pp=264-276}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=419-420}} His resignation, followed by the return of a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] administration under [[Grover Cleveland]] in 1885, largely ended his political career, and he went into semi-retirement on a {{convert|65|acre|ha|adj=on}} farm near Gainesville, where he raised turkeys and planted orchards and vineyards on terraced ground that his neighbors referred to jokingly as "Gettysburg".{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=420–421}} Longstreet remained active in Georgia Republican politics. He supported [[James G. Blaine]] over incumbent [[Chester A. Arthur]] for the Republican presidential nomination in [[1884 United States presidential election|1884]] and was a Georgia elector for Republican nominee [[Benjamin Harrison]] in [[United States presidential election, 1888|1888]], while continuing to offer public commentary on the war and ongoing political events.{{sfn|Varon|2023|pp=276–288}} A devastating fire on April 9, 1889, destroyed his house and many of his possessions, including his personal papers and memorabilia.{{sfn|Wert|1993|p=421}} That December, Louise Longstreet died.{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=421–422}}

Longstreet rebutted criticism of his war record from other Confederates in his memoirs, ''From Manassas to Appomattox'', a labor of five years published in 1896.{{sfn|Welsh|1999|p=144}} Piston describes the prose as "entertaining, if occasionally labored".{{sfn|Piston|1987|p=154}} In the book, Longstreet praises several Civil War officers but frequently disparages others, particularly his postwar detractors Jubal Early and [[Fitzhugh Lee]]. He expresses personal affection for Lee but is at times critical of his strategy. Piston argues that the quality of the book is diminished by bitterness and lack of objectivity. It did little to alter the views of Longstreet's opponents.{{sfn|Piston|1987|pp=153–157}}

Longstreet campaigned throughout Georgia for [[William McKinley]] in the [[1896 United States presidential election|1896 presidential election]].{{sfn|Piston|1987|p=167}} He served from 1897 to 1904, under presidents McKinley and [[Theodore Roosevelt]], as U.S. Commissioner of Railroads, succeeding [[Wade Hampton III]].{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=353}} In 1897, at the age of 76, in a ceremony at the governor's mansion in [[Atlanta]], Longstreet married 34-year-old librarian [[Helen Dortch Longstreet|Helen Dortch]]. Although Longstreet's children reacted poorly to the marriage, Helen became a devoted wife and an avid supporter of his legacy after his death. She outlived him by 58 years, dying in 1962.{{sfn|Eicher|Eicher|2001|p=353}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|p=425}} In 1898, Longstreet, then 77, volunteered to lead U.S. troops in Cuba during the [[Spanish–American War]].<ref>The Illustrated American, May 27, 1898, p. 582 </ref> Longstreet's final years were marked by poor health and partial deafness. In 1902 he suffered from severe [[rheumatism]] and was unable to stand for more than a few minutes at a time. His weight diminished from 200 to 135 pounds by January 1903. [[Cancer]] developed in his right eye, and in December he had X-ray therapy in [[Chicago]] to treat it.{{sfn|Welsh|1999|p=144}} He contracted [[pneumonia]] and died in Gainesville on January 2, 1904. Bishop [[Benjamin Joseph Keiley]], who had served under Longstreet, said his funeral Mass. Longstreet is buried in Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville. He outlived most of his detractors and was one of only a few general officers from the Civil War to live into the 20th century.{{sfn|Piston|1987|pp=167–169}}{{sfn|Wert|1993|pp=422–427}}