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Description

An undated typescript of Gustavus W. Smith's "Memoranda: Longstreet - Chickamauga" in which he questions some contemporary commentators' praise of General James Longstreet's actions at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. Chapters 2-6 are not included, according to the preface, as unnecessary for the purposes of the article. It is unclear if they were ever written. According to an obituary published in "Twenty-Eighth Annual Reunion of the Association of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy", June 10th, 1897, this was one of several papers Smith wrote that he hoped to publish but had not done so before his death.

Born in Kentucky, Gustavus Woodson Smith (1821-1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the Mexican-American War, and then became a civil engineer in New York from 1858 to 1861. After the Civil War began, Smith joined the Confederate Army and was commissioned as a major-general. In 1862 he was briefly commander of the Army of Northern Virginia after Joseph E. Johnston was wounded and before Robert E. Lee’s appointment. Later that year, he took command of the defenses of Richmond until he resigned in February 1863. He was commissioned a major-general in the Georgia state militia in 1864. After the war, Smith was involved in several businesses and also wrote on the war.

Identifier

sc.0048.007_003.001

Date

undated

Keywords

Smith, Gustavus Woodson, 1822-1896.

Gustavus W. Smith, Memoranda: Longstreet - Chickamauga

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