After the war was over and the Southern cause lost, there are warm letters from General Lee, written before Longstreet had accepted appointment at the hands of a Republican President. A few months after the surrender General Lee wrote:
Fac-simile of General Lee’s Letter to General Longstreet
Lexington Va: 19 Jan ’66
My dear Genl
Upon my return from Richmond, where I have been for a week, on business connected with Washington College, I found your letter of the 26th ulto. I regret very much that you never recd my first letter, as you might then perhaps have given me the information I desired, with more ease to yourself, & with more expedition than now. I did not know how to address it, but sent it to a friend in Richmond, who gave it to one of our officers going south, who transferred it to another etc., & after travelling many weary miles, has been recently returned to me. I start it again in pursuit of you, though you did not tell me how to address you. I have almost forgotten what it contained, but I hope it will inform you of my purpose in writing a history of the campaigns in Viga, & of the object that I have in view so that you may give me all the information in your power. I shall be in no hurry in publishing, & will not do so, until I feel satisfied that I have got the true story, as my only object is to disseminate the truth. I am very sorry to hear that your records were destroyed too, but I hope Sorrel & Latrobe will be able to supply you with all you require. I wish to relate the acts of all the corps of the Army of N. Va. wherever they did duty, & do not wish to omit so important a one as yours. I will therefore wait as long as I can.
I shall be very glad to receive anything you may give to Mr Washington McLean, as I know you recommend no one but those who deserve your good opinion.
I am delighted to hear that your arm is still improving & hope it will soon be restored. You are however becoming so accomplished with your left hand, as not to need it. You must remember me very kindly to Mrs. Longstreet & all your children. I have not had an opportunity yet to return the compliment she paid me. I had while in Richmond a great many inquiries after you, & learned that you intended commencing business in New Orleans. If you become as good a merchant as you were a soldier I shall be content. No one will then excel you, & no one can wish you more success & more happiness than I. My interest & affection for you will never cease, & my prayers are always offered for your prosperity—
I am most truly yours
R E Lee
“If you become as good a merchant as you were a soldier I shall be content. No one will then excel you, and no one can wish you more success and more happiness than I. My interest and affection for you will never cease, and my prayers are always offered for your prosperity.” Strange words from the commander to the subordinate whose disobedience at Gettysburg, according to Rev. Dr. Pendleton and others, led the way to Appomattox.
While General Longstreet held General Lee to be a great strategist, he thought him to be less able as an offensive battle tactician. Those views are shared by many other military officers, who have of late given free expression to them. The Gettysburg controversies, followed by such criticisms, led to the belief that Longstreet was the open enemy of Lee’s fame, and lost no opportunity to maliciously decry his military ability. But this is a mistake. General Longstreet’s intimate friends know that he has always born for General Lee the most profound love and respect, both as a man and as a commander. His views of Lee’s military capacity are discriminating and just, and they are probably correct. Longstreet saw things military with a practical eye. A fine professional soldier himself, who had taken hard knocks on many great fields, he clearly discerned General Lee’s incomparable attributes as a commander, and was never loath to praise them. He also knew Lee’s weaknesses, and has sometimes spoken of them, but never in malice or contemptuously. Those who read his utterances in that sense are very narrow indeed. He has never, like the mass of Southerners, looked upon Lee as infallible, yet in one particular Longstreet has held him to be one of the very greatest of commanders.
As an example of General Longstreet’s estimate of Lee’s professional place in history, one of his interviews when on a visit to the Antietam battle-field, published a few years ago, is quoted: “General Lee, as a rule, did not underestimate his opponents or the fighting qualities of the Federal troops. But after Chancellorsville he came to have unlimited confidence in his own army, and undoubtedly exaggerated its capacity to overcome obstacles, to march, to fight, to bear up under deprivations and exhaustion. It was a dangerous confidence. I think every officer who served under him will unhesitatingly agree with me on this point.”
In answer to a question as to which he regarded as Lee’s best battle: “Well, perhaps the second battle of Manassas was, all things considered, the best tactical battle General Lee ever fought. The grand strategy of the campaign was also fine, and seems to have completely deceived General Pope. Indeed, Pope failed to comprehend Lee’s purpose from start to finish. Pope was outgeneralled and outclassed by Lee, and through improper dispositions his fine army was out-fought. Still, it will not do to underrate Pope; he was an enterprising soldier and a fighter.”