One of the Confederacy's most articulate advocates was Lieutenant General James Longstreet's aide-de-camp, Thomas Jewett Goree. Present at Longstreet's HQ, and party to the counsels of Robert E. Lee, Gore wrote incisively on strategy and politics. These letters of his reflect that acuity.
One of the Confederacy's most loyal adherents and articulate advocates was Lieutenant General James Longstreet's aide-de-camp, Thomas Jewett Goree. Present at Longstreet's headquarters and party to the counsels of Robert E. Lee and his lieutenants, Goree wrote incisively on matters of strategy and politics and drew revealing portraits of Longstreet, Jefferson Davis, P. G. T. Beauregard, John Bell Hood, J. E. B. Stuart, and others of Lee's inner circle. His letters are some of the richest and most perceptive from the Civil War period. In addition to their inside view of the campaigns of the Confederacy, Goree's Civil War letters shed light on their remarkable author, a onetime lawyer whose growing interest in politics and desire for "immediate secession", as he wrote to his mother in 1860, led him in July 1861 to Virginia and a new career as Longstreet's associate. He stayed with Longstreet through the war, ultimately becoming a major and participating in nearly all the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. His letters include vivid descriptions of many battles, including Blackburn's Ford, Seven Pines, Yorktown, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, the siege of Petersburg, and the surrender at Appomattox. Fortunate in war, he was exposed to constant fire for seven hours in the battle of Williamsburg. Although his saddle and accoutrements were struck seventeen times, he never received a wound. Thomas Cutrer has collected all of Goree's wartime correspondence to his family, as well as his travel diary from June - August 1865, in which he recorded his trip with Longstreet from Appomattox to Talledaga, Alabama. As a special feature Cutrer includes Goree's postwar letters to andfrom Longstreet and others that discuss the war and touch on questions regarding military operations. With its wide scope and rich detail, Longstreet's Aide represents an invaluable addition to the Civil War letter collections published in recent years. While Goree's letters will fascinate Civil War buffs, they also provide a unique opportunity for scholars of social and military history to witness from inside the workings of both an extended Southern family and the forces of the Confederacy.
