Armistead Lindsay Long

Infobox Military Person
name = Armistead Lindsay Long


caption = Brigadier General Long
born = birth date|1827|09|13|mf=y
died = death date and age|1891|04|29|1827|09|13
placeofbirth = Campbell County, Virginia
placeofdeath = Charlottesville, Virginia
nickname =
allegiance = Confederate States of America
branch =
serviceyears = 1851 – 1865
rank = Brigadier General
unit = Western Virginia Confederate Army
commands =
battles = Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Campaign, Mine Run
awards =
relations = Mary Heron Sumner (wife), Virginia Tunstall Long (daughter), Edwin Vose Long (son), Eugene Mclean Long (son)
laterwork = Vice President of the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia; Author, "Memoirs of Robert E. Lee" (1886)

Armistead Lindsay Long (September 13, 1827, Campbell County, Virginia – April 29, 1891, Charlottesville, Virginia) was a Brigadier General for the Confederate States of America, and later wrote the 1886 book "Memoirs of Robert E. Lee".

Early life and career

Born to Armistead Long and Calista Rosser Cralle, Long was an 1850 graduate of West Point Military Academy.Confederate Military History, Vol. III, pp. 630-632.] He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant June 30, 1851 [http://aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=1084 Biographical detail] : "AotW" website.] and served for two years at Fort Moultrie before being given frontier-duty in New Mexico.

After two years on the frontier, he was moved back to Fort McHenry and Barrancas Barracks and promoted to First Lieutenant on July 1, 1854. In 1855 he was sent back for five more years of frontier-duty, this time serving in Kansas, Nebraska and Indian Territory with a brief stint at Fort Monroe.

Civil War

Long was stationed at Augusta Arsenal when tensions began between the Northern and Southern states. He was among the garrison that were surrendered to state authorities. He was transferred to serve an aide-de-camp to General Sumner, and ended up marrying Sumner's daughter, Mary Heron Sumner, in 1860. [Chestnut, Mary Boykin. "The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries", 1984.] They had their first child, Virginia Tunstall, on March 5, 1861.

When Sumner was summoned to lead the Department of the Pacific in California on June 10, 1861, Long resigned his commission in the United States Army the same day, and accepted a rank of Major and Chief of Artillery in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States in western Virginia. He was later promoted to colonel dating from March 1861. Long accompanied its commander General William Loring in the Trans-Alleghany. During the summer and autumn of 1861, he acted as Inspector General, in addition to his regular duties.

He was summoned to appear before General Robert E. Lee at the end of the year, and the two of them would foster a close friendship over the coming years. Long was transferred to the southern coast as chief of artillery for both Generals John C. Pemberton and Robert E. Lee. When Lee became the military advisor to President Jefferson Davis in early 1862, he appointed Long as his military secretary with the rank of colonel. [Freeman, Douglas S., "R.E. Lee"] When on May 31, 1862, Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Long assumed his military secretary position on Lee's staff. He served Lee through the Seven Days, Second Bull Run Campaign of August 1862, Antietam Campaign, Fredericksburg Campaign, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Gettysburg Campaign. [Jennings, C., "The Long Arm of Lee"] Long was considered a valuable asset with "vigor and unfailing judgment".

On September 23, 1863, Long was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of the artillery in Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps. [Laboda, Lawrence R. "From Selma to Appomattox: The History of the Jeff Davis Artillery", 1996.] He was present at both the Bristoe Campaign and the subsequent Mine Run Campaign. Long commanded the artillery through the Overland Campaign, including the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, and Cold Harbor. During Early's 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign he served intermittently as artillery chief for the Army of the Valley, but was often absent due to illness. He returned with the rest of the army to rejoin Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia around Petersburg and Richmond. He surrendered with the remnants of Lee's army at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. [Freeman, Douglas S., "R.E. Lee"]

In 1864, his wife gave birth to their second child, Edwin Vose.

His final engagement was alongside the army of Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley, where he again organised the artillery campaign. He was present at Waynesboro, and was engaged in the retreat from Richmond until the units surrendered in April 1865. Suffering from facial Neuralgia, Long was paroled at Appomattox.

Postbellum career

After the war, he served as a civil engineer and following the death of Robert E. Lee, he wrote Memoirs of Robert E. Lee though totally blind.

Following the war, Long was appointed Chief Engineer at the James River and Kanawha Canal from 1866–1869.Johnson, Rossitor. The Biographical Dictionary of America, 1906.] On April 12, 1869, his wife gave birth to their third child, Eugene Mclean. The following year Long went blind, ostensibly from his exposure during military service.

On October 28, 1875 Long was elected to a post of Vice President of the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia along with Robert Ransom, Harry Heth and William Terry, under the association's president William Henry Fitzhugh Lee. [New York Times, "Annual Meeting of the Virginia Division - Oration of Major Daniel on the Battle of Gettysburg", October 29, 1875.]

President Ulysses S. Grant appointed his wife as postmistress for Charlottesville, Virginia. [Freeman, Douglas S., "R.E. Lee"] Although entirely blind, Long moved to Charlotteville and began writing "Memoirs of Robert E. Lee". The lengthy biographical compendium of the service of the Army of West Virginia was published in 1886, although his manuscripts on Stonewall Jackson and his own army life were never published.

Following three years of ill healthWelsh, Jack D. "Medical Histories of Confederate Generals", 1995.] after the death of his eldest son, Long died April 29, 1891 after requesting that his daughter build a fire in his room and bring him coffee. By the time she returned, he had slipped from consciousness and died shortly thereafter. He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery, Charlottesville, Virginia.

References

Persondata
NAME= Long, Armistead Lindsay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Brigadier General for the Confederate States of America, and later wrote the 1886 book "Memoirs of Robert E. Lee"
DATE OF BIRTH= September 13, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH= Campbell County, Virginia
DATE OF DEATH= April 29, 1891
PLACE OF DEATH= Charlottesville, Virginia