Talk:James Longstreet

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Good article James Longstreet has been listed as one of the History good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.
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Good article GA This article has been rated as GA-Class on the quality scale.
Maintained The following user(s) are actively involved with this article and may be able to help with questions about verification and sources:
Hlj (Hal Jespersen) (talk • watchlist • email)
This in no way implies article ownership; all editors are encouraged to contribute.

Is it really accurate to describe the southern US as "more Lutheran"? Wouldn't "more protestant" be more accurate? Grant65 (Talk) 12:58, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC)

I have tightened up certain parts of the article by dispensing with unneccessary words and sentences, together with, IMHO, improper use of language. Furthermore, I have tried my best to remove POVs within it.

Babyrina2 10 Feb 2006

Contents

[edit] update

I am in the process of a large update to this article, including extensive footnotes. However, I am starting to fall behind my intended schedule, so I have removed the inuse template from the top of the file. I hope to finish within a week, but others are welcome to jump in in the meantime. Hal Jespersen 21:51, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

My update is now complete, with two exceptions. At the very end of the article there are two sentences that require citations. I intend to remove those sentences in a couple of weeks if no one provides the citations. Hal Jespersen 23:25, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Family revert

I have reverted the recent edit about family. Please take care of the following before resubmitting:

  1. Remove duplication. Some of this description is already covered earlier in the article.
  2. Add footnotes for claims, speculation, and data. This is a fully footnoted article and additions need to follow the same degree of citation.
  3. Explain or remove the parenthetical numbers next to the names.
  4. Put dates into the Wikipedia format used throughout the article.

Thanks, Hal Jespersen 21:47, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Revert Feb 21

I worked about 20 minutes trying to sort out the two paragraphs of updates some anonymous editor applied this morning and gave up and reverted it. If you would like to reapply any of these changes, please do the following:

  1. Add footnotes in the style used by the rest of the article. Use the name= parameter of the <ref> to handle duplicate notes. Use actual, specific URLs for online articles. Add the Genealogy book to the References section and cite it just by author, as in all other notes.
  2. Do not remove Wiki links from the text.
  3. Do not remove footnotes from the text.
  4. If you have something you disagree with (example, source of his nickname), do not simply delete a footnoted assertion. Adjust the text and footnote to indicate multiple sources differ.

Thanks. Hal Jespersen 20:26, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Good Article

GA review (see here for criteria)
  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose): b (MoS):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    a (fair representation): b (all significant views):
  5. It is stable.
  6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
    a (tagged and captioned): b lack of images (does not in itself exclude GA): c (non-free images have fair use rationales):
  7. Overall:
    a Pass/Fail:

Looks good to me, I have no complaints.JRP 01:39, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA Sweeps (Pass)

This fascinating article has been reviewed as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles/Project quality task force. Although I found one or two minor issues (detailed below), I believe it still meets the GA criteria and should remain listed as a Good article.

For improvement in the future:

  • There are a couple of areas towards the end of the article that need explicit in-line citations, which I have tagged for your convenience (to be honest, the entire "In popular media" section needs multiple cites).
  • It is recommended not to use decorative quotations (the {{cquote}} template) in Wikipedia articles; these are intended only for call-outs.

Thank you for your hard work. The article history has been updated to reflect this review. Regards, EyeSereneTALK 19:35, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wounding at Wilderness

Around citation 44 the article states Gen Longstreet's nasty wound was received about a mile from the local where Gen Jackson was mortally hit. I thought in Foote's third "C.W. Narrative" book he states it was a distance of around four miles. Since his books aren't part of any citations in the article (and sometimes noted for their accuracy) I'm not going to edit anything. Just curious which is accurate, if known. The shorter distance is also more creepy! Kresock (talk) 01:44, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

I got out my maps and measured. It is actually 4 miles, so I have updated the article accordingly. (Jackson was wounded near the current NPS Visitor Center, Longstreet on the Plank Road near the intersection with the Brock Road.) Thanks for catching the error. Hal Jespersen (talk) 19:17, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] April 8 edits

I have made some modifications to the edits of April 8 regarding Longstreet's actions on July 2. The passage cited from Fuller was too rudimentary a description of what happened that morning; Fuller's book on Lee and Grant spends only seven pages on the entire Gettysburg campaign, after all. I added another footnote from Sears and Coddington, both of whom have lengthy descriptions about Lee and Longstreet on the morning of July 2. I also restored the citation from Wert, which had been removed with no explanation. If someone can find a citation from a reputable historian who claims that Longstreet enthusiastically and aggressively prepared for the battle on July 2, citations can be added to that effect. Hal Jespersen (talk) 23:41, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] First Bull Run and the Peninsula

I added a NPOV tag, because it seemed to be very, almost too much, pro-Longstreet, especially during the part about Bull Run I and also Seven Days. Anyone else agree? NuclearWarfare (talk) 02:59, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Are your concerns with the last sentence ("He had been established as Lee's principal lieutenant.") or with another part of this section? Clarify please.Kresock (talk) 03:52, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
Please provide details of your concerns by May 6. This section contains both positive and negative opinions of Longstreet, based on the sources cited. If you have secondary sources that cite poor performances at Manassas or during the Seven Days, please bring them to our attention. Hal Jespersen (talk) 15:50, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Battle of Gettysburg

This part of the article seems rather anti-Longstreet. I do know of some other sources that seem to contradict what is written; Longstreet's delay was indeed unavoidable. Should I add them, or not?NuclearWarfare (talk) 03:02, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

If you have additional secondary sources that make this claim, please bring them to our attention. One such is in the article now, but it's a rather obscure one. Hal Jespersen (talk) 15:50, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
I have removed the POV warning boxes pending resumption of detailed discussions on this talk page about what the problem is supposed to be. Hal Jespersen (talk) 19:25, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Summary?

One of my books (Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography) contains a brief evaluation of the general, and I was wondering if it merits inclusion in this page, perhaps either the legacy section or split up within the article. Here's the relevant part:

"Longstreet was an ambitious, confident, tireless, and capable commander and administrator; an able tactician, he possessed less strategic sense; he was vigorous in battle but a cautious planner; his actions at Gettysburg remain controversial; much respected by his men, who called him 'Old Pete.'"

The mentioning of "tireless" I remember from other works I've read (such as in The Killer Angels , Three Months in the Southern States, and others; especially noted during Sharpsburg) but it isn't in this page, and his military abilities I think are only lightly covered. Any thoughts? Kresock (talk) 02:11, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

In a biography of this length, adding a one sentence summary from another encyclopedia would be inappropriate. This article attempts to demonstrate Longstreet's qualities by examples within context. If you have some secondary sources that expand on the claim of tirelessness (or confidence or administration), feel free to add them within context. Hal Jespersen (talk) 15:22, 17 May 2008 (UTC)