An Annual Conference on 19th Century Media and Free Expression
ABSTRACT
The Tragic Figure of General James Longstreet in The Killer Angels:
A Story Retold in Chattanooga
The Pulitzer Prize winning novel of historical fiction, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1974) takes historical fact and blends it with the characterization of a novel to give the reader a view of historical events through the eyes of actual participants as they might have emotionally experienced them. One of the main figures in this account of the events leading up to and during the Battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863 is James Longstreet, the Confederate Lieutenant General who had assumed the position of Robert E. Lee’s "right hand" following the death of Stonewall Jackson.
The book delves into the professional and personal relationship that existed between these two leaders. Lee leans more heavily on Longstreet to shoulder the overwhelming burden of responsibility for command and, to a certain extent, for what they considered the fate of their new nation. Their relationship is skillfully intertwoven with the changing face of warfare, as the generation of the "gallant soldier" of the European wars gives way to the realities and demands of modern warfare. The values of courage, dignity, and honor have begun to be overshadowed by advances in weaponry, manufacturing, and transportation.
Lee represents the old generation of soldier, schooled in the military strategies of Napoleon and the personal values of 19th Century Southern aristocracy. Longstreet represents the new generation of soldier who understands that winning wars is less about honor and gallantry, but more about adapting military strategy to practical realities. Their differences collide in the defeat that many have considered the turning point of the Civil War and where the ultimate fate of the Confederacy was sealed. Shaara casts Longstreet as a heroic but tragic figure who, in trying to prevent the outcome, is actually blamed for it.
This paper then turns its attention to the military struggle for Chattanooga that occurred just a few months after the events depicted in The Killer Angels. This struggle from September through November of 1863 includes the Battle of Chickamauga, and the breaking of the Confederate siege, which was the prologue to the fall of Atlanta. Once again Longstreet represents the voice of practicality and strategic acumen. While the context is quite different, the sequence of events is strikingly similar. Like a prophet raging in the wilderness, his pragmatism gives way to the all-to-human frailties of pride, and Longstreet again is ignored. The Chattanooga campaign is not presented in the fictionalized atmosphere of duty and honor depicted by Shaara, but with emphasis on the political posturing and personality conflicts documented in contemporary history with its emphasis on objective analysis.
The theme conveyed is that, while fiction is presented in the context of poetic license and non-fiction in at least some inevitable subjectivity of interpretation, certain essential elements of human nature shine through both. This paper seeks to convey that we can recognize the most high-minded ideals and the most shortsighted folly in both fiction and history and that each expresses very real parts of human nature and human events.
Communication Department The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403-2598 http://www.utc.edu/commdept/conference/
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Last updated: November 20, 1999
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