Friends to Foes

The U.S. Military Academy is more than a public institution of higher learning. It is a fraternity where members have a core set of values and a commitment to service, which can put their own lives in peril. The relationships forged at West Point can often last for many years; people can be friends for life and come into contact repeatedly.

The American Civil War saw West Point alums staring across the battlefield at each other. They were friends in their college days and now were fierce rivals. Each could be in a position where they conceivably might kill the other. Two friendships were in the senior levels of command, where the men faced each other in the engagements that influenced the war’s outcome.

The Gettysburg Confrontation

Facts and legends surround the relationship between Brigadier General Lewis Addison Armistead and Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. What we know for a fact is that both men were assigned to the 6th U.S. Infantry and became friends. Hancock supported Armistead when the latter lost his daughter and wife in the same year. They were both in California at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War. While Hancock stayed in the Federal Army, Armistead returned to North Carolina to join the ranks of the Confederacy. These decisions did not affect their friendship. Both hoped to see each other again after the war.

Their paths would cross again in Pennsylvania. Armistead was commanding a brigade, and Hancock led the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Armistead was part of Pickett’s Charge. He led his troops directly at the positions being defended by Hancock’s men. It would’ve been possible for the two men to see each other.

Armistead’s brigade was the only Confederate unit that made it to the Federal line that day. Unfortunately, he was wounded as he climbed over a barricade. His old friend was also lying wounded further down the line. The two men were carried to separate medical facilities, and Armistead died from his wounds.

Armistead arranged to send his Bible to Hancock’s wife, but how deep was their friendship bond on July 3, 1863? It is a question that Tom McMillan addressed in his book Armistead and Hancock: behind the Gettysburg Legend of Two Friends at the Turning Point of the Civil War.

It turns out that they did serve together on the frontier and in the Mexican – American War. There was a friendship but not the close, brotherly relationship that the movie Gettysburg suggests. McMillan notes that the two did not spend much time together between the Mexican – American War and the Civil War. There is no evidence of letters being written between them. The conclusion is that what was portrayed in Gettysburg was romantic fiction.

The Enduring Friendship

An often-repeated story is that James Longstreet was the best man at the wedding of Ulysses and Julia Dent Grant. We have no concrete evidence of that, but it is undeniable that Lieutenant Generals Longstreet and Grant were very close friends. They knew each other at West Point and served with the 4th U. S. Infantry in the Mexican-American War. They occasionally saw each other in the following years.

They were on opposing sides during the American Civil War, with Longstreet as a Confederate corps commander and Grant as the Federal Army’s ranking general. Longstreet was concerned when his friend took command of the Union forces, and he warned Robert E. Lee not to underestimate Grant.

Nevertheless, the two old friends would meet each other in combat at the Battle of the Wilderness. Despite whatever personal affection he had for Grant, Longstreet did not hesitate in leading an attack on the Army of the Potomac that, had it not been for Longstreet’s being wounded by friendly fire, might have caused a Confederate victory in this pivotal battle.

Both would meet once more at Appomattox Courthouse. Upon recognizing his old friend, Grant went up to Longstreet and invited him to play another game of cards. The war was now over, and they could return to being the close friends they had been for so many years.

Grant’s friendship was important to Longstreet. After the war. Grant was able to secure amnesty for Longstreet, despite opposition from President Andrew Johnson. Later, when Grant was elected President, he appointed Longstreet to the position of surveyor of customs at New Orleans. Grant later appointed Longstreet to other federal positions within the Grant Administration.

The Southern general would survive his buddy by almost two decades. In an interview he had years after the Civil War was over, James Longstreet, reflecting on his relationship with Grant, commented:

“why do men fight who were born to be brothers?”

It was a question that could be asked of countless friendships that were forcibly separated by the war.

It is sad to think that once close friends became enemies during the Civil War. However, we need to remember that all four men were professional soldiers. Each understood they might be facing an old comrade across the battle line, which was just a consequence of being in combat. Former companionship did not get in the way of doing their duty. They understood the hazards of war and that war leads to fighting and fighting leads to killing.