By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Longstreets told whole world why they wed
JVart
Drawings depict Gen. James Longstreet and his bride Helen (listed as "Ellen" here) at the time of their wedding in 1897 in Gainesville.
Even in this more tolerant time, eyebrows are raised when a much older guy or gal marries a much younger gal or guy. So you can imagine how the tongues were wagging up and down Green Street during the more uptight Victorian Age in 1897 Gainesville when it was announced Confederate Gen. James Longstreet at age 75 would marry 34-year-old Helen Dortch, his daughter Louisa’s former roomie at Georgia Baptist Female Seminary (now Brenau University). Longstreet’s first wife, Louise, had died eight years earlier.