James Longstreet was an outstanding Confederate general whose leadership and battle strategy, his relationship with Lee, and controversial disobedience contributed to his enormous impact in the American Civil War and the battle of Gettysburg. Longstreet was born on January 8, 1821, and grew up in the South ("General James Longstreet" 1). As a boy he lived with his parents on the family plantation in Georgia. His father nicknamed him Old Pete, a nickname that accompanied him throughout his life, in honor of Saint Peter, because they shared a solid and rocky character. He entered West Point in 1838. Graduating in 1842, he ranked 54th in a class of 56. However, he made many friends who he would fight alongside, and friends he would fight against, such as Ulysses S. Grant, George H. Thomas . , John Bell Hood and George Pickett. After graduation, Longstreet enlisted in the National Army, with which he fought in the Mexican-American War. He served in the siege of Veracruz, the advance inland, and the Battle of Chapultepec, where he was wounded. While recovering, he was stationed in Texas where he was paymaster for the 8th Infantry and ran border patrols. When tensions rose in the 1860s, James Longstreet supported the doctrine of states' rights, but he was not a secessionist. When fighting broke out in the Civil War, he decided to go with the South, as it was his home, and agreed with the ideals of states' rights and slavery (Hickman 1). As a general in the Civil War, James Longstreet had an exceptional sense of battle tactics. The battles in which his logic was displayed were: Yorktown and Williamsburg, Fredericksburg and Antietam. At the Battle of Yorktown, Longstreet was in command and made the executive decision to… midway through the document… ex: “General James Longstreet CSA.” AmericanCivilWar.com. Np, nd Web. March 31, 2014.."Longstreet's General Recognition Project." Longstreet General Recognition Project. TheAgribusiness Council/Heritage Preservation Committee, nd Web. March 31, 2014.Hickman, Kennedy. "American Civil War: Lieutenant General James Longstreet." About.comMilitary History. About.com and Web. March 31, 2014.Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels; A novel. New York: McKay, 1974. Print.United States. National Park Service. “Yorktown National Cemetery – Civil War Era National Cemeteries: A Travel Itinerary Discovering Our Shared Heritage.” National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 06 April. 2014. .