A Letter from Maj. James Longstreet (United States Army),
 to Congressman William Porcher Miles,

February 27, 1860
Maj. James Longstreet, U.S. Army
Before he became "Lee's war horse," a Confederate soldier of uncommon ability, James Longstreet was an officer in the 8th United States Infantry, serving in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Mexican War (two brevets, one to captain, one to major), and then along the Texas frontier.  Early 1860 found him stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, serving as paymaster for the department now commanded by Col. John Garland, who would stay with the United States Army in the Civil War, but died  on June 5, 1861.

William Porcher Miles began his working career as a mathematics professor at Charleston College from 1843 to 1855 (he also had read law) before the rising sectional crisis drew him into politics, where he championed the usual South Carolina fire-eater, no compromise on slavery, position, first as the mayor of Charleston, and then as a member of the United States Congress (1857--1860) ?????

This letter does not directly shed much light on the causes of secession, but it does show a serving United States Army officer conspiring (no other word fits) with two prominent South Carolina politicians (the "Orr" mentioned in the third paragraph is almost surely former South Carolina Congressman James L. Orr, who would serve as President of the state's Secession Convention and then as a Confederate States Senator) to carve two states away from Mexico to be slave states in the Federal Union.  This kind of imperialist annexation was common among antebellum secessionists.

This letter is held in the William Porcher Miles Papers (00508), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is used by permission of the same. 

Congressman William Porcher Miles, of South Carolina



Congressman James L. Orr,, of South Carolina













Albuquerque, N.M.,
February 27, 1860

 

My Dear Sir

Your kind favor of the 14th inst. reached me by last mail.  Many thanks for your expressions of kind remembrance.  I can assure you, in return, that for so short acquaintance, I remember more of my life with more pleasure.

I fear that I am booked for this country for at least four years.  Out of eighteen years of service not ten months have I been east of the Mississippi.  So I fear that I shall not have the pleasure to meet you again soon.

Some one or two friends and myself have been working very hard for several years past, to get Chihuahua into the U.S.  She is now ready to come in, and has applied to the Pres’t. for support or protection till matters become more quiet in Mexico.  If it can be guaranteed she can very readily be brought in as a Slave State.  If it should fall in your way to help us a little, I trust you will do so.  I wrote Orr a short time ago offering to raise a Regiment of Volunteers, and march them into Chihuahua in forty days after the President gave the authority, if no better arrangement could be made.

Once we get a foothold in Chihuahua, Sonora, which is much more important, will very soon follow.

 I Remain Very Sincerely Yours,

James Longstreet




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Source:  Manuscript held in the William Porcher Miles Papers (00508), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is used by permission of the same.   Transcription by the Publisher, with the assistance of some friends and family. 

Date added to website:  Jan. 4, 2025.