Longstreet as a different man.

In OTL James Longstreet converted to Catholicism after the war and this had a huge impact on him as a person and he came to embrace reconstruction ideas like integration and an end to racism.

Now my question to you is what if he converted to Catholicism pre-war and it had a similar impact on him and he becomes an abolitionist and fights for the the Union?

Now I know its borderline ASB but its a unique concept none the less.

Ideas?
 
It's not like Longstreet was from a state like Kentucky, Virginia, or Tennessee that had large pro-Union elements. He was from the Deep South, which really didn't have too many Unionists.

If you're looking for a high profile general to play this scenario on, I'd go for Stonewall Jackson(West Virginia), or A.S. Johnson(Texas, which did have a signifigant number of Unionists).

Or you could do the south a favor and have Bragg join the North. :rolleyes:
 

The Vulture

Banned
George Henry Thomas, as a Virginian, might very well have joined the Confederate cause. Makes you wonder what kind of defense the Rock of Chickamauga might have put up against Sherman.
 
I've never seen an account that credits his converting to Catholicism was what caused Longstreet to become a Republican and embrace Reconstruction (at least as the Grant Administration pursued it). I always thought it was more an attitude of, "The issue has been decided on the battlefield. Let's make it work out as best we can as one country." It's not as if the Catholic Church was that heavily represented in the abolitionist movement -- it was much more an evangelical Protestant movement.
 
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