My microhistory will be on Confederate General James Longstreet’s life in New Orleans after the Civil War. More specifically, I want to look at Longstreet’s role at the Battle of Liberty Place and how he was viewed by both sides of the conflict. I find Longstreet very interesting because he became a Republican after the war and lost a lot of respect from his fellow Confederates. I am anxious to find out how Longstreet’s political views changed after his conversion to the Republican Party.

As for my sources, I have a three biographies on Longstreet that were all written within the past 26 years, and Longstreet’s autobiography he wrote several years after the war. I also found a book at the UNO library on the Battle of Liberty Place which should contain a lot of crucial information. Tulane’s special collections have some letters that Longstreet wrote to local newspapers and magazines of the time and will hopefully prove to be a fantastic primary source.