Armistead Lindsay Long

Armistead Lindsay Long (September 13, 1825 – April 29, 1891) was a brigadier general for the Confederate States of America, and the author of the 1886 book Memoirs of Robert E. Lee.

Early life and career Long was born in Campbell County, Virginia, to Armistead Long and Calista Rosser Cralle. He was an 1850 graduate of the United States Military Academy. He was appointed second lieutenant June 30, 1851, and served for two years at Fort Moultrie before being assigned to frontier duty in New Mexico. They had their first child, Virginia Tunstall, on March 5, 1861.

When Sumner was summoned to lead the Department of the Pacific in California on June 10, 1861,

When on May 31, 1862, Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Long assumed his military secretary position on Lee's staff. He served Lee through the Seven Days, Northern Virginia Campaign of August 1862, Antietam Campaign, Fredericksburg Campaign, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Chancellorsville, and the Gettysburg campaign. Long was considered a valuable asset with "vigor and unfailing judgment". He was present at both the Bristoe Campaign and the subsequent Mine Run Campaign. Long commanded the artillery through the Overland Campaign, including the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor. During Early's 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign he served intermittently as artillery chief for the Army of the Valley, but was often absent due to illness. He returned with the rest of the army to rejoin Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia around Petersburg and Richmond. Suffering from facial Neuralgia, On April 12, 1869, his wife gave birth to their third child, Eugene Mclean. The following year Long went blind, ostensibly from his exposure during military service. Long was also an important member of the Southern Historical Society and was an important early proponent of what came to be known as the Lost Cause of the Confederacy movement.

President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Long's wife as postmistress for Charlottesville, Virginia. Long's manuscripts were sold in April 2015 at his Great-grandnephew, Charles Andrews', estate auction. Long's Old Hickory and Stonewall Jackson was subsequently edited by Frederick J. Reber II and published on Amazon.com. As of 2019, Long's manuscript on his own army life remains unpublished.

Following three years of ill health after the death of his eldest son, Long died in Charlottesville after requesting that his daughter build a fire in his room and bring him coffee. By the time she returned, he had slipped from consciousness and died shortly thereafter. He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery, Charlottesville.