GDG- The real R.E.Lee

[Tom Ryan]

<<There's also a considerable school of thought that the reason that Lee
usually travelled with Longstreet's command and not Jackson's was not, as
the Lost Causers claimed, that Lee believed he needed to keep a close watch
on Longstreet's performance but that Longstreet's mess, and his lively and
diverse staff, was just considerably more interesting and relaxing than
Jackson's. While Lee was the total opposite of his wastrel father and older
half-brother, he was still born and raised a gentleman of Virginia's planter
class.>>

Margaret,

That is interesting, because Brown in her book "Reading the Man" describes a
certain elitism that was part of Lee's makeup in that he preferred to
interact with people of his own class (the upper class).  Perhaps, in your
example, he not only found Longstreet's mess to be more interesting, but
also that they were of a better class of people than those around Jackson.
I do not know whether that was the case or not, but, if it were, Brown's
point may be well taken.

Regards, Tom