Digital Project PR #1

TJ Goree #1 - Thomas Jewett Goree was born on November 14, 1835 in Marion, Alabama. When he was 15, Thomas, or better known as T.J., moved with his family to Huntsville, Texas. At the start of the American Civil War, Goree met future Confederate general James Longstreet on a ship headed from Galveston to New Orleans. From this point on, the two became close friends, and T.J. fought in almost every battle alongside General Longstreet. "[Goree] served under General James Longstreet from the first battle of Manassas until the final curtain at Appomattox, nearly four years later” (Longstreet).
As a young officer in the Confederate Army, T.J. was very informed of the situation both on the battlefield and on the international stage. He wrote several letters during his time as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. He wrote to his brother in Huntsville concerning possible alliances with England. He even gave advice on what crops his brother should grow with the threat of the Union blockade and the possibility of a long war (Goree L). Furthermore, as expected from personal letters, his opinion was not always professional. T.J. often spoke poorly of Union soldiers and generals, but he had even harsher words for lackluster Confederate generals and Confederate President Davis himself. Many of the words he devoted to his letters described the condition of the Confederate soldiers while on the battlefield, and how the soldiers’ morale was affected by victory and defeat.
After the war, T.J. went back home to Texas, where he oversaw the Raven Hill Plantation near Huntsville. In 1870, he moved to Madison County, Texas with his wife. While there, he formed a law partnership. In 1877, T.J. was appointed superintendent of the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, an office he held for fourteen years (Longstreet). He later moved to Galveston, where he survived the devastating Hurricane of 1900. On March 5,1905, Thomas Jewett Goree died of pneumonia in Galveston, Texas at the age of 69.

Sources:
Antietam on the Web. “Thomas Jewett Goree.” Antietam on the Web,http://aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=1090.
Goree, L. “Goree, Thomas Jewett Family” in Walker County History. Tides at Stephen F. Austin State University, http://tides.sfasu.edu:2006/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/Huntsville&CISOPTR=1169&REC=2.
Goree, L. “The Thomas Jewett Goree Letters, Vol. 1: The Civil War Correspondence.” Bryan, Texas: Family History Foundation, 1981. Print.
The Handbook of Texas. “Goree, Thomas Jewett.” The Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/fgo17.html.
Longstreet’s Command. “Thomas Jewett Goree.” Living History Association, “http://www.longstreetscommand.org/Goree.html.