Name/Title
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet [Print]Description
Engraving by J. S. Harley, New York, New York of "Augustus Baldwin Longstreet." Published in Judge Longstreet. A Life Sketch by Fitzgerald, O. P. (Oscar Penn), 1829-1911. Nashville, Tennessee. Printed by the publishing house of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1891.Context
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet served as the second president of Emory College from 1839 to 1848. He had previously been an exceptionally successful lawyer, politician, writer, farmer, and minister. During the precarious financial condition of the college in the early years, Longstreet sometimes used his own funds to keep the school operational and the salaries paid. Due in large part to his excellent bona fides, he was able to attract patronage and increase student enrollment. Perhaps the most distinguished of these early graduates of Emory College was Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, who became a United States Senator, Secretary of the Interior, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
The Longstreet-Means Residence Hall, which bore the name of Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, who served as president of Emory from 1839 to 1848, was renamed Eagle Hall. These changes were based, in part, on Longstreet’s strong defense of slavery, particularly while he served as Emory president.