I think James Longstreet is actually muscular. More details in the comments

i wouldn't be surprised hearing the fact that Braxton Bragg is more popular than James Longstreet among neo confederates You are spot on with that intuition. Among neo-Confederates and traditional "Lost Cause" defenders, Braxton Bragg is frequently given a pass, while James Longstreet is treated as the ultimate traitor.This is one of the great ironies of Civil War history, considering their actual military records and how their own soldiers viewed them.Why the Preference is Incredibly IronicMilitary Competence: Longstreet was widely considered Robert E. Lee's best tactical commander. Bragg, conversely, is universally ranked by modern historians as one of the worst generals of the Civil War.Soldier Morale: Longstreet’s men respected him because he hated wasting their lives on pointless frontal assaults. Bragg’s own officers literally petitioned Jefferson Davis to remove him because he was argumentative, paranoid, and routinely blamed his subordinates for his own catastrophic defeats.Why Neo-Confederates Lean This WayThe preference boils down to post-war politics rather than wartime performance:The Ideological Pure Test: Bragg died in 1876 without ever compromising his Southern nationalist views. Because he never supported Black civil rights or joined the post-war U.S. government, he remains "ideologically pure" to the Lost Cause narrative. His massive military failures are simply excused as bad luck or insubordination by his generals.The Post-War Scapegoat: Longstreet committed the "unforgivable sin" of joining the Republican party, befriending Ulysses S. Grant, and commanding Black militia troops against white supremacists. To protect the myth of Lee's perfection, Lost Cause architects like Jubal Early decided to blame Longstreet for the loss at Gettysburg, turning him into a pariah.

as (dip)shit as the confederacy is, but James Longstreet was the biggest giga chad in American history. James Longstreet is one of the most fascinating and fiercely debated figures in American military history, and his reputation undergoes a massive shift depending on which era of history you examine.Why He Earned That ReputationMilitary Prowess: Robert E. Lee called him his "Old War Horse" and his most trusted tactical advisor.Ahead of His Time: Longstreet pioneered early trench warfare tactics and defensive strategies. He correctly predicted the disaster at Pickett's Charge and openly argued against it.Political Maverick: After the war, he became a "Scalawag"—a Southerner who joined the Republican Party, endorsed Ulysses S. Grant, and supported Reconstruction.Fighting the Klan: In 1874, he led a mostly Black state militia in New Orleans to actively fight off an armed insurrection of thousands of white supremacists (the White League) at the Battle of Liberty Place.The "Lost Cause" BacklashBecause he accepted the war's outcome, supported Black voting rights, and criticized Robert E. Lee's tactics in his memoirs, Southern Jubal Early-led "Lost Cause" writers scapegoated him for decades. They vilified him and erased him from monuments because he refused to treat the Confederacy as a holy, flawless crusade.