General Richard Heron Anderson, who took over the First Corps after Longstreet was wounded at the Wilderness, was a “short, thick, stocky” man who was very different from the Bull of the Woods, as First Corps soldiers had begun calling Longstreet after Chickamauga.

Anderson “fell easily into position as corps commander,” Longstreet’s longtime aide Moxley Sorrel wrote after the war. “[H]e [showed] commendable prudence and an intelligent comprehension of the work in hand.

“He was a very brave man, but of a rather inert, indolent manner for commanding troops in the field, and by no means pushing or aggressive…He seemed to leave the corps much to his staff, while his own meditative disposition was constantly soothed by whiffs from a noble, cherished meerschaum pipe in process of rich coloring.”

Longstreet would not return until October, after the Siege of Petersburg was well underway, and he was changed, according to Sorrel.

“His right arm was quite paralyzed and useless. He had taught himself to write legibly and easily with his left. Following the advice of his doctor he was forever pulling at the disabled arm to bring back its life and action.”

Which eventually succeeded, Sorrel added, as its use was partially restored after the war “and his pen went back to it.”