Forgotten Americans: Helen Dortch Longstreet

The December 27, 1943 issue of Life Magazine contained a feature on a woman working at the Bell Bomber plant in Atlanta, Georgia.  The woman was notable for several reasons.  She was 80 years old, she was a riveter at the plant and she was the widow of General James Longstreet, who along with Stonewall Jackson, was the best known Corps Commander under General Robert E Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 to 1865.  Her name was Helen Dortch Longstreet.

Helen Dortch was born in 1863 in Carnesville, Georgia.  Well-educated, in 1894 she became the first woman to serve as Assistant Librarian for the State of Georgia.  In 1897 she married General Longstreet (he was 76 at the time) and was widowed when he died in 1904.  Helen first met Longstreet when she was at college and his granddaughter was her roommate.  General Longstreet was a controversial figure in the Reconstruction-era South.  A promoter of national reconciliation he joined the Republican Party and became the target of many of his former comrades in arms who viewed him as a traitor and attempted to blame all of the defeats of the Army of Northern Virginia on him (they waited to do this until after Lee died in 1870).  Helen Longstreet helped the General fight this portrayal and the year after he died she published Lee And Longstreet At High Tide, a spirited defense of her husband.(Helen and The General)

Helen Dortch Longstreet was politically active her entire life.  In 1911 she led one of the first conservation campaigns in Georgia in an unsuccessful attempt to create a state park at Tallulah George and oppose the construction of a hydroelectric dam by Georgia Power. In 1912 she was a delegate to the National Convention of the Progressive Party and supported Teddy Roosevelt's presidential campaign. She also campaigned for women's suffrage and promoted the establishment of the Georgia State College For Women.  She was also appointed Postmaster of Gainesville, Georgia, reportedly the first woman to obtain such an appointment in Georgia.

When WWII came along and US industrial mobilization occurred there was a need to add women to the workforce.  Helen Longstreet volunteered and took the training to become qualified as a riveter and worked the 8am to 445pm shift at the plant where, as she said, "I am going to assist in building a plane to bomb Hitler".  Every day she left her home and drove in her Nash coupe to work.  According to Georgia Women of Achievement:

"When controversy erupted over unionism, her employers became aware of her age and asked her to quit. Helen refused, stating she had the eyesight of a 20-year-old and was in otherwise perfect health."

She took great pride in her work record telling The Atlanta Journal:
  

"I've been an assembler and riveter for about two years and have never lost a day from work or been a single minute late.  I will quit only when the last battle flag has been furled on land and sea."

 You can find the Life Magazine article here. (Helen the Riveter)

Helen Longstreet remained active after the war.  In 1947 she became the first woman to have her portrait placed in the Georgia State Capital and in 1950 she ran an unsuccessful write-in gubernatorial campaign against the arch-segregationist Herman Talmadge,  Helen's platform included repeal of the Jim Crow laws that segregated public life in Georgia.

In 1962, at the age of 99, Helen Dortch Longstreet passed away.

In 1992, her old adversary, Georgia Power, rerouted the Tallulah River back into the gorge and deeded 3,000 acres to the state for the creation of Tallulah Gorge State Park which now contains the Helen Dortch Longstreet Trail System.