Lt. Gen. Longstreet wore a gray military coat and pants, the coat with remarkably short skirts or tail. It was a frock coat, of course, and did not reach the middle of his thighs. He wore the same every day. He wore a gray or lead colored shawl wrapped closely around his neck and shoulders, and kept in place by holding it together with his hands and arms, which were generally wrapped up in it. No marks of insignia of rank were visible. His hat was plain black felt, with rather narrow brim and high crown. A plain sword hung at his side. He is about six feet 2 inches high, of strong round frame, portly and fleshy but not corpulent or too fat. His hair is dark auburn and long, his whiskers and moustache of same color and thick and heavy. His forehead is broad and full, his brows heavy. His nose, straight and rather fleshy, and his eyes, which set in close to his nose, are dark and steady in their movements and gaze. The lids come quite close together. He is about medium size and height and weighs, I suppose, 190 pounds. He was almost always walking to and fro, except when gazing upon the battlefield with his shawl closely hugged about his neck and shoulders, apparently intensely thinking. He spoke but seldom, and then in rather a low tone. He had a very intellectual appearance, is certainly a very industrious man, and an energetic, skillful officer. Next to Lee I should prefer entrusting the chief command of our armies to him.
Source: Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant: James Longstreet and His Place in Southern History
Commentary
An enlisted artillerist in the Army of Northern Virginia, William Pettit, gave one of the most complete descriptions of Longstreet and his appearance following the battle of Fredericksburg. This account also indicates some of the depth of feeling the common soldiers felt toward General Longstreet. The following quotation of from Pettit's papers, reprinted in William Garrett Piston's Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant.