"It was while we were about Centerville that a great change came over Longstreet. He was rather gay in disposition with his chums, fond of a glass, and very skilful [sic] at poker. He, Van Dorn, and G.W. Smith were accustomed to play almost every night with T.J. Rhett, General Johnston's adjutant-general, and we sometimes heard of rather wild scenes amid these old army chums--all from West Point, all having served in Mexico and against the Indians. Longstreet's wife and children were at Richmond. He was devoted to them. Suddenly scarlet fever broke out and three of the children died within one week. He was with them, and some weeks after resumed his command a changed man. He had become very serious and reserved and a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. His grief was very deep and he had all our sympathies; later years lightened the memory of his sorrow and he became rather more like his old cheerful self, but with no dissipation of any kind."
Source: Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer
Commentary
Early in the war a great personal tragedy befell Longstreet that would follow him the rest of his life. As the following account by Moxley Sorrel indicates, Longstreet witnessed the deaths of several of his children due to scarlet fever. Friends who had known him from his younger days said Longstreet was never the same again, despite his attempts to appear jovial.