Randolph House,
Near Richmond, Virginia, October 18, 1864
Colonel W. H. Taylor,
Assistant Adjutant-General:
Sir,--I have not reported formally for duty, because I doubted the propriety of being assigned, in my crippled condition, to position now filled by officers of vigorous health. If I can be of service in any position, I prefer to go to duty. If there is nothing to which I can be assigned on this side of the Mississippi River, without displacing an efficient officer, I will cheerfully accept service in the Trans-Mississippi Department.
The doctors give me little reason to hope to recover the use of my arm even with a year; hence my desire to be assigned for duty, or to have an extended leave of absence.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. Longstreet
Lieutenant-General
Source: From Manassas to Appomattox
Commentary
Before returning to duty, Longstreet hoped to be fully recovered. However, his voice, once strong and, as one of his soldiers put it, able to be heard all up and down the line even during the din of battle, was raspy and weak. His right arm was nearly useless, making riding a horse or doing other daily tasks sometimes difficult.
With the knowledge he wasn't going to get any better than he already was any time soon, Longstreet wrote the following letter to Lee's A.A.G, Walter Taylor, to be forwarded to Lee requesting some service in the army. However, despite Longstreet's critics who say he only thought of his own advancement, the General specifically stated that he did not want to displace another, more physically able officer, even to the point of accepting a position in the Trans-Mississippi, which, by late 1864 was all but lost to the Confederacy and had no hopes of rebirth.
Lee, however, knew Longstreet's quality, and he welcomed him back into the Army of Northern Virginia with open arms.