Longstreet applied for various jobs through the Rutherford B. Hayes administration of 1877–1881 and was briefly considered for Secretary of the Navy. He served briefly as deputy collector of internal revenue and as postmaster of Gainesville. Longstreet's chief ambition was to be U.S. Marshal of Georgia. President Hayes appointed Longstreet as his Minister Resident to the Ottoman Empire, a position he held from December 14, 1880, to April 29, 1881. Longstreet suffered from the high cost of living in Constantinople. It prevented him from bringing his family, and the entertainment that he was expected to provide left him financially worse off than when he arrived. His only known accomplishment was convincing Sultan Abdul Hamid II to reverse his position forbidding American archeologists from undertaking research in Ottoman territories. He was granted a 60-day leave to tour Europe before being recalled in accordance with his own desires after the marshal position became available.
Longstreet applied for various jobs through the Rutherford B. Hayes administration of 1877–1881 and was briefly considered for Secretary of the Navy. He served briefly as deputy collector of internal revenue and as postmaster of Gainesville. Longstreet's chief ambition was to be U.S. Marshal of Georgia. President Hayes appointed Longstreet as his Minister Resident to the Ottoman Empire, a position he held from December 14, 1880, to April 29, 1881. Longstreet suffered from the high cost of living in Constantinople. It prevented him from bringing his family, and the entertainment that he was expected to provide left him financially worse off than when he arrived. His only known accomplishment was convincing Sultan Abdul Hamid II to reverse his position forbidding American archeologists from undertaking research in Ottoman territories. He was granted a 60-day leave to tour Europe before being recalled in accordance with his own desires after the marshal position became available.