His final years were marked by poor health and partial deafness. In 1902 he suffered from severe rheumatism and was unable to stand for more than a few minutes at a time. His weight diminished from 200 to 135 pounds by January 1903. Cancer developed in his right eye, and in December he had X-ray therapy in Chicago to treat it. He contracted pneumonia and died in Gainesville on January 2, 1904, six days before his 83rd birthday. His funeral Mass was said by Bishop Benjamin Joseph Keiley of Savannah, Georgia, a veteran of the Army of Northern Virginia. Longstreet's remains are buried in Alta Vista Cemetery, in Gainesville. He outlived most of his detractors, and was one of only a few general officers from the Civil War to live into the 20th century.