Sentence:  Augustus Baldwin Longstreet , a preacher and a college and university president in four Southern states , published the <WSD>earliest</WSD> of these backwoods sketches and in the character Ransy Sniffle , in the accounts of sharp horse-trading and eye gouging physical combat , and in the shockingly unliterary speech of his characters , he set an example followed by many after him . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time