He attained education at Mississippi College, where he graduated in 1875, and at the University of Virginia, where he earned a law degree in 1880.

The surname Longino is of Italian origin, although his family had resided in the American South since the eighteenth century.

[1] He has been identified as the third U.S. governor of Italian-American descent, after Caesar Rodney and William Paca who held office in the 18th century and had distant Italian ancestry.

Also of note, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History was created and a new penitentiary at Parchman Farm was constructed during his administration.

[4] Longino died at age 87 and was interred at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson, Mississippi.