Book of the Robert Lee Hughes Family of Raleigh, Mississippi

Confederate Regular army general (1807–1891)

Joseph E. Johnston
Johnston in uniform, c. 1862
Nativity name	Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Nickname(s)	Joe
Born	(1807-02-03)February 3, 1807 Farmville, Virginia, U.Due south.
Died	March 21, 1891(1891-03-21) (anile 84) Washington, D.C., U.Due south.
Buried	Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Allegiance	U.s. Amalgamated States
Service/branch	United States Regular army Confederate States Army
Years of service	1829–1861 (USA) 1861–1865 (CSA)
Rank	Brigadier General (USA) General (CSA)
Commands held	Regular army of the Shenandoah (1861) Ground forces of Northern Virginia (1861–1862) Department of the West (1862–1863) Ground forces of Tennessee (1863–1864) Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida (1865) Department of Due north Carolina and Southern Virginia (1865)
Battles/wars	Mexican–American War Battle of Cerro Gordo Battle of Chapultepec Seminole Wars American Civil War First Battle of Bull Run Peninsula Entrada Siege of Yorktown Boxing of Seven Pines Vicksburg Campaign Atlanta Campaign Battle of Bentonville
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia'south tertiary district
In office 1879–1881
Preceded by	Gilbert Carlton Walker
Succeeded past	George D. Wise

Joseph Eggleston Johnston (Feb 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia seceded from the Spousal relationship, he entered the Amalgamated States Ground forces as one of its nigh senior general officers.

Johnston was trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military University at West Indicate, New York, graduating in the aforementioned course as Robert E. Lee. He served in Florida, Texas, and Kansas. By 1860 he achieved the rank of brigadier general as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army.

Johnston's effectiveness in the American Civil State of war was undercut past tensions with Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Victory eluded him in about campaigns he personally commanded. He was the senior Confederate commander at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, just the victory is usually credited to his subordinate, P.G.T. Beauregard. Johnston defended the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, withdrawing under the pressure of Wedlock Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan'south superior forcefulness. He suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Seven Pines, and was replaced by Robert Due east. Lee.

In 1863, Johnston was placed in command of the Department of the West. In 1864, he commanded the Ground forces of Tennessee confronting Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign. In the last days of the war, Johnston was returned to control of the few remaining forces in the Carolinas Campaign. Marriage generals Ulysses S. Grant and Sherman both praised his actions in the state of war, and became friends with Johnston subsequently.

Later on the war, Johnston served as an executive in the railroad and insurance businesses. He was elected as a Democrat in the The states Business firm of Representatives, serving a single term. He was appointed equally commissioner of railroads under Grover Cleveland. He died of pneumonia x days later attending Sherman's funeral in the pouring rain.

Early years [edit]

Johnston was born at Longwood House in "Cherry Grove", almost Farmville, Virginia on Feb 3, 1807. (Longwood House later burned downwards. The rebuilt house was the birthplace in 1827 of Charles Southward. Venable, an officeholder on the staff of Robert E. Lee. Information technology is now used as the residence of the president of Longwood University.) His grandpa, Peter Johnston, emigrated to Virginia from Scotland in 1726. Joseph was the seventh son of Judge Peter Johnston Jr. (1763–1831) and Mary Valentine Woods (1769–1825), a niece of Patrick Henry.^[1] He was named for Major Joseph Eggleston, under whom his father served in the American Revolutionary War, in the command of Lite-Horse Harry Lee. His brother Charles Clement Johnston served every bit a congressman, and his nephew John Warfield Johnston was a senator; both represented Virginia. In 1811, the Johnston family moved to Abingdon, Virginia, a town near the Tennessee edge, where his father Peter built a home he named Panecillo.^[2]

Johnston attended the United States Military Academy, nominated by John C. Calhoun in 1825 while he was Secretary of War. He was moderately successful at academics and received merely a minor number of disciplinary demerits. He graduated in 1829, ranking 13th of 46 cadets, and was appointed a 2nd lieutenant in the 4th U.South. Artillery.^[3] He would become the first Due west Indicate graduate to be promoted to a general officer in the regular army, reaching a higher rank in the U.Southward. Army than did his 1829 classmate, Robert Eastward. Lee (2nd of 46).^[4]

U.S. Army service [edit]

Johnston resigned from the Regular army in March 1837 and studied civil engineering.^[3] During the Second Seminole War, he was a civilian topographic engineer aboard a transport led by William Pope McArthur. On January 12, 1838, at Jupiter, Florida, the sailors who had gone ashore were attacked. Johnston said there were "no less than xxx bullet holes" in his habiliment and 1 bullet creased his scalp, leaving a scar he had for the rest of his life. Having encountered more combat activities in Florida as a noncombatant than he had previously as an artillery officer, Johnston decided to rejoin the Army. He departed for Washington, D.C., in April 1838 and was appointed a first lieutenant of topographic engineers on July 7; on that aforementioned twenty-four hours, he received a brevet promotion to captain for the deportment at Jupiter Inlet and his explorations of the Florida Everglades.^[5]

On July 10, 1845, in Baltimore, Johnston married Lydia Mulligan Sims McLane (1822–1887), the girl of Louis McLane and his wife. Her male parent was the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a prominent pol (congressman and senator from Delaware, minister to London, and a member of President Andrew Jackson'southward cabinet). They had no children.^[six]

Johnston was enthusiastic about the outbreak of the Mexican–American State of war. He served on the staff of Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott in the Siege of Veracruz, having been called by Scott to be the officeholder conveying the need for surrender beforehand to the provincial governor. He was in the vanguard of the movement inland under Brig. Gen. David Eastward. Twiggs and was severely wounded by grapeshot performing reconnaissance prior to the Battle of Cerro Gordo. He was appointed a brevet lieutenant colonel for his actions at Cerro Gordo. Later recovering in a field hospital, he rejoined the army at Puebla. During the advance toward Mexico City, he was 2d in command of the "U.S. Regiment of Voltigeurs", a unit of measurement equanimous of lite infantry or skirmishers. He distinguished himself at Contreras and Churubusco, was wounded again at Chapultepec, and received two brevet promotions for the latter two engagements, ending the war equally a brevet colonel of volunteers. (Later the end of hostilities, he reverted to his peacetime rank of captain in the topographical engineers.) Winfield Scott remarked humorously that "Johnston is a bang-up soldier, only he had an unfortunate knack of getting himself shot in nearly every date." Johnston's greatest anguish during the war was the death of his nephew, Preston Johnston. When Robert Due east. Lee informed Johnston that Preston had been killed by a Mexican artillery vanquish at Contreras, both officers wept, and Johnston grieved for the residual of his life.^[seven]

Johnston was an engineer on the Texas-U.s.a. boundary survey in 1841; he returned to the area, appointed every bit chief topographical engineer of the Department of Texas, and serving from 1848 to 1853.^[8] During the 1850s he sought his previous rank, sending letters to the War Department suggesting that he should be returned to a gainsay regiment with his wartime rank of colonel. Secretarial assistant of War Jefferson Davis, an acquaintance of Johnston's from West Point, rebuffed these suggestions, as he did later during the Civil War, much to Johnston's irritation. Despite this disagreement, Davis idea plenty of Johnston to appoint him lieutenant colonel in 1 of the newly formed regiments, the 1st U.S. Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under Col. Edwin V. "Bull" Sumner, on March 1, 1855. (At this same time, Robert E. Lee was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 2nd U.Southward. Cavalry under Col. Albert Sidney Johnston (no relation). In this role, Johnston participated in actions against the Sioux in the Wyoming Territory and in the violence over slavery in the future country, known as Bleeding Kansas. He developed a mentor human relationship and shut friendship with one of his junior officers, Capt. George B. McClellan. After McClellan faced him from the Matrimony Army.^[9]

In the autumn of 1856, Johnston was transferred to a depot for new recruits at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. In 1857 he led surveying expeditions to determine the Kansas border. Later that twelvemonth, Davis was replaced equally Secretarial assistant of War by John B. Floyd, a native of Abingdon and a cousin of Johnston's by marriage. He had been a former guardian of Preston Johnston. Floyd made Johnston a brevet colonel for his actions at Cerro Gordo, a promotion that caused grumbling inside the Army near favoritism. In 1859, President James Buchanan named Johnston's blood brother-in-constabulary, Robert Milligan McLane, as minister to Mexico, and Johnston accompanied him on a journeying to visit Benito Juárez's government in Veracruz. He was also ordered to inspect possible military routes across the land in case of further hostilities.^[ten]

Brig. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, the Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army, died on June x, 1860. Winfield Scott was responsible for naming a replacement, but instead of ane name, he offered four possibilities: Joseph Eastward. Johnston, Albert Sidney Johnston (no relation), Robert Eastward. Lee, and Charles F. Smith. Although Jefferson Davis, now a fellow member of the Senate Military Diplomacy Commission, favored Albert Sidney Johnston, Secretary of War Floyd chose Joseph Due east. Johnston for the position.

Johnston was promoted to brigadier general on June 28, 1860. Johnston did non enjoy the position, preferring field command to administration in Washington. In addition, he suffered from the pressures of the imminent sectional crisis and the ethical dilemma of administering state of war matériel that might prove useful to his native South. He did not yield to temptation, nonetheless, as Secretary of War Floyd was accused of doing.^[11]

Ceremonious War [edit]

Manassas and offset friction with President Davis [edit]

When his native state, Virginia seceded from the Spousal relationship in 1861, Johnston resigned his commission as a brigadier general in the regular regular army, the highest-ranking U.S. Ground forces officer to do and then. He would become on to state, " I believed like most others, that the sectionalization of the country would be permanent; and that ... the revolution begun was justified by the maxims so often repeated by Americans, that Gratuitous government is founded on the consent of the governed, and that every community strong plenty to establish and maintain its independence, has a right to assert it. Having been educated in such opinions, I naturally adamant to return to the Country of which I was a native, join the people among whom I was built-in, and alive with my kindred, and if necessary, fight in their defense."^[12]

He was initially commissioned as a major general in the Virginia militia on May four, but the Virginia Convention decided two weeks subsequently that but one major general was required in the state regular army and Robert E. Lee was their choice. Johnston was then offered a state committee every bit a brigadier general, which he declined, accepting instead a commission as a brigadier general in the Amalgamated States Army on May fourteen. Johnston relieved Colonel Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson of command at Harpers Ferry in May and organized the Regular army of the Shenandoah in July.^[thirteen]

In the Get-go Battle of Bull Run (Outset Manassas), July 21, 1861, Johnston apace moved his small ground forces from the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce that of Brig. Gen. P. Chiliad. T. Beauregard, but he lacked familiarity with the terrain and ceded tactical planning of the battle to the more than inferior Beauregard every bit a professional person courtesy. At midday, while Beauregard was still unclear about the direction his Union opponent was taking in the battle, Johnston decided that the critical betoken was to the north of his headquarters (the Lewis house, "Portici"), at Henry Firm Hill. He abruptly appear "The battle is in that location. I am going." Beauregard and the staffs of both generals followed his lead and rode off. Johnston encountered a scattered unit, the fourth Alabama, whose field-grade officers had all been killed, and personally rallied the men to reinforce the Amalgamated line. He consoled the despairing Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee and urged him to lead his men back into the fight. (Full general Bee'southward exhortation to his men was the inspiration for Stonewall Jackson's nickname.) Beauregard so convinced Johnston that he would be more valuable organizing the inflow of reinforcements for the remainder of the boxing than providing at-the-forepart tactical leadership. Although Beauregard managed to claim the majority of public credit, Johnston's backside-the-scenes role was a disquisitional cistron in the Southern victory. Later on Balderdash Run, Johnston assisted Beauregard and William Porcher Miles in the pattern and production of the Amalgamated Battle Flag. It was Johnston's idea to make the flag square.^[14]

It [the ranking of senior generals] seeks to tarnish my fair fame as a soldier and a homo, earned by more thirty years of laborious and perilous service. I had just this, the scars of many wounds, all honestly taken in my forepart and in the front of battle, and my father's Revolutionary sword. It was delivered to me from his venerated hand, without a stain of dishonor. Its bract is even so unblemished as when information technology passed from his hand to mine. I drew it in the war, non for rank or fame, simply to defend the sacred soil, the homes and hearths, the women and children; aye, and the men of my mother Virginia, my native South.

—Johnston's letter to Jefferson Davis, September 12, 1861 ^[fifteen]

In August, Johnston was promoted to full full general—what is chosen a four-star general in the modern U.Due south. Regular army—but was not pleased that iii other men he had outranked in the "erstwhile Army" now outranked him, even though Davis backdated his promotion to July iv. Johnston felt that since he was the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army and bring together the Confederacy he should not be ranked behind Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Robert E. Lee. Simply Beauregard was placed behind Johnston on the list of v new generals. This led to much bad blood between Johnston and Jefferson Davis, which would concluding throughout the war. The crux of Davis's counterargument was that Johnston'due south U.S. commission as a brigadier full general was equally a staff officer and that his highest line commission was every bit a lieutenant colonel; both Sidney Johnston and Lee had been total colonels. Johnston sent an intemperately worded letter to Davis, who was offended enough to discuss its tone with his cabinet.^[16]

Johnston was placed in command of the Department of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of the Potomac on July 21, 1861, and the Section of Northern Virginia on Oct 22. From July to November 1861, he was headquartered at the Conner House in Manassas.^[17] The winter of 1861–62 was relatively quiet for Johnston in his Centreville headquarters, concerned primarily with organisation and equipment issues, as the principal Northern army, also named Regular army of the Potomac, was existence organized by George B. McClellan. McClellan perceived Johnston'south ground forces equally overwhelmingly strong in its fortifications, which prompted the Union general to plan an amphibious movement around Johnston's flank. In early on March, learning of Marriage offensive preparations, Johnston withdrew his army to Culpeper Court House. This motility had repercussions on both sides. President Davis was surprised and disappointed by the unannounced move, which he considered a "precipitate retreat." At about this time, Davis moved to restrict Johnston's authority by bringing Robert E. Lee to Richmond as his military adviser and began issuing direct orders to some of the forces under Johnston'southward ostensible command. On the Northern side, McClellan was publicly embarrassed when it was revealed that the Amalgamated position had not been most as strong as he had portrayed. Only more than importantly, it required him to replan his jump offensive, and instead of an amphibious landing at his preferred target of Urbanna, he chose the Virginia Peninsula, between the James and York Rivers, as his avenue of approach toward Richmond.^[18]

Peninsula Entrada [edit]

In early on Apr 1862, McClellan, having landed his troops at Fort Monroe at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula, began to move slowly toward Yorktown. Johnston'south program for the defense of the Amalgamated capital letter was controversial. Knowing that his army was half the size of McClellan's and that the Wedlock Navy could provide directly support to McClellan from either river, Johnston attempted to convince Davis and Lee that the all-time course would be to concentrate in fortifications around Richmond. He was unsuccessful in persuading them and deployed about of his strength on the Peninsula. Following lengthy siege preparations by McClellan at Yorktown, Johnston withdrew and fought a precipitous defensive fight at Williamsburg (May 5) and turned back an endeavor at an amphibious turning move at Eltham's Landing (May 7). By late May the Marriage army was within half dozen miles of Richmond.^[19]

Realizing that he could not defend Richmond forever from the Union's overwhelming numbers and heavy siege arms and that McClellan's army was divided by the rain-swollen Chickahominy River, Johnston attacked south of the river on May 31 in the Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks. His plan was aggressive, but too complicated for his subordinates to execute correctly, and he failed to ensure they understood his orders in detail or to supervise them closely. The battle was tactically inconclusive, merely it stopped McClellan'southward advance on the metropolis and would plow out to be the loftier-water mark of his invasion. More than significant, however, was that Johnston was wounded in his shoulder and chest past an artillery shell fragment near the end of the offset day of the battle.^[xx] G.W. Smith commanded the ground forces during the second day of the battle, before Davis quickly turned over control to the more ambitious Robert E. Lee, who would lead the Army of Northern Virginia for the rest of the war. Lee began by driving McClellan from the Peninsula during the Seven Days Battles of late June and chirapsia a Union regular army a second time near Balderdash Run in August.^[21]

Date to the Western Theater and Vicksburg [edit]

Johnston was prematurely discharged from hospital on Nov 24, 1862, and appointed to control the Department of the West, the main command of the Western Theater, which gave him titular control of Gen. Braxton Bragg's Regular army of Tennessee and Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton'south Section of Mississippi and East Louisiana. (The other major strength in this area was the Trans-Mississippi Department, allowable by Lt. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes, stationed principally in Arkansas. Johnston argued throughout his tenure that Holmes's command should be combined with Pemberton's under Johnston's control, or at least to reinforce Pemberton with troops from Holmes's command, but he was unable to convince the authorities to have either of these steps.)^[22]

The first issue facing Johnston in the West was the fate of Braxton Bragg. The Confederate authorities was displeased with Bragg'south performance at the Boxing of Stones River, every bit were many of Bragg's senior subordinates. Jefferson Davis ordered Johnston to visit Bragg and decide whether he should be replaced. Johnston realized that if he recommended Bragg's replacement, he would exist the logical choice to succeed him, and he considered that a field ground forces command was more desirable than his current, mostly authoritative post, but his sense of award prevented him from achieving this personal gain at Bragg's expense. After interviewing Bragg and a number of his subordinates, he produced a generally positive report and refused to relieve the army commander. Davis ordered Bragg to a meeting in Richmond and designated Johnston to take command in the field, but Bragg's wife was ill and he was unable to travel. Furthermore, in early April Johnston was forced to bed with lingering problems from his Peninsula wound, and the attention of the Confederates shifted from Tennessee to Mississippi, leaving Bragg in place.^[23]

The major crunch facing Johnston was defending Amalgamated control of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was threatened by Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commencement in a serial of unsuccessful maneuvers during the winter of 1862–63 to the northward of the fortress city, simply followed in Apr 1863 with an ambitious entrada that began with Grant'south Union regular army crossing the Mississippi River southwest of Vicksburg. Catching Lt. Gen. Pemberton by surprise, the Union army waged a series of successful battles as it moved northeast toward the country capital letter of Jackson. On May 9, the Amalgamated Secretary of War directed Johnston to "proceed at one time to Mississippi and take master command of the forces in the field." Johnston informed Richmond that he was yet medically unfit, but would obey the club. When he arrived in Jackson on May 13 from Middle Tennessee, he learned that 2 Marriage army corps were advancing on the city and that there were only well-nigh half dozen,000 troops available to defend it. Johnston ordered a fighting evacuation (the Battle of Jackson, May 14) and retreated with his force to the north. Grant captured the city and then faced to the west to approach Vicksburg.^[24]

Johnston began to move his strength west to bring together Pemberton when he heard of that general's defeat at Champion Loma (May 16) and Big Blackness River Bridge (May 17). The survivors retreated to the fortifications of Vicksburg. Johnston urged Pemberton to avoid beingness surrounded past abandoning the urban center and to join forces with Johnston's troops, outnumbering Grant, but Davis had ordered Pemberton to defend the city as his highest priority. Grant launched two unsuccessful assaults against the fortifications and then settled in for a siege. The soldiers and civilians in the surrounded city waited in vain for Johnston'south minor force to come up to their rescue. Past late May Johnston had accumulated well-nigh 24,000 men but wanted additional reinforcements before moving forwards. He considered ordering Bragg to transport these reinforcements, but was concerned that this could issue in the loss of Tennessee. He also bickered with President Davis about whether the guild sending him to Mississippi could be construed as removing him from theater command; historian Steven Eastward. Woodworth judges that Johnston "willfully misconstrued" his orders out of resentment of Davis's interference. Pemberton's ground forces surrendered on July iv, 1863. Along with the capture of Port Hudson a week after, the loss of Vicksburg gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in 2. President Davis wryly ascribed the strategic defeat to a "want of provisions inside and a general outside [Johnston] who would non fight."^[25]

The relationship betwixt Johnston and Davis, hard since the early days of the war, became bitter as recriminations were traded publicly about who was to arraign for Vicksburg. That Johnston never wanted this theater command in the first place, difficulty in effectively moving troops due to lack of direct runway lines and the vast distances involved, lack of assistance from subordinate commanders, Pemberton's refusal to abandon Vicksburg as suggested, and President Davis' addiction of communicating directly to Johnston's subordinates (which meant Johnston was often not enlightened of what was going on) all contributed to this defeat.^[26] Davis considered firing Johnston, but he remained a popular officer and had many political allies in Richmond, about notably Sen. Louis Wigfall. Instead, Bragg's army was removed from Johnston's command, leaving him in control of only Alabama and Mississippi.^[27]

The President detests Joe Johnston for all the trouble he has given him, and General Joe returns the compliment with compound interest. His hatred of Jeff Davis amounts to a religion. With him it colors all things.

—Diarist Mary Chesnut^[28]

While Vicksburg was falling, Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was advancing against Bragg in Tennessee, forcing him to evacuate Chattanooga. Bragg achieved a significant victory against Rosecrans in the Boxing of Chickamauga (September nineteen–20), only he was defeated by Ulysses Due south. Grant in the Battles for Chattanooga in November. Bragg resigned from his control of the Army of Tennessee and returned to Richmond in the role as war machine adviser to the president. Davis offered the position to William J. Hardee, the senior corps commander, who refused information technology. He considered P.K.T. Beauregard, another general with whom he had poor personal relations, and likewise Robert E. Lee. Lee, who was reluctant to leave Virginia, kickoff recommended Beauregard, but sensing Davis's discomfort, changed his recommendation to Johnston. Later on much agonizing, Davis appointed Johnston to command the Ground forces of Tennessee in Dalton, Georgia, on December 27, 1863.^[29]

Atlanta Campaign [edit]

The Atlanta Campaign from Dalton to Kennesaw Mountain

Faced with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's accelerate from Chattanooga to Atlanta in the jump of 1864, Johnston conducted a serial of withdrawals that appeared similar to his Peninsula Campaign strategy. He repeatedly prepared strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them in expert turning movements, causing him to fall back in the full general direction of Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his regular army as the nigh important consideration, and hence conducted a very cautious entrada. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained.

Sherman began his Atlanta Entrada on May 4. Johnston'due south Regular army of Tennessee fought defensive battles against the Federals at the approaches to Dalton, which was evacuated on May thirteen, then retreated 12 miles southward to Resaca, and constructed defensive positions. Yet, later on a brief battle, Johnston again yielded to Sherman, and retreated from Resaca on May 15. Johnston assembled the Confederate forces for an attack at Cassville.^[30] As his troops avant-garde, an enemy strength of unknown strength appeared unexpectedly on his correct flank. A skirmish ensued, forcing the corps commander, Lt. Gen. John Bong Hood, to halt his advance and reposition his troops to face the threat. Faced with this unexpected threat, Johnston abandoned his attack and renewed his retreat. On May 20 they again retreated 8 miles further south to Cartersville. The month of May 1864 concluded with Sherman'southward forces attempting to move abroad from their railroad supply line with another turning movement, but became bogged down past the Confederates' tearing defenses at the Battle of New Hope Church on May 25, the Boxing of Pickett's Mill on May 27, and the Battle of Dallas on May 28.^[31]

In June Sherman's forces continued maneuvers effectually the northern approaches to Atlanta, and a battle ensued at Kolb'south Farm on June 22, followed past Sherman'southward offset (and only) effort at a massive frontal set on in the Boxing of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, which Johnston strongly repulsed. However, past this time Federal forces were within 17 miles of Atlanta, threatening the urban center from the west and due north. Johnston had yielded over 110 miles of mountainous, and thus more hands defensible, territory in merely two months, while the Amalgamated government became increasingly frustrated and alarmed. When Johnston retreated beyond the Chattahoochee River, the final major barrier before Atlanta, President Davis lost his patience.^[32]

In early July, Davis sent Gen. Braxton Bragg to Atlanta to appraise the state of affairs. After several meetings with local civilian leaders and Johnston's subordinates, Bragg returned to Richmond and urged President Davis to replace Johnston. Davis removed Johnston from command on July 17, 1864, just exterior Atlanta. "The fate of Atlanta, from the Confederate standpoint, was all merely decided by Johnston."^[33] His replacement, Lt. Gen. Hood, was left with the "virtually impossible situation" of defending Atlanta,^[34] which he was forced to abandon in September. Davis'southward decision to remove Johnston was one of the nigh controversial of the state of war.^[35]

N Carolina and surrender at Bennett Place [edit]

Johnston traveled to Columbia, S Carolina, to begin a virtual retirement. However, as the Confederacy became increasingly concerned about Sherman'southward March to the Sea beyond Georgia and so northward through the Carolinas, the public clamored for Johnston'due south return. The general in charge of the Western Theater, P.K.T. Beauregard, was making little progress against the advancing Union force. Political opponents of Jefferson Davis, such every bit Sen. Louis Wigfall, added to the pressure in Congress. Diarist Mary Chesnut wrote, "We idea this was a struggle for independence. Now it seems it is only a fight betwixt Joe Johnston and Jeff Davis." In January 1865, the Congress passed a law authorizing Robert E. Lee the powers of full general in primary, and recommending that Johnston exist reinstated equally the commander of the Army of Tennessee. Davis immediately appointed Lee to the position, but refused to restore Johnston. In a lengthy unpublished memo, Davis wrote, "My stance of Full general Johnston's unfitness for command has ripened slowly and against my inclinations into a conviction so settled that it would be impossible for me over again to feel confidence in him equally the commander of an army in the field."^[36] Vice President Alexander H. Stephens and 17 senators petitioned Lee to utilise his new authority to engage Johnston, bypassing Davis, but the general in main declined. Instead, he recommended the appointment to Davis.^[37]

Despite his serious misgivings, Davis restored Johnston to active duty on February 25, 1865. His new control comprised two military machine departments: the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and the Section of N Carolina and Southern Virginia; he causeless command of the latter section on March 6. These commands included 3 Confederate field armies, including the remnants of the once formidable Regular army of Tennessee, but they were armies in name only. The Tennessee army had been severely depleted at Franklin and Nashville, lacked sufficient supplies and ammunition, and the men had not been paid for months; simply about 6,600 traveled to Due south Carolina. Johnston also had available 12,000 men under William J. Hardee, who had been unsuccessfully attempting to resist Sherman'south advance, Braxton Bragg'southward force in Wilmington, N Carolina, and 6,000 cavalrymen under Wade Hampton.^[38]

Johnston, severely outnumbered, hoped to combine his force with a detachment of Robert E. Lee'due south ground forces from Virginia, jointly defeat Sherman, and then return to Virginia for an set on on Ulysses Due south. Grant. Lee initially refused to cooperate with this plan. (Following the fall of Richmond in April, Lee attempted to escape to North Carolina to bring together Johnston, but it was too late.) Recognizing that Sherman was moving speedily, Johnston and then planned to consolidate his ain small armies then that he could country a accident against an isolated portion of Sherman's ground forces, which was advancing in two separated columns. On March xix, 1865, Johnston was able to catch the left fly of Sherman'due south regular army past surprise at the Battle of Bentonville and briefly gained some tactical successes before superior numbers forced him to retreat to Raleigh, North Carolina. Unable to secure the capital, Johnston's army withdrew to Greensboro.^[39]

The surrender of Gen. Joe Johnston - Currier & Ives lithograph

After learning of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courtroom House on April 9, Johnston agreed to meet with Full general Sherman betwixt the lines at a small farm known every bit Bennett Identify near present-day Durham, North Carolina. After 3 split days (April 17, 18, and 26, 1865) of negotiations, Johnston surrendered the Regular army of Tennessee and all remaining Confederate forces all the same agile in North Carolina, Due south Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It was the largest surrender of the state of war, totaling 89,270 soldiers. President Davis considered that Johnston, surrendering so many troops that had not been explicitly defeated in battle, had committed an human action of treachery. Johnston was paroled on May 2 at Greensboro.^[40]

After the surrender, Sherman issued ten days' rations to the hungry Confederate soldiers, too every bit horses and mules for them to "insure a crop." He besides ordered distribution of corn meal and flour to civilians throughout the South. This was an deed of generosity that Johnston would never forget; he wrote to Sherman that his mental attitude "reconciles me to what I have previously regarded as the misfortune of my life, that of having you to encounter in the field."^[41]

Post-war years [edit]

Johnston began to make a living for himself and his wife, who was ailing. He became president of a small railroad, the Alabama and Tennessee River Runway Road Company, which during his tenure of May 1866 to Nov 1867, was renamed the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad. Johnston was bored with the position and the company failed for lack of capital. He established Joseph E. Johnston & Company, an insurance agency for New York Life Insurance Co. and a British insurance company, which Johnston operated out of Savannah (Ga.) from 1868-1877.^[42] The British company was Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, and inside four years had a network of more than than 120 agents across the deep South.^[43]

The income from this venture allowed him to devote time to his great post-war activity, writing his memoirs, equally did several fellow officers. His Narrative of Military Operations (1874) was highly critical of Davis and many of his fellow generals. He repeated his grievance about his ranking every bit a general in the Confederate Regular army and attempted to justify his career as a cautious campaigner. The book sold poorly and its publisher failed to make a profit.^[43]

Although many Amalgamated generals criticized Johnston, both Sherman and Grant portrayed him favorably in their memoirs. Sherman described him as a "dangerous and wily opponent" and criticized Johnston'southward nemeses, Hood and Davis. Grant supported his decisions in the Vicksburg Entrada: "Johnston evidently took in the situation, and wisely, I recollect, abstained from making an assault on usa because it would simply have inflicted losses on both sides without accomplishing any result." Commenting on the Atlanta Campaign, Grant wrote,

For my own role, I think that Johnston's tactics were right. Anything that could have prolonged the war a yr across the time that information technology finally did close, would probably have exhausted the Northward to such an extent that they might then have abandoned the contest and agreed to a settlement.^[44]

Johnston was a part possessor of the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf Canal Company, a canal project canonical in 1876. It was intended to construct a culvert westward from the St. Marys River in Georgia to connect with the Gulf of Mexico on the declension of Florida.^[45]

Johnston moved from Savannah to Richmond in the winter of 1876–77. He served in the 46th Congress from 1879 to 1881 as a Democratic congressman, having been elected with 58.11% of the vote over Greenback William W. Newman. He did non run for reelection in 1880. He was appointed as a commissioner of railroads in the administration of President Grover Cleveland. Later on his married woman died in 1887, Johnston oft traveled to veterans' gatherings, where he was universally cheered.^[46] In September 1890, a few months before he died, he was elected equally an honorary member of the Commune of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was assigned national membership number 1963.

Johnston, similar Lee, never forgot the magnanimity of the human to whom he surrendered. He would not let criticism of Sherman in his presence. Sherman and Johnston corresponded frequently, and they met for friendly dinners in Washington whenever Johnston traveled there. When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. During the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off equally a sign of respect, although the weather was cold and rainy. Someone concerned for his health asked him to put on his chapeau, to which Johnston replied, "If I were in his identify, and he were continuing hither in mine, he would not put on his chapeau." He did take hold of a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia and Johnston died 10 days later in Washington, D.C. He was buried side by side to his wife in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.^[47]

Legacy [edit]

Johnston's personal papers are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.^[48]

• 

  Joseph E. Johnston and Robert E. Lee in 1869–1870

• 

  Johnston statue in Dalton, Georgia, where he took control of the Regular army of Tennessee

Honors [edit]

• A public monument to Johnston was erected in Dalton, Georgia, in 1912.
• On March 20, 2010, a bronze statue of Johnston was dedicated at the site of the Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina.
• During Globe State of war II, the United States Navy named a Freedom Ship (#113) in accolade of Johnston.^[49]

See too [edit]

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Chisholm, p. 474
2. ^ Symonds, pp. 10–11, 28, 373; Longwood historical marking
3. ^ ^{a b} Eicher, pp. 322–323.
4. ^ Symonds, pp. 13, 3; Warner, p. 161; Eicher, p. 344.
5. ^ Symonds, pp. 40–43; Eicher, p. 322.
6. ^ Symonds, pp. half-dozen, 48–49, 52; McMurry, p. 193.
7. ^ Symonds, pp. 54–71; Woodworth, p. 174; Eicher, p. 322.
8. ^ "Joseph Eggleston Johnston", The Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
9. ^ Symonds, pp. 72–80.
10. ^ Symonds, pp. 81–86, 89–91.
11. ^ Symonds, pp. 45, 88–96; Eicher, p. 322.
12. ^ Johnston, Joseph E., p. 10; Narrative of War machine Operations, 1874.
13. ^ Eicher, p. 322; Symonds, pp. 97, 103; McMurry, p. 193.
14. ^ Symonds, pp. 112–24; McMurry, p, 193; Coski, p. ix.
15. ^ Symonds, p. 128.
16. ^ Eicher, p. 69; Symonds, pp. 123–30.
17. ^ Virginia Celebrated Landmarks Committee Staff (January 1981). "National Annals of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Conner House" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resource. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
18. ^ Symonds, pp. 140–46; Sears, pp. xv, 25.
19. ^ Sears, pp. 40–110; Symonds, pp. 153–59.
20. ^ Johnston, pp. 138-39.
21. ^ Sears, pp. 111–45; Eicher, p. 323; Symonds, pp. 160–74.
22. ^ Symonds, pp. 189–91; Ballard, pp. 115–16.
23. ^ Woodworth, pp. 196–99; Symonds, pp. 193–201.
24. ^ Woodworth, pp. 207–10; Ballard, pp. 273–81; Symonds, pp. 205–209.
25. ^ Woodworth, pp. 210–xviii; Symonds, pp. 209–18.
26. ^ Wasiak, Joseph East., Jr. "A Failure in Strategic Command: Jefferson Davis, J. East. Johnston and the Western Theater." US Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. 1998.
27. ^ Symonds, pp. 219–26.
28. ^ Chesnut, pp. 248–49.
29. ^ Woodworth, pp. 256–58; Eicher, p. 323.
30. ^ Weiss, Timothy F. (2007). "'I lead y'all to boxing': Joseph E. Johnston and the Controversy at Cassville". Georgia Historical Quarterly. 91 (4): 424–452. Retrieved Feb 15, 2018.
31. ^ Symonds, pp. 275–301; Castel, pp. 128–254.
32. ^ Symonds, pp. 302–nineteen; Castel, pp. 255–347.
33. ^ Steven Woodsworth, Ceremonious War Gazette interview, December 27, 2006.
34. ^ Castel, p. 562.
35. ^ Symonds, pp. 320–35; Castel, pp. 347–65; McMurry, p. 197.
36. ^ Jefferson Davis' letter of the alphabet to James Phelan, March one, 1865 with enclosure. OR 47, pt. two, 1303-1313.
37. ^ Symonds, pp. 339–42; Bradley, pp. 22–25, 45–46.
38. ^ Bradley, pp. 28, 45–46; Symonds, pp. 343–46; Eicher, p. 323.
39. ^ Symonds, pp. 346–52.
40. ^ Symonds, pp. 356–57; North Carolina Celebrated Sites: Bennett Place Archived January 29, 2015, at the Wayback Automobile; Eicher, p. 323.
41. ^ Inundation, p. 347.
42. ^ Georgia Historical Society, Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891, Georgiahistory.com
43. ^ ^{a b} Symonds, pp. 360–65.
44. ^ Symonds, p. 370.
45. ^ Oeffinger, John C. (2003). A Soldier's General: The Civil State of war Messages of Major General Lafayette McLaws. University of Due north Carolina Printing. p. 52. ISBN978-0807860472.
46. ^ Symonds, pp. 376–79; Vandiver, p. 219.
47. ^ Symonds, pp. 380–81; Flood, pp. 397–98.
48. ^ "Joseph Due east. Johnston Papers". Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William & Mary. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
49. ^ "Troopships of World State of war Ii: Liberty Ships". www.skylighters.org.

References [edit]

• Ballard, Michael B. Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi. Chapel Hill: Academy of North Carolina Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8078-2893-9.
• Bradley, Marking L. Last Stand up in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville. Campbell, CA: Savas Publishing Co., 1995. ISBN 978-one-882810-02-4.
• Castel, Albert E. Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864. Lawrence: University Printing of Kansas, 1992. ISBN 978-0-7006-0748-eight.
• Chesnut, Mary, Diary of Mary Chesnut. Fairfax, VA: D. Appleton and Company, 1905. OCLC 287696932.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Johnston, Joseph Eggleston". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge Academy Press. p. 474.
• Coski, John Chiliad. The Amalgamated Boxing Flag: America's Most Embattled Keepsake. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-674-01983-0.
• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil State of war High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Printing, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
• Overflowing, Charles Bracelen. Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Ceremonious State of war. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. ISBN 978-0-374-16600-vii.
• Georgia Historical Club, Johnston, Joseph Due east. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891, Georgiahistory.com.
• McMurry, Richard M. "Joseph Eggleston Johnston." In The Confederate General, vol. iii, edited past William C. Davis and Julie Hoffman. Harrisburg, PA: National Historical Society, 1991. ISBN 0-918678-65-X.
• Sears, Stephen W. To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign. New York: Ticknor and Fields, 1992. ISBN 978-0-89919-790-half-dozen.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
• Symonds, Craig L. Joseph E. Johnston: A Civil State of war Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. ISBN 978-0-393-31130-3.
• Vandiver, Frank Everson. "Joseph Eggleston Johnston." In Leaders of the American Civil War: A Biographical and Historiographical Dictionary, edited by Charles F. Ritter and Jon L. Wakelyn. Westport, CT: Greenwood Printing, 1998. ISBN 0-313-29560-3.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
• Wasiak, Joseph E., Jr. "A Failure in Strategic Command: Jefferson Davis, J. E. Johnston and the Western Theater." US Army War College, Carlisle Billet, Pennsylvania. 1998.
• Woodworth, Steven Due east. Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command in the Due west. Lawrence: University Printing of Kansas, 1990. ISBN 0-7006-0461-8.

Further reading [edit]

• Connelly, Thomas L. Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee 1862–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8071-2738-8.
• Downs, Alan. "'The Responsibility Is Great': Joseph E. Johnston and the War in Virginia." In Civil War Generals in Defeat, edited by Steven East. Woodworth. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999. ISBN 0-7006-0943-1.
• Govan, Gilbert E., and James W. Livingood. A Different Valor: The Story of General Joseph East. Johnston C.S.A.. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1956. ISBN 978-0-8371-7012-one.
• Hood, Stephen Grand. John Bell Hood: The Rise, Autumn, and Resurrection of a Confederate General. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2013. ISBN 978-1-61121-140-5.
• Hughes, Robert One thousand. General Johnston. Great Commanders. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1893. OCLC 869760.
• Johnson, Bradley T. A Memoir of the Life and Public Service of Joseph E. Johnston. Baltimore: Woodward, 1891. OCLC 25524368.
• Johnston, Joseph Eastward. Narrative of Armed forces Operations: Directed, During the Late War between the States. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1874. OCLC 444839.
• Newton, Steven H. Joseph Due east. Johnston and the Defense of Richmond. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. ISBN 978-0-7006-0921-five.

External links [edit]

• Lydia McLane Johnston, Wife Of Confederate General Joseph Due east. Johnston
• Finding assistance for the Joseph E. Johnston Papers
• Joseph E. Johnston in Encyclopedia Virginia
• CivilWarHome.com: Joseph Eggleston Johnston – a brief biography

• United States Congress. "Joseph E. Johnston (id: J000192)". Biographical Directory of the U.s.a. Congress.
• Rasmussen, Frederick N. "A much-respected, and conflicted, general of the Confederacy", The Baltimore Sun, Dominicus, July 31, 2011.
• Correspondences of Joseph East. Johnston during the American Civil War - held in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Johnston

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