Show 45 ir taa emu aks M ML ap 1 ya 4 imam t MAN J 2 nia V Z A A asife aSS fe on by ELMO SCOTT WA WATSON warson 3 Is the aunt annl of the birthday ot two american soldiers whose careers afford some striking similarities and come equally ta striking differences They bore ore the he same toy rai name yet were oot not re feal they were graduated from the same military school both achieved distinction as indian fighters liters both attained high ranks in 14 both the united states army and the confederate army yet one rose to the heights as a military ry leader only to be cheated of ills his reward by death while the other lived to see ills his fame as a soldier end in something jot an antl anti clomax the two tivo were albert sidney johnston and joseph eggleston johnston John albert sidney johnston was born on february 3 1803 in washington ky ICY the son of a connecticut country physician and was graduated from tle the united states military tary academy ademy nc eighth elgh th ii in his class in 1820 1826 ile he was assigned to the second infantry and served as chief of stare staff to gen henry atkinson in the black hawk war in 1832 resigning from the army in 1834 ii he e was a farmer for a short time near st louis then in 1830 joined the texas patriots in their struggle for freedom although entering the texan army as a private he rapidly rose through oil all the grades to the command of the army and in 1838 president Ml lamar of the lone star republic made him secretary of war the next year lie led a campaign against hostile indians and in two brilliant battles defeated feared them and drove them out of texas next we find him a planter in texas but at tile the outbreak of the mexican war I 1 he e was in the field again as colonel of the F first texas this regiment soon disbanded but johnston t on continued in the service and was inspector general of butlers Olvi division slon at the battle of monterey although gen zachary taylor called him the best soldier he ever commanded and his superiors super lors recommended him for an appointment as brigadier general he was passed over for political poll reasons reasons and and again retired to his farm there he lived in poverty and neglect pr president taylor in 1849 suddenly appointed jilin him a paymaster faster in the united states army and six years later president pierce appointed him colonel ot of a new regiment the second cavalry in 1857 he be was placed in command of the expedition to restore or ader among the cormons mormons in utah who were irk in open revolt against the government by a forced march 0 ot miles lin in 27 days lie he re reached 1 ached tits little army erf of 1100 1300 men to find them thern lost amid the snow filled defiles of the beckles Bo ckles with tile the temperature at 10 16 below zero their supplies cut oft off by the hostile mormons cormons and their stan ing teams their only food by an extraordinary ax tra display of energy and wisdom johnston leathe army safely into winter quarters and anday by using equally commendable diplomacy he put an end to the rebellion without a drop of bf blood being shed dorthis for this exploit he was breet brevet ted brigadier general and a short time later inter placed in iff command of the department of the t loyal to the array army and the nation the coming coining of tile the civil war lor brought lugt the deepest distress to johnston but when texas ise ceded he resigned ills his commission but lie he regarded reg aided his command as such a sacred trust that be conceited concealed ills his resignation until he be could be relieved and add went at lonce to where in september 1861 he ha was placed in command of all the confederate forces in the west the fall of fort henry and fort donelson to the union forces under foote and grant followed and the new leader fell back to Blur murtress frees boro where he began reorganizing his troops then lie ho moved to corinth miss bliss the ley key of the defense of the railroad system in the lower mississippi valley where by april 1 1862 he had about men poorly armed and badly supplied grant commanding the right y I 1 indof ing of the union army wa was XO concentrating alj at pittsburg landing on tiie the tennessee tennesee ri river ver some men and buell was rapidly approaching pro aching with ft ath more with a napoleonic ic flash of genius johnston decided to beat the enemy in detail and to attack grant before buell could arrive on april 3 lie started on his 25 mile march to pittsburgh landing but he was delayed by bad roads and did not arriver arrive until the ath at a council of war general beauregard his second in command protested against an an attack and advised a return to corinth johnston 0 overruled him and on sunday morning april 6 he led his army to the attack it was a complete surprise Bui prise for giant was not even on the field the struggle lasted all day and was proceeding successfully just as johnston had planned the union army was being crowded into an angle between snake creek and the tenessee river and was facing annihilation about 30 in the afternoon johnston while leading a charge which crushed the left wing of grants forces tell fell with a mortal wound beauregard with enough daylight left to com complete the victory vacillated and ordered the attack to cease that night buells brells army came up and the next day the confederates wore were driven from the field had the bullet which struck down albert sidney johnston reached another target the history of the civil war might have been vastly different unlike albert sidney johnston who in was s a southerner of northern ancestry joseph eggleston johnston Toh was a southerner of the southerners ile he was born in cherry grove va on february 8 1807 th the esclon scion of a vir ginta family which had been in this country for nearly years ile he was graduated from wasi wes point lal in the same class that gave robert E leeto lee to the array army and commissioned a second lieutenant in the alie fourth artillery with the exception of service in the dlack black hawk war in 1832 most of ahls first six years in the at army my was spend in garrison duty atvars ills bosti posts along the atlantic seaboard but in IM 1830 lie he became aide de camp to gen winfield scott in the war with the seminole india indians ns in florida and won a blev brevet et as e captain for gallantry in aci action tion when troops under tits his command tell fell into an ambuscade from which johnston extricated them skillfully on tills this occasion his uniform was wag perforated with no less than SO 30 bullets I 1 in 1642 43 lie he was again in florida serving against the seminoles Senal Semi nolea noles in thel the war with mexico he was at the siege of vera cruz and in the battles of cerro gordo contreras del iley II 11 ey chapultepec and the attack on the city of 0 mexico he was rev severely arely wounded at cerro gordo and again at chapultepec where lie he was tile the fir firrito sito plant regimental colors on the ramparts of the fo fortress itress for ills his gallantry at cerro gordo be was brevet ted lieutenant colonel and colonel and during the next fifteen years performed various duties in the west including that of acting inspector general for the utah expedition commanded by the other johnston albert sidney which led finally to his commission of quartermaster general of the united states army johnston resigned from the army when virginia seceded was commissioned a major general of volunteers by virginia and an with robert B E lee I 1 organized tile the soldiers who poured into richmond to defend the capital of the state next lie he was appointed commander of the army of the shenandoah and led it to the aid of general beauregard when Al cDowell attacked on july 21 1801 at manassas Jb linston outranked out ranked beauregard and took look command so that lie he Is credited with the victory at bull run the next month he was waa appointed one of the five full generals authorized authorize d by the confederate congress among them albert sidney johnston but was placed fourth on the list johnston protested against this since he felt that his high rank in the united states army when lie he resigned should have placed him first on the list and in this he was justified by a previous congressional act tills this protest is said to have been the beginning and cause of the hostility towards him shown by president jefferson davis throughout the war the quarrel between the two men according to allen alien tate in his recent biography of davis was wag to outlast the confederacy and have a paralyzing influence upon its career after the battle of seven pines in at which johnston was seriously wounded davis replaced him in co corn M mand of the confederate for forces cesIn in the east alth gen robert E lee and the eclipse of joseph U B johnston as ai an outstanding military leader began the next nest yeat year he was sent to take command d of the department of tho west johnston was one of the three or four best soldiers in the south writes tate cut but lie he tended to avoid assuming responsibility h lie e was touchy and quarrelsome and his instinctive dislike of offensive warfare had inconsistently enough undermined the presidents confidence in him since his retreat up the peninsula before mcclellan in the spring in the end davis lack of confidence may have been sheer dislike johnston had not handled him in lils his rancorous letters with kid gloves globes so when johnston went west his instructions were a little vague both davis and johnston have hake their ardent partisans in the historic dispute between the two and it seems impossible to arrive at any conclusion as to who was most to blame but the net result was disaster in the west which further weakened the lost cause and contributed its share bare to the downfall downia 11 of the confederacy it fell to lit his s lot to play a leading role in the last military scene of the great tragedy which befell the Arrie american rican people between 1801 1861 and just as he had been in command at the tid first major engagement of the war so was he in command when the last important armed forces of the confederacy laid down their arms on april 28 26 1805 1865 johnston surrendered his army ta to general sherman on the same terms under which lee had surrendered to grant after the war johnston yas was dent of a railroad in arkansas president I of an express company of virginia and agent for various insurance companies in 1877 he was elected to tc congress from virginia vi rg enla find and ten years sears later he was appointed united states commissioner of railroads by 11 president cleveland ue he died in 1891 0 o by western Nw paper union union |