Show ante ir th y AM e alny 4 4 r e R le A A va 1 mill i 6 1 4 mhz w 5 N 1 Y v v kidney johnsson John sion i by ELMO SCOTT WATSON t m i E 3 Is the annl anni IH of the birthday W of two american Bold soldiers lers IK whose careers afford ja some striking simi similar lart ties and some equally striking differences They H bore tile the same family name yet were not related they graduated from the same military school both achieved distinction as indian fighters both attained ranks in both the united states army and the confederate array army yet one rose tp to the heights as a military I 1 leader ant only to be e cheated of his reward by death while the other lived to see its ills fame as a soldier end 1 in something of an anticlimax anti antl climax the two were wera albert sidney johnston and joseph eggleston Eggle stoa johnston albert sidne sidney v johnston was born on february 3 1803 in washington washingto n ky alie son of a connecticut coun country t ry physician lind and was graduated from t lie united states military academy eighth in his class in 1820 lie ile was ass assigned lined to the second infantry and s served as chief of staff to gen henry atkinson in the black hawk war in 1832 resigning from the army in 1834 1934 he h e was a farmer for a short time near st louis then in 1830 join joined ed the texas patriots in iii their struggle for freedom although entering the texan army as a private he rapidly rose through all the grades to the command of the army and in president mirabeau Ml lamar of the lone lane star republic nf made ade him secretary of war the next year he led a campaign campal gh ag against ainest hostile lios indians and in two brilliant ba battles atles defeated them and drove them thein out of texas next we find him a planter in texas b but ut at the outry outbreak ak of the mexican lea war lie ile was in theofleld a again aln as colonel of the first texas rifles this regiment soon disbanded but johnston continued in the service and was inspector general of butlers division at the battle of monterey although gen zachary taylor called him the best soldier he ever commanded find and his superiors recommended him for an appointment ns as brigadier general lie be was passed over for political reasons and again retired to his farm there he lived in poverty andreg and neglect until president taylor in 1849 suddenly appointed jilin a paymaster in the united states army find and six years later president pierce appointed him colonel of a new regiment the second cavalry in 1857 lie he was placed in command of the expedition to restore order among the mormons cormons jn utah who were in open revolt against the government ern ment by a forced march of miles in 27 days he reached little army of 1100 men to find them thela lost amid tile the snow sno filled defiles of the Kock tes with the temperature at 16 below zero their supplies cut off by the hostile ostile li mormons cormons and their starving teams their only food by nn an extraordinary tra ordinary display ot of energy and wisdom johnston led the abuy safely into winter quarters and by using equally comm commendable diplomacy lie he put an end to the rebellion without a drop of blood being alicd for this exploit he was waa brevet ted brigadier general and a short lime later placed in command of the department of the pa loyal to the army and the nation the coming of the civil war brought the deepest distress io johnston hut when texas seceded he resigned ills his commission but lie he regarded his command as such a sacred trust that lie he concealed his resignation until he be could be rel relieved levet and went at once to richman aumond 1 I where in september he war waff placed in command of all the confederate forces in the west the fall of port fort henry and fort donelson to the union forces under foote and grant followed and the llew loader leader fell back to boro where he began reorganizing his troops then lie he moved to corinth miss the key of the defense of the railroad s system stera in the lower mississippi valley where by april 1 1862 1802 lie he had about men poorly armed and badly supplied grant commanding the kight wing of the union army was concentta con concentrating centra tit at pittsburg landing on the tennessee river with some men and buell was rapidly approaching pro aching mill more with a napoleonic flash of genius johnston decided to beat the enemy in detail and to attack grant before buell could arrive on april 3 lie it e started on ills his 25 mile march to pittsburgh landing but lie he was delayed by bad roads and did not arrive until the ath at a council of war general beauregard ills his second secand in command prot protested esteLl against an attack and advised a return to corinth johnston overruled him and on sunday morning april 6 lie he led his army to the attack it was a complete surprise surp ilse for grant 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 ant and was facing annihilation about in the afternoon johnston while leading a charge which crushed the left wing of grants forces fell with bt a mortal wound beauregard with enough daylight left to complete the victory vacillated and ordered the attack to cease that night buells brells army came up ant and the next day the confederates were driven from the field had tho the bullet which struck down kibert albert sidney johnston readied reached another target the history of the civil war might have been vastly different unlike albert sidney johnston who was a southerner of northern ancestry joseph eggleston johnston wits was a southerner of the southerners ile he was born in cherry G grove rote va on february 3 1807 the scion of a virginia family which had been in this country for nearly hearly 2 00 years lie he was graduated from west point in 1829 in the same class that gave robert I 1 E lee to the army and commissioned a second lieutenant in the fourth ar tillery with the exception of service 1 in the black bind hawk war in id 1832 most of hla his first six years in the army was spent in garrison duty at various posts along the atlantic seaboard but in he became aide de camp to gen winfield scott in the war with the seminole indians indiana in florida and won a brevet as captain for gallantry tn in action when troops under ills his co command fell into an ambuscade from which johnston extricated them skillfully on this oce occasion astori his uniform was perforated with no less than SO 30 buti bullets I 1 in 1612 43 lie was again in florida lori dr serving rig fig alast alil Semi seminoles noles in the war with mexico he was at the siege of vera cruz and in the battles ot of cerro gordo contreras del rey iley chapultepec and the attack orl on tile city of mexico he was vas severely wounded at cerro ce aro gordo and again at chapultepee where lie he was the first to plant regimental colors on the ramparts of the fortress for ills gallantry at cerro cerra gordo he was John stort 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 aln finally ally to his commission of quartermaster general of the lie united states army johnston resigned from the army whan ft hen virginia seceded was commissioned a major general of volunteers by virginia and with hobert robert B I 1 leo lee organized the soldiers who poured into richmond to defend the capital of the state next lie he was appointed commander of the army of the shen andody and led it to the lie aid of general eral beauregard Beaure gara when mcdowell attacker on july 21 1801 at manassas Jo huston outranked out ranked Deau beauregard regard and took command so that lie is credited with the victory at bull run the next month lie he was appointed one of the five full generals authorized by the confederate congress among them albert sidney johnston hut but was placed fourth on the list johnston protested against this since he felt that his high rank in the united states army when he resigned should have placed illin 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 to outlast the confederacy and have a paralyzing influence upon its career after the battle of seven pines in 1802 at which johnston was seriously wounded dais replaced him film in command of the confederate forces ilithe in the east with gen robert kobert B E lee and the eclipse of joseph E U johnston as an outstanding military leader began the next year ear he be was sent to tako take command of the department a of f tho tha west johnston was one of the thre or four best sold soldiers lers in n the south writes wiltes tate but lie he tended to avoid assuming responsibility lie was touchy and quarrelsome and his ln instinctive dislike of offensive of warfare had inconsistently enough undermined the presidents confidence in him since lils his retreat up the peninsula before mcclellan in the he spring in the end davis lack of confidence may have been sheer dislike Jo johnston linston had not handled him in his rancorous letters with kid gloves so when johnston went vest est his instructions were a little vague both davis and johnston have their ardent partisans in the historic dispute between the two and it seems seem impossible to arrive ait at any conclusion as to who was most to blame but the net result was disaster in the west whick which further weakened the lost cause and contributed its share to the downfall of the confederacy it fell to his lot to play it a leading role in the last military scene of the great tragedy which befell the american people between 1801 and 1865 just as he had been in command at the first major engagement of the war so was he in command when tile the last important armed forces of the confederacy lall down their arms on april 20 johnston surrendered his army to general sherman on the same terms under which lee had surrendered to grant after the war johnston was president of a railroad in arkansas president of an express company of virginia end and agent for various insurance companies in 1877 he was elected te tc con congress ress from virginia and ten years later lie he was appointed united states co commissioner in m Iss loner of railroads hy by dent cleveland ile he died in 1891 S Z by western newspaper union |