Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/495

Rh 1852-'3, was in charge of western river improve- ments in 1853-'5, and was acting inspector-general on the Utah expedition of 1858. On 28 June, 1860, he was commissioned quartermaster-general of the U. S. army, which post he resigned on 22 April, 1861. to enter the Confederate service.

He was commissioned major-general of volun- teers in the Army of Virginia, and with Gen. Robert E. Lee organized the volunteers of that state, who were pouring into Richmond. On being summoned to Montgomery, the capital of the Con- federate states, he was appointed one of the four brigadier-generals then commissioned, and was assigned to the command of Harper's Ferry. Gen. Robert Patterson, at the head of a National force, was then approaching from the north of the Po- tomac, and Gen. Johnston withdrew from the cul- de-sac at Harper's Ferry and took position at Winchester with his army, which was called the Army of the Shenandoah. When Gen. Beaure- gard was attacked at Manassas by the National army under Gen. McDowell, 18 July, 1861, John- ston, covering his movement with Stuart's cavalry, left Patterson in the valley and rapidly marched to the assistance of Beauregard. On reaching the field he left Beauregard, whom he ranked, in tac- tical command of the field, and assumed re- sponsibilitv and charge of the battle then about to be fought. (See Beauregard.) Gen. Johnston remained in command of the consolidated forces until the spring of 1862, when, finding McClellan about to advance, he withdrew to the Rappahan- nock, whence he moved to meet McClellan. He was wounded at Seven Pines, 31 May, 1862, and incapacitated for duty until the following autumn. On 16 May, 1861, the brigadier-generals Johnston, Cooper, and Lee were created generals by act of the Confederate congress in the order named. On 31 Aug., 1861, Johnston was appointed one of the five full generals authorized by this act, who were commissioned in the following order : Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and G. T. Beauregard. This assignment of rank was directly contrary to the act of the Confederate congress, which re- quired that when officers resigned from the 17. S. army the rank of such officers, when commissioned in the army of the Confederate states, should be determined by their former commissions in the U. S. army. The order of rank thus established by law was Joseph E. Johnston, brigadier-general : Samuel Cooper, colonel ; Albert S. Johnston, colonel ; Rob- ert E. Lee, lieutenant-colonel ; Pierre G. T. Beau- regard, captain. Gen. Johnston protested against this illegal action, and his protest is believed to have been the beginning and cause of Mr. Davis's hostility, which was exhibited throughout the war. When Gen. Johnston was ordered to the peninsula to oppose McClellan, he asked to be re-enforced with the troops from the sea-coast, to enable him to crush McClellan ; but this was not done. On 24 March, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the southwest, including the troops of Gens. Bragg, Kirby Smith, and Pemberton. He at once ad- dressed a letter to the secretary of war, Mr. Ran- dolph, and urged that Gen. Holmes's army, 55.000 strong, then at Little Rock, should be ordered to him, to enable him to defeat Grant. Sec. Ran- dolph had actually issued such an order before Johnston's communication was received, but Mr. Davis countermanded it. and Randolph resigned. In May, 1863, Gen. Grant crossed the Mississippi to attack Vicksburg in the rear, and Gen. Johnston was ordered to take command of all the Confeder- ate forces in Mississippi. Going there at once, he endeavored to withdraw Pemberton from Vicks- burg and re-enforce him from Bragg's army, but failed by reason of Pemberton's disobedience of or- ders, and Vicksburg was taken by Grant. On 18 Dec, 1863, he was transferred to the command of the Army of Tennessee, with headquarters at Dal- ton, Ga. During the winter of 1863-'4 he was oc- cupied in restoring and reorganizing this force, which had been broken by the defeat of Mission- ary Ridge. By May, 1864, he had collected 43,000 men of all arms (exclusive of officers, musicians, teamsters, etc.), and a week later he was re-en- forced by Gen. Polk's corps. (For an account of the campaign that followed. Johnston's army slowly retreating toward Atlanta, followed closely by Sherman's, see Sherman, William Tecumseh.) On 17 July, 1864, the Richmond authorities, dis- satisfied with Johnston's movements, relieved him of the command, and directed him to turn it over to Gen. John B. Hood.

On 23 Feb., 1865, Gen. Johnston was ordered by Gen. Lee, then commander-in-chief of all the ar- mies of the Confederate states, to assume com- mand of the Army of Tennessee, and all troops in South Carolina. Georgia, and Florida. " to concen- trate all available forces and drive back Sherman." The available forces were 5.000 men of the Army of Tennessee, near Charlotte, N. C, and 11,000 scattered from Charleston through South Carolina. Sherman had 60,000 men. An inspection of the railroad depots in North Carolina showed that there were then collected in them four and one half months' provisions for 60,000 men ; but these Johnston was ordered not to touch, as they were for the use of Lee's army, so that the difficulty of collecting provisions was added to the other diffi- culties of his position. Gen. Johnston urged Gen. Lee to withdraw from Richmond, unite with him, and beat Sherman before Grant could join him; but Lee replied that it was impossible for him to leave Virginia. Collecting such troops as could be got together, Johnston threw himself before Sherman, and on 19-21 March attacked the head of his column at Bentonville, south of Goldsboro, and captured four pieces of artillery and 900 prisoners. Then Johnston retired before Sherman to Raleigh, and thence toward Greensboro. In the mean time Richmond had been evacuated, and on 9 April, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant. Johnston thereupon assumed the responsibility of advising Mr. Davis, whom he found at Greensboro, that, the war having been decided against them, it was their duty to end it, arguing that further continuation of war would be murder. Mr. Davis agreed that he should make terms with Sherman, and, on 18 April, 1865, Johnston and Sherman entered into a military convention, by which it was stipulated that the Confederate armies should be disbanded and conducted to their state capitals, to deposit their arms and public property in the state arsenals; the soldiers to execute an agreement to abstain from acts of war, and to abide the action of the state and National authorities ; that the several state governments should be recognized by the executive of the United States upon their officers and legislatures taking the oath prescribed by the constitution of the United States ; the people and inhabitants of the states to be guaranteed all their rights under the Federal and state constitutions; general amnesty for all acts in the late war ; war to cease and peace to be restored. This agreement was rejected by the National government, and, on 26 April, Gens. Johnston and Sherman signed another, surrendering the Confederate army on