Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/160

 160 Southern Historical Society Papers.

and unessential to bring about the substantial and necessary condi- tions of decisive military success. He withdrew his army skilfully from a faulty position to bring McClellan to battle at a distance from his base, where, after the concentration of all our resources, a Confed- erate victory might determine the issue of the campaign.

In the act to win the rich prize of his strategy he was stricken down at the head of his columns at Seven Pines by two severe wounds always, like Hannibal, the first to go into battle and the last to come out.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SHERMAN.

But his campaign against Sherman will furnish the imperishable justification of his fame. The most brilliant military critic of our time, the English officer, Chesney, has declared that it places him by the side of Turenne in the roll of the world's great generals. Those who followed Robert Lee in what was perhaps the grandest of his campaigns, the campaign of 1864, will understand the greatness of Johnston's leadership when they consider how nearly Lee's campaign resembled in method and results Johnston's fighting march from Dalton to Atlanta. But there was this striking difference. When Lee reached Richmond and Petersburg, his adversary gained posses- sion of a better base and a shorter line of communications than he ever before possessed. When Johnston reached Atlanta his army was in as high a state of vigor, cohesion, and military devotion as Lee's, and Sherman was dragging a lengthening chain of weak and attenuated communications. The opportunity long sought and pre- pared for a decisive stroke was snatched from Johnston's hand, as many think, by the Executive mandate, which deprived the Army of Tennessee of its beloved and trusted chief. The absolute devotion of that army to him established his possession of one of the prime characteristics of a general the power to arouse enthusiasm in his followers. But he had done enough for enduring fame. The verdict of the skilful and vigorous soldiers who led the Federal army, includ- ing their brilliant chief, Sherman, declaring Johnston to have been a great and daring commander, is one of the most striking tributes to military merit know to the annals of the war. The men who felt his blows admired him most.

RECALLED TO HIS SHATTERED COMMAND.

One crowning testimony to his worth was reserved to heal the hero's wounded pride. At the darkest hour of the war Robert E.