Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 20.djvu/106

 100 Southern Historical Society Papers.

cavalry on the same day, viz., March 3, 1855. Johnston was pro- moted to be brigadier and quartermaster-general, June 28, 1860. Lee was still really only lieutenant-colonel when he resigned, though it is true he had been nominated as colonel about a month previously, but the Senate had not yet confirmed him. During the Mexican war, in which both were distinguished, Johnston was a lieutenant- colonel of volunteers, two grades above Lee, who was then but a captain of engineers.

There was more tenable ground for assuming that A. S. Johnston ranked J. E. Johnston. He was acting brigadier-general by brevet, dated November 18, 1857, in command of a department, and had been made a full colonel March 3, 1855, the same day the other two were commissioned lieutenant-colonels. But the Confederate statute did not draw any line between the staff and other officers of the old army who might resign and seek service with them. It was purely arbitrary on Davis' part to so construe the law and then act upon the assumption that Cooper, A. S. Johnston and Lee ranked J. E. Johnston.

The candid inquirer of to-day will observe that the Confederate President was disingenuous in this matter. If merit based on ser- vices had been considered in the appointments J. E. Johnston must inevitably have headed the list, for his ability and energy had largely contributed to win the first battle at a date when Lee was hardly known outside of Richmond and before the other Johnston had entered upon active service. There are grounds for the supposition that Davis withheld action purposely until the arrival of A. S. John- ston from California, whom he intended to be a beneficiary. Cooper was an old-time Washington favorite and crony, and it is well known the president was infatuated with Sidney Johnston. Undoubtedly both these appointments, however excellent, were dictated by an obstinate personal favoritism.

Lee's subsequent career in a sense certainly vindicated the Presi- dent's action in selecting him to rank Johnston, but this cannot be said of Albert Sidney Johnston. As commander in the West he signally failed to comprehend the natural lines of Federal advance into the interior and his dispositions to meet the central attack were painfully feeble. Grant, with a small force, was permitted to leisurely advance and capture the isolated post of Donelson and thereby, without further effort, drive him out of Kentucky three hundred miles south into Mississippi. A bold, energetic concentration at the