graphical Engineers. Johnston rose to captain
in 1846, and the following year he accompa-
nied Gen. Winfield Scott’s army on its ap-
proach to Mexico City during the Mexican-
American War. He distinguished himself in
battle, being wounded twice at Cerro Gordo
and three times at Chapultepec.
Johnston ended the war a brevet major and
subsequently served as chief of topographical
engineers in Texas. He next rose to lieutenant
colonel of the First U.S. Cavalry in 1855, and
he accompanied Albert S. Johnston during the
Mormon Expedition of 1857–1858. By June
1860, Johnston had gained an appointment as
quartermaster general of the army with a rank
of brigadier general. However, he functioned
in that role for less than a year before resign-
ing to fight for the Confederacy in April 1861.
That May Johnston was made brigadier gen-
eral and commander of the Army of the
Shenandoah. In July 1861, he skillfully em-
ployed the cavalry of Jeb Stuartto evade su-
perior Union forces and hastily reinforced Gen.
Pierre G.T. Beauregard by rail in time for the
Battle of Bull Run. Johnston fought well at this
important victory and gained promotion to full
general, although his quarrelsome nature and
insistence on greater rank alienated Davis. The
president’s antipathy for the general manifested
itself during the initial phases of the 1862 Penin-
sula campaign when Johnston slowly gave
ground before the superior numbers of Union
Gen. George B. McClellan. Regarding Rich-
mond as threatened, Davis and others clam-
ored for him to stand fast. When McClellan di-
vided his army into two forces, the Confederate
soldiers turned and pounced at Fair Oaks
(Seven Pines) in May 1862, defeating him. John-
ston, unfortunately, was severely wounded. As
fate would have it, his replacement, Gen.
Robert E. Lee, would command the Army of
Northern Virginia for the rest of the war. John-
ston, a talented and senior military figure, re-
mained unemployed for several months.
Eventually, Davis assigned Johnston to
head up the Department of the West with the
armies of Braxton Bragg, John C. Pember-
ton, and Edmund Kirby-Smith in May 1863. At
that time, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had com-
menced operations against strategic Vicks-
burg on the Mississippi River. Unable to rein-
force the city in time, Johnston directed
Pemberton to withdraw before he was
trapped, but Davis countermanded the order.
On May, 14, 1863, Gen. William Tecumseh
Sherman drove Johnston away from his base
at Jackson, Mississippi, and, Vicksburg, left
unsupported, surrendered two months later.
Davis personally blamed Johnston for the de-
bacle and restricted him to minor duties until
the next crisis arrived. In December 1863,
Grant and Sherman smashed the Army of Ten-
nessee at Chattanooga, which resulted in
Bragg’s resignation. With some reluctance,
Davis appointed Johnston to succeed him.
Throughout the spring of 1864, Johnston
entrenched himself at Dalton, Georgia, with
62,000 men. In May Sherman advanced on
him with 100,000 soldiers and expertly ma-
neuvered the defenders out of their positions.
The Confederate general nevertheless fell
back slowly and in good order toward At-
lanta. Johnston’s defensive skills exasperated
Sherman, who was goaded into attacking at
Kennesaw Mountain in June 1864 and badly
repulsed. Unfortunately, Johnston’s Fabian
tactics angered Davis, who accused him of
failing to halt the enemy, and in July 1864 he
was relieved of his command. John Bell
Hood, who succeeded him and may have
played a role in his dismissal, promptly coun-
terattacked across the line and decimated the
Army of Tennessee. Atlanta ultimately fell to
Union forces that September.
Johnston, marooned again without a com-
mand, remained idle until February 1865,
when Lee reinstated him as commander of
the greatly reduced Army of Tennessee. His
mission was to prevent Sherman from attack-
ing the Army of Northern Virginia from the
rear, and Johnston, outnumbered four-to-one,
resorted to his usual defensive tactics. He
fought and lost a final engagement to Sher-
man at Bentonville, North Carolina, in March
1865 and finally surrendered to him at
Durham Station on April 26.JOHNSTON, JOSEPHE.