{{Infobox Military Person
|name= Albert Sidney Johnston
|lived= [[February 2]], [[1803]] – [[April 6]], [[1862]]
|image= [[Image:ASJohnston.jpg|150px]]
|caption=
|nickname=
|placeofbirth= [[Washington, Kentucky]]
|placeofdeath= [[Hardin County, Tennessee]]
|allegiance= [[United States]],<br>[[Republic of Texas]],<br>[[Confederate States of America]]
|branch=
|serviceyears= 1826–34, 1846–61 (U.S.A), 1836–40 (Texas), 1861–62 (C.S.A)
|rank= [[Brigadier General#United States | ]] (U.S.A.), Brigadier General (Texas), [[General (United States) | General]] (C.S.A)
|unit=
|commands=
|battles= [[Black Hawk War]]
[[Texas Revolution]]<br/>[[Mexican-American War]]
* [[Battle of Monterrey]]
* [[Battle of Buena Vista]]
[[Utah War]]<br/>[[American Civil War]]
* [[Battle of Shiloh]]
|awards=
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Albert Sidney Johnston''' ([[February 2]], [[1803]] – [[April 6]], [[1862]]) was a career [[U.S. Army]] officer and a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[general]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Considered by [[President of the Confederate States|Confederate President]] [[Jefferson Davis]] to be the finest general in the Confederacy, he was killed early in the war at the [[Battle of Shiloh]] and was the highest ranking officer, Union or Confederate, killed during the conflict.<ref name=Eicher>Eicher, p. 322.</ref>
==Early life==
Johnston was born in [[Washington, Kentucky|Washington]], [[Kentucky]], the youngest son of Dr. John and Abigail Harris Johnston. His father was a native of [[Salisbury, Connecticut]]. Although Albert Johnston was born in Kentucky, he lived much of his life in [[Texas]], which he considered his home. He was first educated at [[Transylvania University]] in [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], where he met fellow student Jefferson Davis. Both were appointed to the [[United States Military Academy]], Jefferson two years behind Johnston.<ref name=Woodworth46>Woodworth, p. 46.</ref> In 1826 Johnston graduated eighth in his class from West Point with a commission as a [[brevet (military) | brevet]] [[second lieutenant]] in the 2nd U.S. [[Infantry]].<ref name=Eicher/> He was assigned to posts in [[New York]] and [[Missouri]] and served in the [[Black Hawk War]] in 1832 as chief of staff to General [[Henry Atkinson]]. In 1829 he married Henrietta Preston. He resigned his commission in 1834 to return to Kentucky to care for his dying wife, who succumbed two years later to [[tuberculosis]].<ref name=Woodworth46/> They had one son, Col. [[William Preston Johnston]], who would also serve in the Confederate Army.<ref>[http://www.csawardept.com/history/Cabinet/WPJohnston/index.html W.P. Johnston biography.]</ref>
==Texas Army==
In April 1834, Johnston took up farming in [[Texas]], but enlisted as a [[Private (rank)|private]] in the Texas Army during the [[Texas War of Independence]] against the Republic of [[Mexico]] in 1836. One month later, Johnston was promoted to [[major]] and the position of [[aide-de-camp]] to General [[Sam Houston]]. He was named [[Adjutant General]] as a [[colonel]] in the [[Republic of Texas]] Army on [[August 5]], [[1836]]. On [[January 31]], [[1837]], he became senior brigadier general in command of the Texas Army.
On [[February 7]], [[1837]], he fought in a [[duel]] with Texas Brig. Gen. [[Felix Huston]], challenging each other for the command of the Texas Army; Johnston refused to fire on Huston and lost the position after he was wounded in the pelvis. The second president of the [[Republic of Texas]], [[Mirabeau B. Lamar]], appointed him Secretary of War on [[December 22]], [[1838]]. Johnston was to provide the defense of the Texas border against Mexican invasion, and in 1839 conducted a campaign against [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] in northern Texas. In February 1840, he resigned and returned to Kentucky, where he married Eliza Griffin in 1843. They settled on a large [[plantation]] he named China Grove in [[Brazoria County, Texas]].
==U.S. Army==
Johnston returned to the Texas Army during the [[Mexican-American War]] under General [[Zachary Taylor]] as a [[colonel]] of the 1st Texas Rifle Volunteers. The enlistments of his volunteers ran out just before the [[Battle of Monterrey]]. Johnston managed to convince a few volunteers to stay and fight as he himself served as the inspector general of volunteers and fought at the battles of Monterrey and [[Battle of Buena Vista|Buena Vista]]. Johnston remained on his plantation after the war until he was appointed by now-[[President of the United States|President]] Taylor to the U.S. Army as a [[major]] and was made a [[U.S. Army Paymaster|paymaster]] in December of 1849. He served in that role for more than five years, making six tours, and traveling more than 4,000 miles annually on the Indian frontier of Texas. He served on the Texas frontier and elsewhere in the West. In 1855 President [[Franklin Pierce]] appointed him colonel of the new 2nd U.S. Cavalry (the unit that preceded the modern [[5th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|5th U.S.]]), a new regiment, which he organized. As a key figure in the [[Utah War]], he led U.S. troops who established a non-Mormon government in the formerly [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormon]] territory. He received a [[brevet (military)|brevet]] promotion to [[brigadier general]] in 1857 for his service in Utah. He spent 1860 in Kentucky until [[December 21]], when he sailed for California to take command of the Department of the Pacific.
==Civil War==
At the outbreak of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Johnston was the commander of the U.S. Army [[Department of the Pacific]] in [[California and the Civil War|California]]. He was approached by some Californians who urged him to take his forces east to join the [[Union Army|Union]] against the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. He resigned his commission, [[April 9]], [[1861]], as soon as he heard of the [[secession]] of Texas. He remained in California until June. After a rapid march through the deserts of Arizona and Texas, he reached [[Richmond, Virginia]], on or about [[September 1]], [[1861]]. There Johnston was appointed a general by his friend, Jefferson Davis. On [[May 30]], [[1861]], Johnston became the second highest ranking Confederate General (after the little-known [[Samuel Cooper (general)|Samuel Cooper]]) as commander of the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Department]]. He raised the [[Army of Mississippi]] to defend Confederate lines from the [[Mississippi River]] to [[Kentucky]] and the [[Allegheny Mountains]].
Although the [[Confederate States Army]] won a morale-boosting victory at [[First Battle of Bull Run]] in the East in 1861, matters in the West turned ugly by early 1862. Johnston's subordinate generals lost [[Battle of Fort Henry|Fort Henry]] on [[February 6]], [[1862]], and [[Battle of Fort Donelson|Fort Donelson]] on [[February 16]], [[1862]], to Union [[Brigadier General#United States|Brig. Gen.]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. Johnston has been faulted for poor judgment in selecting Brig. Gens. [[Lloyd Tilghman|Tilghman]] and [[John B. Floyd|Floyd]] for those crucial positions and for not supervising adequate construction of the forts. And Union [[Major General#United States | Maj. Gen.]] [[Don Carlos Buell]] captured the vital city of [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. Gen. [[P.G.T. Beauregard]] was sent west to join Johnston and they organized their forces at [[Corinth, Mississippi]], planning to ambush Grant's forces at [[Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee]].
===Shiloh===
[[Image:Johnston_Shiloh_Monument.jpg|thumb|right|Monument to Johnston at the [[Shiloh National Military Park]].]]
Johnston concentrated many of his forces from around the theater and launched a massive surprise attack against Grant at the [[Battle of Shiloh]] on [[April 6]], [[1862]]. As the Confederate forces overran the Union camps, Johnston seemed to be everywhere, personally leading and rallying troops up and down the line. At about 2:30 p.m., while leading one of those charges, he was wounded, taking a bullet behind his right knee. He did not think the wound serious at the time, and sent his personal physician to attend to some wounded Union soldiers instead. The bullet had in fact clipped his [[popliteal artery]] and his boot was filling up with blood. Within a few minutes Johnston was observed by his staff to be nearly fainting off of his horse, and asked him if he was wounded, to which he replied "Yes, and I fear seriously." It is possible that Johnston's duel in 1837 had caused nerve damage or numbness to that leg and that he did not feel the wound to his leg as a result. Johnston was taken to a small ravine, where he bled to death in minutes.
It is probable that a Confederate soldier fired the fatal round. No Union soldiers were observed to have ever gotten behind Johnston during the fatal charge, while it is known that many Confederates were firing at the Union lines while Johnston charged well in advance of his soldiers. He was the highest-ranking casualty of the war and his death was a strong blow to the morale of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis considered him the best general in the country; this was two months before the emergence of [[Robert E. Lee]] as the pre-eminent general of the Confederacy.
==Epitaph==
[[Image:Albert Sidney Johnston Tomb.jpg|thumb|right|Johnston's tomb in the [[Texas State Cemetery]].]]
The date of Johnston's death, Sunday, [[April 6]], [[1862]], was coincidentally the 32nd anniversary of the founding of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (The Mormons), against whom he led United States forces in 1856 during the [[Utah War]], in which cause the Mormons were deemed by the [[James Buchanan|Buchanan]] Administration to be in rebellion against the United States. At his death, it was Johnston who was similarly deemed to be in rebellion against the United States as a commanding officer in the Confederate Army, this time by the Lincoln Administration.
Johnston was buried in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]. In 1866, a joint resolution of the [[Texas Legislature]] was passed to have his body reinterred to the [[Texas State Cemetery]] in [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] The re-interment occurred in 1867. Forty years later, the state appointed [[Elisabet Ney]] to design a monument and sculpture of him to be erected at his gravesite.
The [[Texas Historical Commission]] has erected a historical marker near the entrance of what was once his [[plantation]]. An adjacent marker was erected by the San Jacinto Chapter of the [[Daughters of The Republic of Texas]] and the Lee, Roberts, and Davis Chapter of the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy|United Daughters of the Confederate States of America]].
==References==
* Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., ''Civil War High Commands'', Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
* Woodworth, Steven E., ''Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command in the West'', University Press of Kansas, 1990, ISBN 0-7006-0461-8.
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4334 Albert Sidney Johnston at Find-A-Grave]
==Further reading==
* Cunningham, O. Edward, ''Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862'' (edited by Gary Joiner and Timothy Smith), Savas Beatie, 2007, ISBN 978-1-932714-27-2.
* Gott, Kendall D., ''Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862'', Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6.
* Johnston, William Preston, ''The Life of Albert Sidney Johnston'', New York, 1878.
* Nofi, Albert A., ''The Alamo and the Texas War for Independence''; Da Capo Press; ISBN 0-306-81040-9.
* Roland, Charles P., ''Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three Republics'', Austin, 1964.
* Sword, Wiley, ''Shiloh: Bloody April'', University Press of Kansas, 1992, ISBN 0-7006-0650-5.
[[Category:Confederate Army generals|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:United States Army officers|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:United States Military Academy alumni|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:Transylvania University alumni|Johnson, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:People of California in the American Civil War|Johnston]]
[[Category:People of Texas in the American Civil War|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:People from Kentucky|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:People from Texas|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:People of the Black Hawk War|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:American military personnel killed in the American Civil War|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:1803 births|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
[[Category:1862 deaths|Johnston, Albert Sidney]]
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