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The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston

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Albert Sidney Johnston is one of the most interesting generals of the Civil War. Johnston already had an extensive military record when the war began, and President Jefferson Davis (his old West Point classmate) personally saw to it that Johnston was given command of an entire army (the Army of the Mississippi, later the Army of Tennessee).

The problem with this was that Johnston had never commanded an army before, and now he was faced with defending a 500-mile-long border stretching from eastern kentucky to western Missouri. He had less than 50,000 "available" troops, and many were poorly armed and equipped (some units didn't have any weapons at all!).

The Union capture of Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862 paved the way for the fall of Nashville, and soon nearly all of Tennessee was in Union hands. Desperate to reclaim Tennessee for the Confederacy, Johnston planned a bold strike on the Union forces gathered around Shiloh Church in southwest Tennessee.

On the morning of April 6, 1862, the Confederates charged into the surprised Union camps and for the rest of the day pushed them back towards the Tennessee River. But the Confederate assault had eventually come to a stop, thanks to the strong Union artillery position as well as an exhaustion of ammunition.

It was the first day of the Battle of Shiloh where Gen. Johnston was killed, the enemy bullet severing his femoral artery in his right leg. Isham Harris, the Confederate governor of Tennessee, was by his side as the general lay dying. Johnston had ignored the wound and had continued directing his troops, but within minutes he bled to death.

In his "Personal Memoirs", Gen. Ulysses S. Grant wrote, "I do not question the personal courage of General Johnston, or his ability, but he did not win the distinction predicted for him by many of his friends. He did prove that as a general he was over-estimated."

Had he survived the Battle of Shiloh, Gen. Johnston might have proven otherwise, but for the relatively short time he commanded the Army of the Mississippi he proved to be a brave yet unreliable leader. This book strongly defends his actions and is an in-depth look at his life and long military career. It is highly recommended for those who want to learn more about the first year of the Civil War in Tennessee, and for those wanting to know more about this interesting general.

This life of General Albert Sidney Johnston was written by his son about twenty years after the War Between The States. It covers his entire career, while concentrating upon the events surrounding the fall of Fort Donelson and the battle of Shiloh. It is obviously designed to prove that Gen. Johnston was not to blame for the fall of Fort Donelson, and that he deserves credit for a great strategic success at Shiloh, which was spoiled by his untimely death. Despite the propaganda, I quite enjoyed the book. Gen. Johnston was highly regarded by President Davis. Many thought him to be the equal (or superior) to Lee and that his death was a great tragedy to the Confederacy. The book is somewhat dense reading, containing numerous letters to support the author's case. Many were solicited from the surviving participants after the war.

This book begins with an obvious deficit; one can scarcely credit a biography written by the subject's child. But from the start, it's obvious this writer is a man of fairness and, furthermore, possesses the gifts of a poet. His descriptions of the battle at Shiloh are brilliantly constructed and strikingly beautiful. It's not surprising to find a biographer in total awe of his subject, but here --owing to the writer's good nature-- this element does not disturb; especially since the younger Johnston is fair and generous to others, including his father's mortal enemies. This is a handsome, instructive, inspiring read.