General Joseph Eggleston Johnston CSA (b1807-d1891) (Full Version)

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mikeejay2 -> General Joseph Eggleston Johnston CSA (b1807-d1891) (3/12/2007 5:40:04 AM)

General Joseph Eggleston Johnston CSA (b1807-d1891) was born in Farmville, Virginia. Johnston attended the West Point graduating in 1829. He served eight years in the artillery before he was transferred to the topographical engineers in 1838. During the Mexican War, he won two brevets promotions and was wounded twice. In June, 1860, he was commissioned as a brigadier general and was appointed Quartermaster General of the Army. When Virginia left the Union in 1861, Johnston resigned his commission , the highest-ranking U.S. Army officer to do so. Initially commissioned as a major general in the Virginia militia, he relieved Jackson in command at Harpers Ferry and organized the Army of the Shenandoah. At First Bull Run , Johnston brought his Army to combine with those of Beauregard, but he ceded direction of the battle to the more junior general since he lacked familiarity with the terrain. In August, Johnston was promoted to full general —what is called a four-star general in the modern army—but was not pleased that three other men now outranked him. He felt that since he was the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army and join the Confederacy he should not be ranked behind Cooper, A S Johnston, and Lee. This led to much bad blood between Johnston and President Davis, which would last throughout the war. Johnston was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia and led it in the start of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Defending the capital of Richmond against McClellan, Johnston employed a strategy of gradual withdrawals until his army was only five miles in front of the city, where McClellan intended to besiege it. Finally cornered, Johnston attacked in the Battle of Seven Pines. Tactically the battle was a draw, but it stopped the advance on the city. More significant, however, was that Johnston was wounded on the second day of the battle, and Davis turned command over to Robert E. Lee, who would lead the Army of Northern Virginia for the rest of the war. After recovering from his wound, Johnston was given command of the Department of the West, but Davis continually over ruled his decisions After the disaster at the Battle of Chattanooga (1863) and Davis reluctantly relieved his old friend Gen Bragg and replaced him with Johnston. Faced with Sherman’s advance towards Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Johnston reverted to his strategy of withdrawal. He conducted a series of actions in which he prepared strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them, causing him to fall back in the general direction of Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as the most important consideration, and hence conducted a very cautious campaign. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained. On June 27, Johnston defeated Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, but the purely defensive victory did not prevent Sherman from continuing his offensive. Despite the victory, Davis became irritated by Johnston’s strategy and removed him from command on July 17, 1864. (His replacement, Lt. Gen Hood, was overly aggressive, and ineffective, losing Atlanta in September). Davis's decision to remove Johnston was one of the most controversial of the war. As the people became increasingly concerned about Sherman’s March to the Sea, they demanded Johnston's return. Davis appointed him to a command (Nov 1864) what was left of the Southeastern part of the Confederacy. In March,1865, Johnston was able to catch a portion of Sherman's army by surprise at the Battle of Bentonville and briefly gained some tactical successes before superior numbers forced him to retreat. After learning of Lee's surrender, he surrendered his army on Apr 26,1865, despite orders to the contrary from Davis. Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the generosity of the man he surrendered to. When Sherman had died, Johnston was a pallbearer at his funeral; during the procession in New York City on Feb 19,1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect in the cold, rainy weather. Someone had some concern for the old general's health and asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied "If I were in his place and he standing here in mine he would not put on his hat." He caught pneumonia and died several weeks later. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Baltimore, Ms.







Gil R. -> RE: General Joseph Eggleston Johnston CSA (b1807-d1891) (3/12/2007 7:05:51 AM)

Looks good -- thanks!



Gil R. -> RE: General Joseph Eggleston Johnston CSA (b1807-d1891) (3/13/2007 2:34:11 AM)

Hmm, not so good after all: it comes in at nearly 500 chars. over the maximum of 3900 chars. (Remember, spaces count as characters.) Do you mind shortening it, at least getting it down to around 4000 characters? (I can take it from there.) I figured that you'd be the best person to decide what info can be cut. Thanks.



mikeejay2 -> 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (3/16/2007 6:31:37 AM)

Joseph Eggleston Johnston (b1807-d1891) was born in Farmville, Virginia. Johnston attended the West Point graduating in 1829. He served eight years in the artillery before he was transferred to the topographical engineers in 1838. During the Mexican War, he won two promotions and was wounded twice. In June, 1860, he was commissioned as a brigadier general and was appointed Quartermaster General of the Army. When Virginia left the Union in 1861, Johnston resigned his commission , the highest-ranking U.S. Army officer to do so. Commissioned as a major general in the Virginia militia, and organized the Army of the Shenandoah at Harpers Ferry . At First Bull Run , Johnston brought his Army to combine with those of Beauregard, but he ceded direction of the battle to the junior general since he was unfamiliar with the terrain. In August, Johnston was promoted to full general but was not pleased that three other men now outranked him. He felt that since he was the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army and join the South he should not be ranked behind Cooper, A S Johnston, and Lee. This led to bad blood between Johnston and President Davis, which would last throughout the war. Johnston was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia and led it in the start of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Defending the capital of Richmond against McClellan, Johnston employed a strategy of gradual withdrawals until his army was only five miles in front of the city. Finally cornered, Johnston attacked in the Battle of Seven Pines. Tactically the battle was a draw, but it stopped the advance on the city. More significant, however, was that Johnston was wounded, and Davis turned command over to Lee, who would lead the Army of Northern Virginia for the rest of the war. After the disaster at the Battle of Chattanooga (1863), Davis reluctantly relieved his old friend Gen Bragg and replaced him with Johnston. Faced with Sherman’s advance towards Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Johnston reverted to his strategy of withdrawal. He conducted a series of actions in which he prepared strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them, causing him to fall back towards Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as the most important consideration, and hence conducted a very cautious campaign. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained. On June 27, Johnston defeated Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, but the defensive victory did not prevent Sherman from continuing his offensive. Despite the victory, Davis became irritated by Johnston’s strategy and removed him from command on July 17, 1864. (His replacement, Hood, was overly aggressive, and ineffective, losing Atlanta in September). Davis's decision to remove Johnston was one of the most controversial of the war. As the people became increasingly concerned about Sherman’s March to the Sea, they demanded Johnston's return. Davis appointed him to a command (Nov 1864) what was left of the Southeastern part of the Confederacy. In March,1865, Johnston was able to catch a portion of Sherman's army by surprise at the Battle of Bentonville and briefly gained some tactical successes before superior numbers forced him to retreat. After learning of Lee's surrender, he surrendered his army on Apr 26,1865, despite orders to the contrary from Davis. Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the generosity of the man he surrendered to. When Sherman had died, Johnston was a pallbearer at his funeral; he kept his hat off as a sign of respect in the cold, rainy weather. Someone had some concern for the old general's health and asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied "If I were in his place and he standing here in mine he would not put on his hat." He caught pneumonia and died several weeks later. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Baltimore, Ms.



Gil R. -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (3/16/2007 9:58:12 AM)

Thanks -- looks like just the right size.



jkBluesman -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/4/2007 11:57:05 AM)

Johnston's principal strategy was concentrating of force. He wanted the Confederacy to take advantage of the interior lines. But Johnston's maine weakness was that he did not understand Clausewitz's principal that war was just part of politics. Thus Johnston never grasped that it was politically impossible to give up territory without trying to defend it (in the retreat to Atlanta he often had no choice though, lacking information about the enemy due to Wheeler's bad performance as scout). Johnston remains one of the most controversial figures of the Civil War as he tried to safe his men where Lee sacrificed them.
Anyway, what is striking about him is that officers and rank alike loved him. Longstreet, Ewell and others who had only briefly served under him, admired him to the last. And he restored moral in the Army of Tennessee. That he got worse results in the voting than A.S. Johnston is strange. I suggest to give Johnston 7-5-4-6-0 instead of 6-5-4-5-0.



Erik Rutins -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/4/2007 2:43:32 PM)

I can't see Johnston with really high Initiative personally. There were many instances where he just wouldn't take the offensive but preferred to sit on the defensive. I would personallly bump his initiative down, but put his Leadership up to 7 or 8 as he was definitely one of the most beloved and respected generals by his troops, as much or more so than McClellan and Lee.

Regards,

- Erik



jkBluesman -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/5/2007 12:04:15 AM)

Maybe his lack of initiative came from his friendship with McClellan. On the other side he and Lee were friends too, dating back from their days in West Point.
That Johnston got the reputation of lacking initiative was mainly due to his feud with Davis. One example: When Johnston got in command of the Army of Tennessee it was during winter. He was urged to take the offensive but his army lacked the supplies and could not live from the land in winter. Davis did not believe although the men he sent to investigate the situation reported the same facts Johnston had wired to Richmond.



Erik Rutins -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/5/2007 12:30:32 AM)

Hm, what about earlier near Richmond and later near Vicksburg? Ultimately, one has to pick someone like Lee (or Hood) as the barometer of the highest initiative. If Lee would have found a tactic to allow him to attack some part of the enemy successfully in those cases, he would have moved. What we see in the earlier campaign, where Lee takes over from Johnston after Johnston is wounded, is that IMHO Lee has a much higher initiative since he presses the attack against the odds until McClellan is back on his heels.

Johnston may well have been as good a leader or a tactician, but I don't see giving him a 7 initiative just based on those comparisons, regardless of the feud with Davis. A leader who always has reasons (even if good ones) for not moving or attacking is generally not a high initiative leader.



jkBluesman -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/5/2007 12:45:42 AM)

I totally agree when we compare Lee and Johnston (Hood was agressive, but is this the same as high initiative?). But we misunderstand each other with the numbers. I thought it goes: Leadership, Tactics, Initiative, Command, Cavalry. Thus Johnston's initiative would be "fair".



Erik Rutins -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/5/2007 12:56:03 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: jkBluesman
I totally agree when we compare Lee and Johnston (Hood was agressive, but is this the same as high initiative?). But we misunderstand each other with the numbers. I thought it goes: Leadershiph, Tactical, Initiative, Command, Cavalry. Thus Johnston's initiative would be "fair".


Oh! In that case 7-5-4-6-0 is perfect, turns out we agreed all along. [:D]

Gil, what would you say to:

4 Initiative
7 Leadership
5 Tactics
6 Command
0 Cavalry

For Johnston?



Gil R. -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/10/2007 7:12:20 AM)

Here's the bio. I had to shorten it, but didn't remove anything of substance, and added that little bit about what he did between commanding the ANV and AOT. Very nice job getting all of the essentials into such a short amount of space.


Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston (b. 1807, d. 1891). Johnston was born in Farmville, Virginia, and graduated from West Point in 1829. After serving eight years in the artillery, he was transferred to the topographical engineers. During the Mexican War, Johnston won two promotions and was wounded twice. In June 1860, he was appointed Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army and promoted to brigadier general. But when Virginia left the Union, he resigned his commission – the highest-ranking Army officer to do so – and offered his services to the Confederacy, and was put in command of the Army of the Shenandoah at the rank of major general. At the Battle of First Bull Run, Johnston brought his army to combine with that of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, but he ceded direction of the battle to the junior general since he was unfamiliar with the terrain. That August, Johnston was promoted to full general, but he was not pleased that three other men – Samuel Cooper, Albert S. Johnston, and Robert E. Lee – outranked him, when he had been the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army. This led to bad blood between Johnston and Pres. Jefferson Davis that would last throughout the war. Placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Johnston led it at the start of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, employing a strategy of gradual withdrawals towards Richmond before finally attacking. The Battle of Seven Pines, as it came to be known, was tactically a draw, but it stopped the advance on the city. More significant, however, was that Johnston was wounded so severely that he had to be replaced. Lee’s subsequent successes precluded Johnston’s return to his previous command, so instead he was given a position coordinating operations in the western theater. After the disastrous loss at Chattanooga in November 1863, Davis reluctantly relieved his old friend Gen. Braxton Bragg of command of the Army of Tennessee and replaced him with Johnston. Faced with Gen. William T. Sherman’s advance towards Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Johnston reverted to his strategy of withdrawal. He conducted a series of actions in which he prepared strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them, causing him to fall back towards Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as the most important consideration, and hence conducted a very cautious campaign. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained. On June 27, Johnston defeated Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, but the defensive victory did not prevent Sherman from continuing his offensive. Despite the victory, Davis became irritated by Johnston’s strategy and removed him from command on July 17, 1864. His replacement, Gen. John B. Hood, was overly aggressive and ineffective, and lost Atlanta in September – making Davis's decision to remove Johnston was one of the most controversial of the war. As the people became increasingly concerned about Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” they demanded Johnston's return. Appointed to command what was left of Hood’s army and other forces in the Carolinas, Johnston on March 19 was able to catch a portion of Sherman's army by surprise in the Battle of Bentonville, briefly gaining some tactical successes before superior numbers forced him to retreat. After learning of Lee's surrender, he surrendered his army to Sherman on April 26, 1865, near Durham Station, N.C. My encyclopedia says that Davis reluctantly gave Johnston permission to negotiate a surrender, so I left out the bit about Davis opposing it. Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the generosity of the man he surrendered to. When Sherman had died, Johnston was a pallbearer at his funeral, keeping his hat off as a sign of respect in the cold, rainy weather. Asked to put on his hat because of the elements, the elderly Johnston replied, "If I were in his place and he standing here in mine he would not put on his hat." Johnston caught pneumonia and died several weeks later, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in Baltimore, Mississippi. (Bio by Scott Jennings)




jkBluesman -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/10/2007 1:31:26 PM)

Johnston and Breckinridge talked to Sherman about a general peace agreement with the approval of Davis. But when Lincoln was murdered, Grant and Sherman could not negotiate on peace anymore. Johnston knew that his men would not fight and thought it useless to continue the struggle to keep Davis in office a few more days. Thus he surrendered his army to Sherman. Davis regarded this as an act of treason against the Confederacy.



mikeejay2 -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/12/2007 5:00:57 AM)

EDITED VERSION IS GOOD TO GO



Gil R. -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/13/2007 2:55:12 AM)

jkBluesman,
Thanks for reminding me. Unfortunately, there isn't room for that information. I had to shorten the bio by another 50 characters. It now comes in just three characters below the maximum. (And in case anyone's wondering what happens when a bio exceeds 3900 characters, I'll tell you -- it makes the game crash.)

Here's the final version:

Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston (b. 1807, d. 1891). Johnston was born in Farmville, Virginia, and graduated from West Point in 1829. After serving eight years in the artillery, he was transferred to the topographical engineers. During the Mexican War, Johnston won two promotions and was wounded twice. In June 1860, he was appointed Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army and promoted to brigadier general. But when Virginia left the Union, he resigned his commission – the highest-ranking Army officer to do so – and offered his services to the Confederacy. Put in command of the Army of the Shenandoah at the rank of major general Johnston brought his army to combine with that of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of First Bull Run, but ceded direction of the battle to the junior general since he was unfamiliar with the terrain. That August, Johnston was promoted to full general, but he was not pleased that three others – Samuel Cooper, Albert S. Johnston, and Robert E. Lee – outranked him, when he had been the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army. This led to bad blood between Johnston and Pres. Jefferson Davis that would last throughout the war. Placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Johnston led it at the start of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, employing a strategy of gradual withdrawals towards Richmond before finally attacking. This battle, the Battle of Seven Pines, was tactically a draw, but stopped the advance on the city. More significant, however, was that Johnston was severely wounded and had to be replaced. Lee’s subsequent successes precluded Johnston’s return to his previous command, so instead he was given a position coordinating operations in the western theater. After the disastrous loss at Chattanooga in November 1863, Davis reluctantly relieved his old friend Gen. Braxton Bragg of command of the Army of Tennessee and replaced him with Johnston. Faced with Gen. William T. Sherman’s advance towards Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Johnston reverted to his strategy of withdrawal. He conducted a series of actions in which he prepared strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them, causing him to fall back towards Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as the most important consideration, and hence conducted a very cautious campaign. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained. On June 27, Johnston defeated Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, but the defensive victory did not prevent Sherman from continuing his offensive. Despite the victory, Davis became irritated by Johnston’s strategy and removed him from command on July 17. His replacement, Gen. John B. Hood, was overly aggressive and ineffective, and lost Atlanta in September – making Davis's decision to remove Johnston was one of the most controversial of the war. As the people became increasingly concerned about Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” they demanded Johnston's return. Appointed to command what was left of Hood’s army and other forces in the Carolinas, Johnston on March 19 was able to catch a portion of Sherman's army by surprise in the Battle of Bentonville, briefly gaining some tactical successes before superior numbers forced him to retreat. After learning of Lee's surrender, he surrendered his army to Sherman on April 26, 1865, near Durham Station, N.C. Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the generosity of the man he surrendered to. When Sherman died, Johnston was a pallbearer at his funeral, keeping his hat off as a sign of respect in the cold, rainy weather. Asked to put on his hat because of the elements, the elderly Johnston replied, "If I were in his place and he standing here in mine he would not put on his hat." Johnston caught pneumonia and died several weeks later, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in Baltimore, Mississippi. (Bio by Scott Jennings)



Gil R. -> RE: 2ND TRY ON GEN JOHNSTON (4/13/2007 3:00:54 AM)

As for his rating, I think that 7-5-5-6 is in order (using the order L, T, I, C). Does that work for people? I do agree that his leadership should be raised.



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