Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-14
ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON.
His Life as Recorded by his SOn-His
Services in the Federal Army During
the Texas Revolution and During
the War Between
The States in the Confederate Army
The Question of his Resignation from
the United states Army Set at
Rest FOreYer-Letter to
his Sister.

New York Herald: There was no general
in the Confederate army who was more
highly esteemed both as a man and a soldier
than Albert Sidney Johnston. His life,
recorded by his son. Colonel William Preston
Johnston, and published by D. Appleton &
Co., is sure of a large audience, not only in
the southern States, out at the north where
he was known before the civil war as a brave
and brilliant soldier. Although General
Johnston's career in the southern army was
short il was a striking one, beginning with
the war and ending at the battle of Shiloh,
April 6, 1862. Albert Sidney Johnston was
born on the second of February, 1903, in the
village of Washington, Mason county, Vir-
GINA, where his father followed the practice
of medicine. The foundation of his educa
ton was laid at Virginia academies, and In
1922 he entered West Point He '-~a q hard
5re1tay--s, and graduated n 1870, the elghtn In
his class, and joined the second infantry July
1st of the same year. He married Miss Pres
ton, of Kentucky, IN 1923. Johnston dIstln-
guished himself in the Black Hawk war, of
which this book gives a graphic narrative,
based on original documents. HIS career in
Mexico and Texas is gwen at length, with
sketches of the battle of Monterey
by General Johnston and Jefferson
Davis. The Mormon war of 1857,
conducted by General Johnston, occupies
a prominent place in the book, but the ror-
ton of the volume IN which the reader of to-
day will take the greatest interest Is that
which relates to the late civil war. Colonel
Johnston, the writer, In chapter entitled
the Southern Confederacy, gives the stand
point of the southern people, which will be
new and not unlntereStlng to many of our
readers. The cause of the war he sets down
to the difference in social organization be-
tween the north and the SOUTH certain real
or imaginary collisions of material interests.
a different mode of Interpreting the consti-
tuition and the agitation for the abolition of
negro slavery. At the south, he says, the
constitution was regarded as a historical
document. 1t was a charter conveying to the
| Federal government, as the agent of the
| States, certain well defined powers for GER
! tam specific purposes, all powers not thus ex-
| plicltly granted being reserved to the several
| States. The instrume 1T was to be strictly
! construed, and a breach of the covenant en-
| titled the aggrieved party to redress, the
measure of which the State must fix, as no
common tribunal had been established for
! that purpose. This involved the right OF
withd rawal from the Union, either by peace
able secession or by revolution. In the ex
IRENE south the former was re-
garded as the legitimate method. When
| the emergency arose those States attempted
| thus to exercise their right. In the
north these primitive views OF the constitu-
| ton were changed by az immense influx of
| European Immigrants, who, controlled by
| speculative Republicans, regarded the const-
| tuition as a mere bill of rights, and the mis-
| sion of the republic to be the emancipation
and illumination of the world. A modern
national or rather an imperial, theory of the
nature of our government prevailed there.
| Legallsts gave form and color OF authority to
attacks on slavery, which were regarded in
the south as willtul, dangerous and manifest
! infractions of the constitution. The lrrlta-
tons of the controversy were great and grow
ing. The loss of one million dollars worth
of slaves annually; aids to their escape and
! inc tement to their insurrec6on; resistance to
their rendition when fugltives by mob or by
multiplying State laws; appeals to the ''hlgher
| law" of conscience as overrullng the con-
| stitution, aud the Incorporate lnvectlves of
| the Abolitlonists, engendered bitter and I'M
| measured resentment lii the south. This was
| evinced in words and acts. 1t is true that
when Mr.. Lincoln was elected President IN
| 1850, the Republican party made the basis Of
its creed the exclusion Of slavery from the
! Territories of the Union by act of congre SIS.
But this will hardly be regarded now as more
| thon mere phase OF the anti-slaVery agita-
ton. 1t was so considered In the south then.
1t was there held to be a gross violation of
the constitution. The success of this party
opened to the south a vista of unnumbered
| ills. The gulf States resolved on immediate
separation. South Carolina began by seeding
| December 20, 1860, the others quickly
followed, and the government of the
that Mr.. Davis did not believe that the south
ern States would be allowed To secede without
| bloodshed, but that great many of the lead
| ers did In speaking of his father at this
| time, the writer says: General Johnston
had never been a politician or party man.
He had cast but one vote IN his lite, and that
| had been for General Taylor, who, he thought,
would rise above party. He never forgot,
| however, that he was a citizen of a republic.
| Deeply interested In its welfare, conversant
with its history, well acquainted with its
| practical working, long associated with its
| leading men, and himself a thinker and a
| leader in his own particular sphere, he could
not fail to have decided opinions on the
! greater questions that divided the country
Though little bound by prejudice, mis- opln
| ions were, of course, much influenced by his
ASSOCIATION and circumstances. 1t is
! true that he thought that the rights of the
| States could be better secured by many con-
cessions even than by arms; but he had no
doubts as to which party was the aggressor,
! and his convictions, as well as his sympa-
| thies, were with his own State and section.
Moreover, he had learned from the patriots
of 1776 the inherent right of every people to
select their own term of government and
| to maintain their independence by revolution.
| General JohnstOn's views in regard to slavery
were those generally held in the south, where
he was born and brought up, and with whose
! social structure he had been identified. Right
or wrong, they were the beliefs of eight mill
| lion people, who have shown as high traits,
as pure a morality, as holy courage, and as
| intelligent a craftsmanship as any who ever
| lived. Hence he shared the resentment,
| though not the expression of it, universal in
| the south, against the domineering philan-
| thropy that assailed its Institutions. His
views in regard to the nature and policy Of
the United States government, on the whole,
fairly represented the ideas of the army Off
| ol.- I,-Io "A BOD ~,
| a wider experience. If they could be summed
up in single word it would be-conserva-
tive" OF the resignation Of his commission
as United States officer ne writes thus to his
sister:
Los ANGELES, CAL, June 1. 1851.
Ny DEAR SISTER, received your kind
and affectionate letter of April 18th last even
ing. The resignation of my commission in
| the army was forwarded from San Francisco,
for the acceptance of the President, on the
tenth of April, by the pony express. 1t
should have reached Washington on the
twenty-fitth Of April, the day ON which GEN
eral Sumner, under the orders of the secre-
tary of war, relieved me from the command
of the Pacific department. l was directed in
that order to repair to Washington to receive
orders. Presuming that my resignation had
been accepted by the President, to take effect
on the arrival of my successor, as had been
requested by me, | have awaited here the an
| nOunCoHeHG Vi us II MAY NC tudi,
having, under the influence of an unaccount-
able and unjusti6able distrust, ordered me to
be relieved, the authorities deferred the az
ceptance till they received General Summers
report, ID which case | cannot receive an
answer before the twenty third instant. Hav-
| ing faithfully administered the affairs of the
| department until was relieved there can be
no reason to refuse the acceptance. As | am
neither indebted to the government, nor have
done any exceptionable act, a refusal to &C
| cept would be without precedent; and, mas
much as themselves made il impossible for
| any man with spark of honor IN my posi-
ton, to serve longer, it would also be most
unjust do not say | would have served
much longer under any circumstances, but
| do say that it would have been impossible for
me to have done any act inconsistent with the
trust reposed in me, and that trust
would, under all circumstances, have
been restored, as it was, to
| the government intact. After General Sum
| ner's promotion i expected, as matter of
course, to be relieved by him, and was not
| aware when | was relieved that his being
| sent out was accompanied by circumstances
manifesting distrust. This learned after
ward. | was astonished to see in the San
Francisco Bulletin, of April 9TH, and | must
| say also Disguised, that the war department,
| which should guard and protect the fame OF