Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-14

l still feel for him all the gratitude and kind
ness that | have always felt. do not desire
ever again to hold an office No one could
feel more senslbly the calamitous condition of
our country than myself; and whatever part
| may take hereafter, 1t will always be a sub
Ject of graduation with me that no act Of
mine ever contributed to bring it about.
suppose the difficulties now will only be ad-
lusted by the sword. In my humble iudg-
ment that was not the remedy. | hope my
dear sister, you are In good health, and that
you may long live to enjoy the good things
Providence has placed In your hands. Such
Is the prayer OF your atfectionate brother,
a. S. JOHNSTON
Hon. Montgomery Blair, Mr. Lincoln
postmaster general, in letter to the writer,
Colonel Johnston, shows that at later date,
when opportunity for investigation and
correct knowledge of the facts had been
afforded, the administration entertained no
such view of conspiracy as the loyal press had
disseminated. Mr.. Blair says:
There is a fact IN regard to your father
that | ought to mention. When General
Ord came here from San Francisco he called
on me and stated that great injury had been
done your father by the manner in which he
had been superseded; that he was opposed
to the secession movement altogether and
that he had often heard him check persons
using secession talk In his presence, telling
them that it was not respectful to him as
United States officer. This statement was
substantiated by letter of yours which had
been intercepted and given to me. | imme-
diately told Mr.. Lincoln the facts and recon-
mended him to send your father major
generals commission, and he at once exc
cuted the commission. | had it forwarded to
your father at San Francisco. But few
days afterward | learned that he had started
for Texas, and 1 directed the postmaster to
~atfaln the package for cancellation.
IN which General JoRnston t0UR pS1s, eaCe-eo
particularly graphic description of the bat
tie of Shiloh, where his father lost his life.
General Johnston had been riding at the
head of his command on his thoroughbred
Fire eater, and passed the ordeal seemingly
unhurt. His noble horse was shot in four
places; his clothes were pierced by missiles,
his boot-sole was cut and torn by a mipie,
but if he himself had received any severe
wound he did not know it. AT this moment
Governor Harris rode up from the right
elated with his own success and with the
vlndication of his Tennesseans. After a
few words, General Johnston sent him with
an order to Colonel Statham, WEIGH, having
delivered, he speedily returned. In the
meantime knots and groups of Federal SOL
diers kept up an angry discharge of firearms
as they retreated upon their supports, and
their last line, now yielding,
as they sullenly retired. By the chance of
war a mimic ball from one of these did its fa-
tai work. As General Johnston, on horse
back, sat there, knowing that he had crushed
in the arch which had so long resisted the
pressure of his forces, and waiting until they
should collect sufficiently to give the
final stroke, he received a mortal
wound. 1t came in the moment of victory
and triumph from flying foe. 1t smote MIN
at the very instant when he felt the full con-
viction that the day was won. that his own
conduct and wisdom were justified by results,
and that he held in his hand the fortunes of
war and the success of the Confederate cause.
If this was not to be. he fell as he would have
wished to fall, and with a happier fate than
those who lived to witness the overthrow and
ruin of their great cause. He had often ex-
pressed to the writer a preference for this
death of the soldier. 1t came sudden and
painless. But he had so lived as neither to
fear nor shun if. 1t came to him like an in
cident of an immortal life-its necessary part,
but not its close"
The book is full of anecdotes, and closes
with a number of eulogies of the southern
general, among which that by his son is not
the least enthusiastic. 1t is printed in one
large octave volume, in handsome style, and
substantially bound.