The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-06-22

to have issued the order Ii any
! one desires more detailed state
ment than this / can only refer
him to my book.
S'I have seen in connection with
this matter, Gen Johnston, the
statement that when you arrived at
Manassas from Shenandoah Valley,
the day before the battle Of Bull
Run, you found General Beauregard
| there, whom you ranked, yet that
you yielded your privilege Of COM
manding the army to him. ;"
ayes, sir, / have seen that story,
replied Gen. Johnston. ''It is abso-
hIutely and entirely false. A docu
ment, the general order for the dis
position of the troops on the day Of
battle, drawn up by Gen. Beaure-
gard, was submitted to me, and ap
proved by me. That will settle that
question: can also narrate an in
cident. In the morning, when the
firing began, we were satisfied that
quite a sharp engagement was going
on at our left Gen Beauregard
and myself Immediately mounted
our horses and rode rapidly over in
| the direction of the firing. When
we reached the field, being perhaps
a quarter of a mile away from the
fighting, / Waa about to ride for
ward, when Gen. Beaurogard drew
up in front of me and said do
you mean to take command here p
/ | replied Certainly. Gen Beaure-
gard then said But, General, |
think that il is my duty as your
| junior to lead the troops in this
place, and for you, as commanding
officer, to take entire command Of
! the battle, as there will be fighting
! elsewhere. ! coinuded in that
view Gen. Beauregard rode for
ward and took command Of the
troops at that point If Mr.. Davis
made the statement that / yielded
to Sen Beauregard on that day he
has stated what he must have known
to be false,
"Another statement that Mr..
Davis makes is that you disobeyed
his orders in such a way that Gen.
Sherman was able to make the
successful march to the sea which
divided the Confederacy."
"Yes sir, that is no new charge.
The facts are simply these In the
spring of 1864, when [ was at Dali
ton, n c., Mr.. Davis ordered me,
after having collected an army of
$4,000 men, q then having 100000
to invade East Tennessee. Gen.
Sherman was at that time at Chat
tanooga with his army. Now, in
order to invade East Tennessee with
$4,000 men l needed wagons, pro
visions, horses and the necessary
means of transporting and provid-
ing for an army. | could not get
them where / was; it was necessary
to bring them from beyond Atlanta.
The very moment these provisions,
wagons, etc, were started for me,
Gen. Sherman with his army could
have prevented their arrival. 1t
was, in my judgment, impossible to
collect an army with the necessary
means for transportation and pro-
visiOning to invade East Tennessee.
My judgment was, and I informed
the Confederate officials, that the
invasion Of East Tennessee was only
possible after we had been attacked
by Sherman and had beaten him.
Both armies were moving toward
Atlanta at the rate of about mile
a day, and, sooner or later, Sher-
man was bound to attack us. If we
could have strengthened our army
and have defended Atlanta, which
was one of the best favored natural
positions for defense, we might have
repulsed Sherman, beaten him, and
then made the contemplated raid.
1t could not have been done before,
in my judgement, and to have at
tempted it might have been the
annihiIation of our army. There
fore [ moved with my troops down
to Atlanta, and in July afterward,
while preparing for the expected
attack, was notified by telegram
that | had been superseded by Gen.
Hood. From that time until Feb
ruary following l was without a
command" "
"Another statement that has been
made, General, in substance is that
you should have taken your army
in North Carolina and pressed
through, after the evacuation Of
Richmond, to some portion of, the
Southwest, where you could have
joined the Confederate army there
and reorganized the forces"
"Why, sir, said Gen Johnston,
with much animation, "the war was
ended. 1t twas useless to 90 through
the farce of trying to prolang it. /
had seen the end for a long time. [
was satisfied that the Confederate
armies were beaten when Hood
evacuated Atlanta and was after
ward defeated, annihilated, at Nash
vile. There was nothing left for
me to do with my army but to ar
range with Gen. Sherman, not for
surrendering merely, but for the
military basis of peace; and when /
met Gen. Sherman at a-little howell
some twenty-five miles west of
Raligh, North Carolina, we stepped
into a room and was alone there.
Gen. Sherman, the first thing he
did, showed me a dispatch which he
had from Mr.. Stanton announcing 2,
the assassination of President Lin
eoln. We both felt very greatly
shocked over the announcement.
especially as Gen. Sherman told me
that he had a few days before re-
turned from City Point, where he
had gone at Mr. Lineoln's direction
to confer with him regarding terms
which should be offered me. 1t was
my understanding that the basis
that We drew up then and subse-
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