Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-04-02
The Last of the Great Chieftians.

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The Last of the Great Chieftians.
The death of Joseph E. Johnston
takes the last of the great commanders
OF our civil war from among the liv-
ing. All the great chieftians of both
| the blue and the gray have now an
sWered roll call across "the great di-
vide" and it is notable that Sherman
and Johnston both died within the
period that a single moon had wayed
and waned. They had been opposing
commanders in one of the most bril-
liant and desperate campaigns of the
war in the march from Chattanooga to
Atlanta, and that campaign is now re-
,, garded by military critics at home and
abroad as the one that displayed the
highest degree of military skill on both
sides, II was the one prolonged cam
paign that called for the most accom-
pli-hed strategy, and the opposing
commanders are freely accorded in
history the rare compliment of com.
pliment of committing no blunder.
Of all the great Generals of both
sides who command great armies,
General Johnston was the oldest in
years, and yet the last to fall in the
race. He had passed the uncommon
landmark of four score years and with
his faculties undated. He was pail
bearer at the funerals of both Grant
and Sherman, and was their close per-
sonal friend. He had commanded
Southern armies in every section east
of the Mississippi where great army
movements were made. He met the
Army of the Potomac under Mcdowell
at the first Bull Run; he met the same
army under Mcclellan on the Penin-
sula and Lee came into the command
only by the serious wound Johns ton
there suffered. He next confronted
Grant and Sherman in the rear of
Vicksburg, and followed with the
memorable campaign from Chattanoo-
ga to Atlanta. When Sherman ap-
peared before Atlanta, Johnstown was
removed from the command OF his
army by President Davis, who visited
the army in person, relieved Johnston
and assigned Hood to the command
with instructions to take the offensive
and force Sherman to raise the siege.
Hood, who was gallant enough to
obey, hurled his army gaainst Sher-
man only to see 1t nearly destroyed
and he gave up the city without an
other struggle.
When Sherman had completed his
march from Atlanta to the sea, and
turned his steps toward the North
from Savannah, he again met Johnston
who had been again called into re-
sponsible command by the necessities
of the tottering Confederacy. There
was no general engagement between
the opposing armies, because John
ston was not strong enough to. risk
battle, but his comparatively small,
demoralized and desparing army was
handled with consummate skill, with
repeated and severe conflicts between
detached commands, until the end
came near Raleigh by Johnstown fol-
lowing Lee in the surrender of his en-
tire forces. Had Johnston been con-
tinued in command of the defense of
Atlanta there is little doubt that he
would have delayed Sherman's capt
ure of that important city for some
weeks by his skill as defensive STRAIT
egist, and he would have so well pre-
served his army that the march TO the
sea would probably never have been
recorded in the annals of the war.
But Johnston was not favorite with
Davis. and the transfer of Hood to the
command in Atlanta and the disast-
rous battle he fought soon after, not
only gave Atlanta to Sherman but
opCIiCo tIC way III AliILi w w
the sea almost unopposed.
All of the great heroes of the war
now sleep in the City of the Silent.
Beauregard is alone among the living
of those who commanded Southern
army in great battle, and he COM
manded at Bull Run in 1861 only until
Johnston reached the field, and he
succeeded to the command at Shiloh
only after the fall of A. Sidney John
ston, while Rrosecians is the only
Union Geneeal left who commanded
in a great battle. Lee and Johnston,
who led the Army of Northern Vir-
ginia, and Scott, Mcdowell, McClel-
Ian, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and
Grant, who commanded the Army of
the Potomac, all sleep the dreamless
sleep of the dead. Sherman and
Thomas who met Bragg on Missionary
before sthe assault of Thomas and
and Sheridan who led the
pursuit of Lee to Appormattox, and
Lyon and Curtis and Price and Nc
who crimsoned the fields of
Missouri, and Lincoln and Davis the
constitutional cOmmanders.in-chie of
the blue and the gray-all, all are at
peace in the grave. And of the scores
of great lieutenants who led their
corps or grand divisions in desperate
only here and there is one
who survives. Jackson, Hill, Ewell
and Stuart, whose names are INSOFAR
ably interwovenwith the heroism of
Lees army; and Hancock, Reynolds,
Sedgwick and Sumner, whose names
are indissolubly linked with the
achievements of the Army of the Poto-
mic, all have passed away, and the
only officer in active service to-day
who fought an important battle is
Schofield now Commander. in
Chief of the Army. His bloody vict-
ory at Franklin was the preliminary
struggle of Hoods annihilation at
The heroic actors of our
civil war have gone to their final rest,
but their heroism will be remembered
like Grecian and Roman story of val
Or, and while freedom shall have wor-
shippers, the heroes of saved and re-
deemed Republic will live in grateful
memories.-Phitddetl1hfd Times.
Early Rose, Ohio and Beauty OF Hebron
D.. :.