The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-01-23
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Florida serving against the Sem1nOleS
but most of his time until the out
break of the Mexican war was spent
in various surveys and Typographical
work.
In the war with Mexico he was at
the siege of Vera Cruz and in the
battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras,
Molino del Rey, Chapultepec and the
attack on the City of Mexico. He
was severely wounded at Cerro Gordo
and again at Chapuitepec, where he
was the first to plant regimental colors
on the ramparts of the fortress. For
his gallantry at Cerro Gordo, he was
brevetted lieutenant colonel and colo
mel and during the next fifteen
years performed various duties in
the West Gncluding that Of acting
inspector-generalf for the Utah expedi-
ton commanded by the other Johns
ton-Albert Sidney which led finally
to his commission Of quartermaster-
general of the United States army.
Johnston resigned from the army
when Virginia seeded, was commits
stoned a major-general Of volunteers
by Virginia and with Robert E. Lee
organized the soldiers who poured in
to Richmond to defend the capital of
the state. Next he was appointed
commander of the army of the Shen-
andoah and led it to the aid of Gen.
eral Beauregard when Mcdowell at
tackled on July p, 1861, at Manas-
sas. Johnston Outranked Beauregard
and took command so that he is cred
tied with the victory at Bull Run.
The next month he was appointed one
of the five full generals authorized
by the Confederate congress (among
them Albert Sidney Johnston) but
was placed fourth On the list. Johns
ton protested against this, since he
felt that his high rank in the United
States army when he resigned should
have placed him first on the list, and
in this he was justified by a previous
congressional act. This protest is said
to have been the beginning and cause
of the hostility towards him shown by
OChCISOu laws IIlOuShOul
the war. The quarrel between the two
men, according to Allen Tate in his
recent biography Of Davis, twas to
outlast the Confederacy and have
paralyzing influence upon it's career"
After the Battle of Seven Pines in
1862, at which Johnston was seriously
wounded, Davis replaced him in COM
mand of the Confederate forces in the
East with Gen. Robert E. Lee and the
eclipse of Joseph E. Johnston as an
outstanding military leader began.
The next year he was sent to take
command of the Department of the
West. Johnston was one of the three
or four best soldiers in the South"
writes Tate. "But he tended to avoid
assuming responsibility he was
touchy and quarrelsome; and his in
stinctive dislike Of offensive warfare
had, inconsistency enough, under
mined the Presidents confidence in
him since his retreat up the peninsula
before Mcclellan in the spring. In
the end, Davis lack of confidence may
have been sheer dislike; Johnston had
not handled him, in his rancorous let
tiers, with kid gloves. SO, when Johns
ton went west his instructions were a
little vague :"
Both Davis and Johnston have their
ardent partisans in the historic dis
pute between the two and it seems
impossible to arrive at any conclusion
as to who was most to blame. But
the net result was disaster in the
West which further weakened the
Lost Cause and contributed it's
share to the downfall of the Con-
federacy. 1t fell to his lot to play a
leading role in the last military scene
of the great tragedy which befell the
American people between 1861 and
1865. Just as he had been in command
at the first major engagement Of the
war, so was he in command when the
last important armed forces of the
Confederacy laid down their arms. On
April %, 1865, Johnston surrendered
his army to General Sherman on the
same terms under which Lee had sur
rendered to Grant.
After the war Johnston was presi-
dent of railroad in Arkansas, presi-
dent of an express company of Vir-
ginia and agent for various insurance
companies. In 1877 he was elected to
congress from Virginia and ten years
later he was appointed United States
commissioner of railroads by Presi-
dent Cleveland. He died in 1891.
GO by Western Newspaper Union.)