The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-01-23

1861, he was placed in command of
all the Confederate forces in the West.
The appointment was hailed with de-
light and Johnston at once set about
organizing his forces to hold Kentucky
and Tennessee against the invasion
by the Union armies which were as
sembling for that purpose. Realizing
fully that he did not have enough men
for his purpose, Johnston pied in vain
to the Confederate government and
the state governments for more troops
and arms.
The fall of Fort Henry and Fort
Deaelson to the Union forces under
Foote and Grant followed and the
Confederate public which had set
Johnston up as an idol turned on him
and made him the scapegoat. A depu-
tation from Tennessee went to Rich
them President Jefferson Davis re-
piled firmly: eff Sidney Johnston is not
a general, 1 have none to give you"
His confidence was well placed, as
later events showed.
Johnston fell back to Murfrees-
boro where he began recognizing his
troops. Then he moved to Corinth,
Miss, the key of the defense of the
railroad system in the lower MissiS-
sippi valley, where by April 1, 1862,
he had about 10000 men, poorly armed
and badly supplied. Grant, command
ing the right wing of the Union army,
was concentrating at Pittsburg Land
ing on the Tennessee river with some
10000 men and Buell. was rapidly ap-
preaching with 10000 more. With
Napoleonic flash Of genius Johnston
decided to beat the enemy in detail
and to attack Grant before Buell. could
arrive.
On April 8 he started on his %
mile march to Pittsburgh Landing but
he was delayed by bad roads and did
not arrive until the 9Th. At council
of war General Beauregard, his Sec
ond in command, protested against
an attack and advised return to
COrinth. Johnston listened to him
and then said, Gentlemen, we will at
tack at daylight" Turning to a staff
officer he said, 81 would fight them
if they were a million" Beauregard
twice renewed his protests but each
time Johnston overruled him and on
Sunday morning, April 6, he led his
army to the attack. 1t was COM
plete surprise, for Grant was not even
Oh the field.
The struggle lasted all day and was
proceeding successfully just as Johns
ton had planned The Union army was
being crowded into an angle between
Snake creek and the Tennessee river
and was facing humiliation. About
2:30 o'clock in the afternoon Johns
ton, while leading a charge which
crushed the left wing of Grants
forces, fell with mortal wound. Beau
regard, with enough daylight left to
complete the victory, vacillated and
ordered the attack to cease. That
night Buell's army came up and the
next day the Confederates were driven
! from the field. Had the bullet which
struck down Albert Sidney Johnston
reached another target, the history
Of the Civil war might have been vast
ly different.
Unlike Albert Sidney Johnston, who
was a Southerner of Northern an
cestry, Joseph Eggleston Johnston
was Southerner of the Southerners.
He was born in Cherry Grove, Va, on
February 8, 1907, the scion Of Vir-
| ginia, family which had been in this
country for nearly 200 years. He was
graduated from West Point in 1929 in
the same class that gave Robert E.
Lee to the army and commissioned a
second lieutenant in the Fourth ar
tillery. With the exception of service
in the Black Hawk war in 1882, most
of his first six years in the army was
spent in garrison duty at various posts
along the Atlantic seaboard.
But in 1886 he became aide-de-camp
| to Gen. Winfield Scott in the war with
the Seminole Indians in Florida and
won brevet as captain for gallantry
in action when troops under his COM
mand fell into an ambuscade, from
| which Johnston extricated them skill
| fully. On this occasion his uniform was
| perforated with no less than 80 bull