Bushrod Johnson Bushrod Rust Johnson ( October 7 , 1817 – September 12 , 1880 ) was one of the few Northern - born Confederate generals in the American Civil War . As a university professor , he had been active in the state militias of Kentucky and Tennessee before the war , and he sided with the South . As a divisional commander , he managed to evade capture at Fort Donelson , but was wounded at Shiloh . He served under Lee throughout the 10 - month siege of Petersburg , surrendering with him at Appomattox . Early life . Johnson was born in Belmont County , Ohio . He was raised as a Quaker and , before moving to the South , worked on the Underground Railroad with his uncle . He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1840 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U . S . Infantry . He fought in the Seminole War in Florida and the Mexican - American War . He was forced to resign from the Army in October 1847 after being accused of selling contraband goods . He worked as a professor of natural philosophy , and chemistry at the Western Military Institute , Georgetown , Kentucky ( 1848 - 1849 ) , and professor of mathematics and engineering at the University of Nashville ( 1849 - 1861 ) . During this period he was active in the state militias of Kentucky and Tennessee , rising to the rank of colonel . Civil War . After the start of the Civil War , Johnson entered the service June 28 , 1861 , as a colonel of engineers in the Tennessee Militia , and a week later this commission was changed to be in the Confederate States Army . He was instrumental in the construction of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River in Tennessee and was promoted to brigadier general on January 24 , 1862 . Just days before the Battle of Fort Donelson he was placed in command of the fort but served in that capacity only briefly as the higher ranking Brig . Gen . Gideon J . Pillow arrived only hours after Johnson assumed command . He commanded a division of the army at Donelson , but was effectively overshadowed by the more politically astute Pillow , who led the wing in a fierce assault in an attempt to break out and escape from the encircled fort . The fort and its army surrendered to Brig . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant on February 16 , 1862 , but two days later Johnson was able to walk unimpeded out through the porous Union Army lines and escaped capture . Johnson commanded a brigade of the Army of Mississippi at the Battle of Shiloh , and on the second day of battle , April 7 , 1862 , he became the division commander , but was severely wounded by the concussion of an artillery shell . After recovering from his injury , he led his brigade in Gen . Braxton Bragg ' s invasion of Kentucky and the Battle of Perryville , followed by Stones River , the Tullahoma Campaign , Chickamauga , and , under Lt . Gen . James Longstreet , the Siege of Knoxville . Promoted to major general on May 21 , 1864 , the remainder of Johnson ' s service was with the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E . Lee . Johnson commanded a division in the section of trench es manned by the South Carolinian troops in the Battle of the Crater . They captured three stands of colors and 130 prisoners that day . His men spent the remainder of the Siege of Petersburg in the trenches , ending up at the Battle of White Oak Road and Battle of Five Forks . His division was shattered at Battle of Sayler ' s Creek on April 6 , 1865 , although he was able to escape personally . He was paroled at Appomattox Court House without a command . Postbellum . Johnson returned to teaching to become a professor and co - chancellor ( 1870 ) of the University of Nashville with former Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith . His health failing , he retired in 1875 to a farm in Brighton , Illinois , where he died in 1880 . He was originally buried in Miles Station , near Brighton , but was reinterred in 1975 to Old City Cemetery , Nashville , Tennessee , to be next to the grave of his wife , Mary .