Albert Sidney Johnston was one of the most respected generals on either side at the start of the civil war, but the first days of fighting didn’t go his way.
Ulysses S. Grant proved a thorn in his
side almost from the very beginning. Grant marched into Paducah, Kentucky, the
same day the Confederates planned to move on the city. After that, he captured
Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, then positioned his army to march into Mississippi.
Johnston concentrated his army around
Corinth, Mississippi. Grant inched closer, moving his army to Pittsburg Landing
just twenty miles away. Then, early in April, Johnston learned General Don Carlos
Buell’s army planned to meet up with Grant, then launch a concentrated attack
on Corinth.
On April 3rd, Johnston ordered General P. G. T. Beauregard to attack
Grant’s army at Pittsburg Landing before the two armies could hook up. It might
have worked—except for the weather. It stormed so bad on April 4th
that it slowed the army’s progress, so they could not attack until the 6th.
That allowed Buell to arrive in time for the second day of the fighting.
Johnston died early in the fighting on
the first day. Later, Jefferson Davis would say Johnston’s death was “the
turning point of our fate.” It shows the faith he placed in his old West Point
classmate, but it also makes one wonder—Did Davis have doubts about the war’s
outcome almost from the beginning?
Grant had reservations about Albert
Sidney Johnston. However, he didn’t “question the personal courage of General Johnston or his ability.” While “he did not win
the distinction predicted for him by many of his friends,” wrote Grant. “He did
prove that as a general, he was overestimated.”
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