The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Albert Sydney Johnston (CSA) - Nov. 29th, 2003

www.swcivilwar.com ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

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General Albert Sydney Johnston
(1803-1862)

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At the start of the Civil War Albert Sidney Johnston was almost universally considered to be the finest soldier, North or South, in the country. Jefferson Davis said of him, “I hoped and expected that I had others who would prove generals, but I knew I had one, and that was Sidney Johnson.” But his Civil War career was a definite disappointment to the Confederacy.

Born in Washington, Kentucky in 1803, Albert Sidney Johnston attended Transylvania University before graduating from the U. S. Military Academy in 1826.

Appointed to West Point from Louisiana, he graduated eighth in his class in 1826. After eight years of army service he resigned his commission to take care of his terminally ill wife.

He joined the revolutionary army in Texas as private, but rose within a year to be its commander as senior brigadier. By early 1837 he was named senior brigadier general of the Texas army. This appointment resulted in a duel with Felix Huston, the man he replaced. Due to an injury suffered in the duel, however, Johnston was unable to take his new post. The Second President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, appointed him Secretary of War in December of 1838. In 1840, he returned to Kentucky and married Eliza Griffin in 1843. They settled in China Grove, TX on his large plantation and lived there until 1849.



During the Mexican-American War, he commanded a company of Texas Volunteers. Johnston rejoined the U.S. Army in 1849 as a major, and was made colonel of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in 1855. He was brevetted brigadier general for his 1857 services against the Mormons in Utah.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he resigned from the US Army and was appointed a General by President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis.

Posted to California, he resigned again from the army in 1861, but waited for successor to arrived before making his way to Richmond overland.



He entered Confederate service in August of 1861. As the second ranking general in the Confederate army he took command of the western theater of operations. He established a thin defensive line in Kentucky which stretched from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. He succeeded in holding this line until it was broken by the Federals by George Thomas at Mill Springs and U.S. Grant at Forts Henry and Donelson.

Forced to abandon Kentucky and most of Tennessee, Johnston withdrew into northern Mississippi. Joined there by P.G.T. Beauregard, he concentrated his scattered forces for a counterattack.



In early April of 1862 he struck at Grant’s army in its camp at Shiloh. Attacking out of the woods early in the morning his force caught the Federals completely by surprise. Some momentum was lost when his raw recruits paused to loot the overrun Union encampments, but by late morning Johnston believed victory was his. “We are sweeping the field,” he told Beauregard, “and I think we shall press them to the river.”

After Confederates drove Prentiss’s division from its camps, some remnants of the division rallied along an old farm lane about 400 yards northwest of here. Hurlbut’s Fourth Division moved up on Prentiss’s left, W. H. L. Wallace’s Second Division on his right. The two fresh divisions and the remnant of Prentiss’s formed a solid, continuous front some 1,000 yards long, from the Peach Orchard through a tangled stretch of woodland, and along the northeast edge of Joseph Duncan’s cotton field. There from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, the Union troops stubbornly held back the Confederate advance.


Confederate Charge upon Prentiss's Camp on Sunday morning

Throughout the day Johnston had been near the front lines, directing the assault. He moved into this area and began to marshal forces, including Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge’s Reserve Corps, for a major push against the stubborn Federals near the Peach Orchard. As one of the new brigades moved up to the firing line Johnston, still carrying the tin cup he had picked up in one of Prentiss’s camps, exhorted them: “Men of Missouri and Arkansas, the enemy is stubborn. I want you to show General Beauregard and General Bragg what you can do with your bayonets and tooth picks.” The latter was a reference to the famous Bowie Knife or “Arkansas Toothpick.”

One of Breckinridge’s regiments, the 45th Tennessee, became disorganized under heavy fire, fell back into a ravine about 400 yards south of here, and could not be induced to move forward again as a unit. Both Breckinridge, a former U.S. vice president, and Tennessee governor Isham G. Harris, who was serving as a volunteer aide to Johnston, tried unsuccessfully to move the regiment forward. Around 2:00 p.m., as other units began to advance as part of the big push Johnston had been orchestrating, Breckinridge rode up to Johnston in considerable excitement. “General Johnston,” he exclaimed, “I cannot get my men to make the charge.” “Then I will help you,” Johnston replied.


The Hornets Nest

Riding over to the ravine where the 45th Tennessee was sheltering, Johnston rode along the front of the regiment’s line. Leaning over as he rode he reached out and tapped the men’s fixed bayonets with his tin cup. “These will do the work,” he said. “Men, they are stubborn; we must use the bayonet.” He reached the center of the regiment’s line, wheeled Fire-eater toward the enemy, and shouted, “I will lead you!” He urged the big thoroughbred up the slope of the ravine, over its lip, and out into Sarah Bell’s cotton field, just west of here.

The coordinated Confederate attack finally broke the Union left. It was about this time that what was left of Stuart’s brigade had to retreat from its position just east of here (out of site beyond the woods). With Stuart gone, the pressure on Hurlbut’s left flank became unbearable. Slowly, grudgingly, the Union line bent and bent until it curved back sharply to the rear just west of the Peach Orchard, leaving that landmark in Rebel hands. In theory the way to Pittsburg Landing was open to the Confederates, and they had leverage to pry loose the remaining troops in the Hornets’ Nest/Sunken Road position.



Johnston, who had led the charge most of the way to the Peach Orchard, was exuberant. Fire-eater was slightly wounded in two places. A bullet had grazed along the bottom of Johnston’s foot, cutting the sole of his boot. Laughing, he flapped the loose sole and joked to Gov. Harris, “They almost tripped me up that time.” He then dispatched Harris to carry orders to another part of the field, and for the next few minutes none of his staff was with him. When the governor rejoined Johnston near this place, he noticed that the general was “deadly pale” and reeling in the saddle as if about to lose consciousness. “General,” he asked anxiously, “are you wounded?”

“Yes,” Johnston replied, “and I fear seriously.” Harris and another staff officer steadied the general in the saddle and guided his horse back behind the crest of the knoll in the middle of the field to this somewhat more sheltered position. They helped him to dismount, laid him down, and sent for a surgeon. Even then, however, Johnston was losing consciousness, and before medical help could arrive, he was dead. During the grand charge on the Peach Orchard a stray bullet had struck Johnston behind the knee, lacerating the popliteal artery. Johnston may not have realized that he was wounded, and at least some of the blood—he probably lost about two quarts—may have flowed into his high boot. When Harris returned from his errand and found Johnston on the point of losing consciousness, there was still a chance to save the general’s life by prompt application of a tourniquet above the wound, but neither Harris nor the others nearby realized the nature of Johnston’s wounds or the remedy. The general died with a tourniquet in his pocket.

Command of the army devolved upon General Beauregard. He was defeated the following day by Grant, who had been heavily reinforced during the night by the arrival of Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Iris7.

Shiloh was sort of like taking two large groups of armed men and just letting them go at each other with no plan other than "There they are, go get them".

The looting of the Union camps wasted valuable time and took most of the initiative of the surprise out of the attack.

It was also a foretaste of what the war would be. A long drawn out bloody affair.

[SAMWolf]

IMHO the South's best chance was to fight mainly a defensive war with an occasional well planned short offensive into the North. Make the cost too high for the North and hope that they would tiore of the war. Play on the fact that at the beginning, the war was not popular in the North. Hope for a negotiated settlement.

[SAMWolf]

1946 Suzy Chaffee US, skier/chapstick user (Olympics-1968)

Where is she now?
Suzy Chaffee

Her famous lip balm commercial first aired more than 20 years ago, but Suzy Chaffee's alter ego endures like an Energizer snow bunny. The ebullient blue-eyed blonde from Rutland, VT., burst onto the sporting scene at the Grenoble Olympics in 1968, where as a favorite for a medal in the downhill, she used the wrong wax on her skis and finished 28th.. Nevertheless, her specially designed skintight silver ski suit kept her from becoming a historical footnote. "I still got the second-most publicity after Peggy Flemming," says Chaffee, now 54. "Fashion saved my butt!"

Following the Games, Chaffee stayed in the limelight by becoming a freestyle ski champion, modeling and devoting herself to promoting awareness of Title IX and amateur athletes' rights. She made the memorable Chap Stick commercial in 1978, and "Suzy Chapstick" instantly became part of her identity, launching her as a worldwide celebrity who pulled in roughly $100,000 a year in endorsement income from companies such as Colgate and Dannon. She skied with such notables as President Ford and the Empress of Iran and was romantically linked with Bill Bradly, Ted Kennedy and Grace Kelly's brother Jack, (though she has never married).

The Chap Stick campaign aired until 1980. By the early 1990's Chaffee had stopped pursuing endorsements, and by 1995 she was nearly broke, had no health insurance, and was getting many of her clothes from the "free box" in Telluride, Colo., where she had moved that year. During that time she taught a Lakota Indian named Rollingbear to ski. They fell in love, and he provided the inspiration for her latest project.

In 1996 Chaffe, along with Southern Ute Unity Leader Alden Naranjo, started the Native Voices Foundation, a nonprofit program that has taught more than 1,000 Native Americans to ski. Resorts kike Aspen and Vail provide ski lessons, lift tickets and equipment to Native Americans in return for ceremonial dancing demonstrations. Says Ross Anderson, 28, who is 1/2 Cheynne-Arapaho and half Mescalaro Apache and is the world's no 2-ranked speed skier, "When I first met her I thought, Cool! That's Suzy Chapstick. It's great to see someone like Suzy reaching out."

Chaffee is also working to have Native Americans honored at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. "I want to give our first Americans the chance to be heroes, like Cathy Freeman was in Sidney, " she says.

Chaffe says the foundation is the greatest thing she's ever done. "As an athlete I was on planet Me, and it was an empty feeling," she says. "I've discovered that giving back is the real Olympic high."

[SAMWolf]

Morning Darksheare.

You'd think he might have mentioned that he had a tourniquet in his pocket?

[Darksheare]

Not unless he wanted to die gloriously in battle..
Ick.

[SAMWolf]

Texas was inactive until April 1948, when she was placed out of commission and turned over to the State of Texas. She has been maintained as a memorial at San Jacinto ever since.

It's good to see States turn their namesakes into memorials.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Feather.

[SAMWolf]

Hi Manna!

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Mayor.

[The Mayor]

can a soldier tell this skank to go to hell in her face w/o repurcussions ?????

I once said to a Captain
Sir, with all due respect to your rank, you are an as.....
I would tell her if I was still in uniform, afterall she is supposed to be a "Public Servent" not the Queen as she thinks..

Hi Sam

[SAMWolf]

Calling her a "public servant" is stretching it.

That's what all politicians are supposed to be but we know that really they are a "protected class" of their own.

[The Mayor]

"protected class"

I like that, it's soooo true

[SAMWolf]

I don't know what else you'd call them. They pass laws that apply to them and not to us or laws that don't apply to them and do to us. They pass themnselves special perks, rules, exceptions, etc. They get away with stuff that would land you or me in jail.

[Light Speed]

Surface Strike Group Ships To Deploy From Norfolk
From Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs

NORFOLK (Nov. 21, 2003) -- More than 1,000 Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyers USS Cole (DDG 67) and USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), and the destroyer USS Thorn (DD 988) will depart Naval Station Norfolk Nov. 28 for a Mediterranean Sea deployment in support of the global war on terrorism.

As a Surface Strike Group (SSG), Cole, Gonzalez and Thorn will participate in regional exercises with allies, make diplomatic port calls and respond to any contingency including those associated with the ongoing war on terrorism.

The SSG can operate independently or in conjunction with other maritime forces. It is designed to be a flexible group that will provide presence with a purpose and strike power to support joint and allied forces afloat and ashore.

USS Cole and Strike Group sortieing Today from Norfolk

In connection to todays Foxhole ...USS Shiloh CG 67

Shiloh carries 2 SH 60 Sea Hawk Helo's

[SAMWolf]

Morning Light Speed. Nice to see the USS COLE is active again. Hopefully she gets to apply some "payback"

[The Mayor]

There has got to be something we can do without destroying our Constitutional Government, a revolution is need but could tear down what we have built.

We need Constitutional Representatives back in control, but how in Gods name do we do it when we have a country that is split as it is.
The electoral process is ruined and so corrupt, look at how the witch got elected here in NY. If the national Republican would have backed Lazio from the get go, he would have had a better chance against her.
I spoke to Rick Lazios assistant in Feb of that year and she told me that he had no support from them, they were telling him to sit down and shutup. Gilliani was their man, then look what he did. Sometimes I think he did it intentionally.
It is so aggravating living here and watching a\it all go down.I tried to run for office and the rino's won't come near me, they are afraid of me cause I represent the Constitution and fight for it constantly.
They have no idea what it says and they swear to protect it against themselves, as far as I'm concerned they are the domestic enemy and they support the foreign enemy.
I have been in a crap mood since I read what that witch said to the Troops in Iraq, I think I'll go do some woodwork to get my mind off it.

[SAMWolf]

The Offer of Union Command to General A. S.Johnston

From The Century Magazine,
Vol. XXIX, Feb., 1885

[Ed. Note:The following statement was written in response to an inquiry by us as to the details of the offer of high command referred to in the two foregoing papers.]

The circumstances which gave rise to the expressed desire of the administration in 1861 to retain General Albert Sidney Johnston in the Federal army were as follows:
Early in April, 1861, while on duty in the adjutant general's office in Washington, I learned that Colonel Sumner had been dispatched incog. to California, with secret orders to assume command of the department of the Pacific, and that this unusual course had been prompted by the fear that the forts and arsenals and garrisons on that coast would be placed in the hands of the secessionists by General Johnston, the then commander, who was reported to be arranging to do so.

I had just received a letter from General Johnston expressing his pleasure at the large and handsome parade of State troops in San Francisco, on February 22d, and at the undoubted loyalty to the Union cause of the whole Pacific coast, and also his earnest hope that the patriotic spirit manifested in California existed as strongly in all other States, and would as surely be maintained by them as it would be in the Pacific States in case of attempted secession.

Fearing the effect of the superseding orders upon a high-toned and sensitive officer, one whom I esteemed as a brother, and earnestly desired to be secured to our cause, I induced Major McDowell to show the letter to Secretary Cameron, and to urge every effort to keep General Johnston from leaving the service. His superior qualifications, his influence among prominent citizens at the South, and especially among his relatives in his native State, Kentucky, -- which it was exceedingly desirable to keep in the Union, -- were strong inducements to these efforts. My desire was met as cordially and earnestly as it existed, and I was authorized to send, as I did through my friend "Ben Holliday," in New York, for transmission by telegraph to St. Louis, and thence by his "pony express" to San Francisco, the following message: "I take the greatest pleasure in assuring you, for the Secretary of War, that he has the utmost confidence in you, and will give you the most important command and trust on your arrival here. Sidney is appointed to the Military Academy." This message reached General Johnston after the arrival of Colonel Sumner.

In response to the above, and by the same channel of communication, I received this message: "I thank you and my friends for efforts in my behalf. I have resigned and resolved to follow the fortunes of my State." His letter of resignation was soon received, and put an end to all hope, especially as Texas -- which had then seceded -- was his adopted State.

I felt in 1861, as I now know, that the assertion that General Johnston intended to turn over to the secessionists the defenses of California, or any part of the regular army, was false and absurd. Under no circumstances, even if intended, could such a plan have succeeded, especially with the regular army. But no such breach of trust was intended, nor would any graduate of West Point in the army have committed or permitted it. It had no better foundation than the statement of Senator Conness of California, who three years later urged and secured the assignment of General McDowell to command on the Pacific coast, on the ground that after the war for the Union should have ended there would be in California a more powerful rebellion than that then existing among the Southern States.

Fitz John Porter

New York, December 8, 1884

[SAMWolf]

Yeah I read that thread too.

How vile can a person be? It's got my blood boiling too.

I don't know what can be done either. Too many people are apathetic when it comes to politics, too many people have the "The government should give me" attitude. I hardly see any Conservative values being forwared, the Republicans are almost as bad as the Democrats with their Social agenda.

[The Mayor]

Republicans are almost as bad as the Democrats with their Social agenda.

We've come all to close to a one party gov't. It is honestly scarry cause we "The People" are no longer the people....

[SAMWolf]

Yeah. I can't believe the number of people at work and others that I meet who have absolutely no clue about what's going on in their government.