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.

[snippy_about_it]

I have to keep track of those things lest the villagers come for me.

That's what your foxhole is for. :)

[Darksheare]

And Sergei Eisenstien helmets from "Alexander Nevsky".
No-one knows that's really a person under the helmet pluggng the foxhole..

[radu]

Good evening everyone!

Hello service men and women, past and present!

[Soaring Feather]

Well, How do you do radu!!!!?????

Good to see you!!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Afternoon friends. Thanks for the thread, Sam. Love the poem.

They tell the hero of three wars, the lion-hearted man,
Who wore his valor like a star--uncrowned American;
Above his heart serene and still the folded Stars and Bars,
Above his head, like mother-wings, the sheltering Stripes and Stars.

[radu]

Howdy ms. feather!
Good to see you, too!

I wish I could stay but I'm just taking a quick supper break, then it's back to the workshop. poo! I can think of better ways to spend the evening.
I wanted to get a "hello" and "Thank you" in before I did anything else, though.

Have a wonderful evening!!
*HUGZ* all 'round!

[Soaring Feather]

HUGS back at ya!!

Take care.

[snippy_about_it]

Good evening radu. I'm busy working on threads. What are you up to?

[snippy_about_it]

Good evening Victoria. Nice graphic.

[snippy_about_it]

oops. Nevermind. I read ahead and see you're busy in your shop!

[SAMWolf]

Hi Radu!

[SAMWolf]

Evening Victoria. Nice one today.

[PhilDragoo]

Attention! Attention!

Senator Tokyo Rose Clinton taunts "support for war wanes"!

That's the thing, boys! Arrest Hiro Hitlery!

Mrs. Clinton returned to cell claiming,
"I can't recall" at treason trial.

We now return to a live broadcast of "Albert Sidney Johnston" in progress.

Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three Republics

For Want of a Tourniquet For want of a nail
the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe
the horse was lost.
For want of a horse
the rider was lost.
For want of a rider
the battle was lost.
For want of a battle
the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want
of a horseshoe nail.

Bleeding from a major artery of the thigh, lower leg, or arm and bleeding from multiple arteries (which occurs in a traumatic amputation) may prove to be beyond control by manual pressure. If the pressure dressing under firm hand pressure becomes soaked with blood and the wound continues to bleed, apply a tourniquet.

The tourniquet should not be used unless a pressure dressing has failed to stop the bleeding or an arm or leg has been cut off. On occasion, tourniquets have injured blood vessels and nerves. If left in place too long, a tourniquet can cause loss of an arm or leg. Once applied, it must stay in place, and the casualty must be taken to the nearest medical treatment facility as soon as possible. DO NOT loosen or release a tourniquet after it has been applied and the bleeding has stopped.

a. Improvising a Tourniquet (081-831-1017). In the absence of a specially designed tourniquet, a tourniquet may be made from a strong, pliable material, such as gauze or muslin bandages, clothing, or kerchiefs. An improvised tourniquet is used with a rigid stick-like object. To minimize skin damage, ensure that the improvised tourniquet is at least 2 inches wide.

b. Placing the Improvised Tourniquet (081-831-1017).

(1) Place the tourniquet around the limb, between the wound and the body trunk (or between the wound and the heart). Place the tourniquet 2 to 4 inches from the edge of the wound site (Figure 2-39). Never place it directly over a wound or fracture or directly on a joint (wrist, elbow, or knee). For wounds just below a joint, place the tourniquet just above and as close to the joint as possible.

(2) The tourniquet should have padding underneath. If possible, place the tourniquet over the smoothed sleeve or trouser leg to prevent the skin from being pinched or twisted. If the tourniquet is long enough, wrap it around the limb several times, keeping the material as flat as possible. Damaging the skin may deprive the surgeon of skin required to cover an amputation. Protection of the skin also reduces pain.

c. Applying the Tourniquet (081-831-1017).

(1) Tie a half-knot. (A half-knot is the same as the first part of tying a shoe lace.)

(2) Place a stick (or similar rigid object) on top of the half-knot (Figure 2-40).

(3) Tie a full knot over the stick (Figure 2-41).

(4) Twist the stick (Figure 2-42) until the tourniquet is tight around the limb and/or the bright red bleeding has stopped. In the case of amputation, dark oozing blood may continue for a short time. This is the blood trapped in the area between the wound and tourniquet.

(5) Fasten the tourniquet to the limb by looping the free ends of the tourniquet over the ends of the stick. Then bring the ends around the limb to prevent the stick from loosening. Tie them together under the limb (Figure 2-43A and B).

Some wounds are of such a hideous nature as to require the application of tourniquet below the jawline.

Such heroic measures are best left to professionals, e.g., SEALs, Rangers, Delta Force, etc.

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo.

Some wounds are of such a hideous nature as to require the application of tourniquet below the jawline. Such heroic measures are best left to professionals, e.g., SEALs, Rangers, Delta Force, etc.

Why get a professional in trouble, let me do it and I can claim I didn't know what I was doing.

Too bad they didin't have field manuals to issue to the troops, assuming most could read them.

[snippy_about_it]

Some wounds are of such a hideous nature as to require the application of tourniquet below the jawline.

Such heroic measures are best left to professionals, e.g., SEALs, Rangers, Delta Force, etc.

ROTFLOL!!!!!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!