Joseph E. Johnston

(Joseph Eggleston Johnston)

Born: February 3, 1807 in Farmville, Virginia

Died: March 21, 1891 in Washington, D.C.

Military Rank (CSA): General

• He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1829.
• He was the first West Point graduate to be promoted to a general officer in the regular army, reaching a higher rank in the U.S. Army than his classmate Robert E. Lee.
• He resigned from the U.S. Army in 1837 and studied civil engineering. He rejoined the Army in 1838 after experiencing more combat activity as a civilian civil engineer during the Second Seminole War than he had while being an artillery officer.
• He fought in the Mexican-American War.
• He was the highest-ranking U.S. Army officer to resign his position and join the C.S. Army after the secession.
• He contributed to the design of the Confederate Battle Flag.
• There was friction between him and Confederate President Jefferson Davis because Johnston felt that, as the most senior officer in the U.S. Army, he should be promoted before the other generals he had outranked previously.
• After learning of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Johnston agreed to meet with Union General Sherman. He surrendered over 89,000 Confederate soldiers, the largest surrendering of the war. Sherman issued 10 days’ worth of ration food to all of Johnston’s hungry soldiers, and act of compassion that Johnston would never forget.
• Johnston caught a cold at Sherman’s funeral, which developed into pneumonia. He died several weeks later.