Joseph E. Johnston
Military Commander
1807 – 1891
Who was Joseph E. Johnston?
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was unrelated to Albert Sidney Johnston, another high-ranking Confederate general.
Johnston was trained as a civil engineer at the U.S. Military Academy. He served in Florida, Texas, and Kansas, and fought with distinction in the Mexican-American War and by 1860 achieved the rank of brigadier general as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army. When his native state of Virginia seceded from the Union, Johnston resigned his commission, the highest-ranking officer to join the Confederacy. To his dismay, however, he was appointed only the fourth ranking full general in the Confederate Army.
Johnston's effectiveness in the Civil War was undercut by tensions with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who often criticized him for a lack of aggressiveness, and victory eluded him in most campaigns he personally commanded.
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- Born
- Feb 3, 1807
Farmville - Also known as
- Joseph Johnston
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Confederate States of America
- Education
- United States Military Academy
- Lived in
- Virginia
- Died
- Mar 21, 1891
Washington, D.C. - Resting place
- Green Mount Cemetery
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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"Joseph E. Johnston." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/joseph_e_johnston>.
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