Johnston, ALBERT SIDNEY

Johnston, ALBERT SIDNEY, an American general, was born in Kentucky, 3d February 1803, graduated at West Point in 1826, and served in the United States army until 1834. In 1836 he joined the army of Texas as a private soldier, but very shortly became its head; in 1838 he was appointed war secretary of the young state, and in 1839 drove the marauding Indians out of northern Texas. He served in the Mexican war under General Taylor, who in 1849 appointed him a paymaster in the United States army. In 1855 he received a cavalry regiment, and in 1858 he brought the Mormon rebellion to an end without the employment of force. He was then appointed brigadier-general, and commanded in Utah and in the department of the Pacific until 1861, when he resigned and passed over to the South. Appointed to the command of the department of Kentucky and Tennessee, he fortified Bowling Green, and held the Northern army in check until February 1862, when he retreated to Nashville and, on the fall of Fort Donelson, to Corinth, Mississippi. Here he con- centrated 50,000 men, with which force he attacked Grant at Shiloh before daybreak on Sunday, 6th April 1862. The National army was surprised, and the advantage in the tremendous battle that ensued lay with the Confederates when, at half-past two, while leading a charge, Johnston was mortally wounded. The next day Grant's supports came up, and the enemy, now under Beauregard, was driven back to Corinth. There is a Life of General Johnston by his son (New York, 1878).