Albert Sydney Johnston

[bankerpapaw]

Given the opinion of Jefferson Davis toward Albert Sydney Johnston ("the greatest soldier, the ablest man, Civil or military, Confederate or Federal, then living") had Johnston survived Shiloh, would he have ended up in command of the Southern Army instead of R.E. Lee?

 

[jackt62]

The answer to that question hinges on whether Johnston, rather than Grant, would have been victorious at the end of the Shiloh fighting. Could Johnston have succeeded in rallying his forces to reach the Tennessee by the end of the first day and prevented Grant from counterattacking with Buell's forces on the following day? Not necessarily, given problems with the confederate attack plan and stiff resistance by Union forces at the Hornet's Nest. Shiloh would have been Johnston's last attempt to hold onto something of a confederate defensive position as Grant and Halleck had already busted Johnston's defensive line wide open across Kentucky and Tennessee in a series of battles including Mill Springs and Fort Donelson.

 

[civilken]

I think it would be interesting to know when he made that statement if it was before Shiloh I would think yes. However it was madeAfter Shiloh and the general was gone off course he would've said something magnanimous about the man.

 

[kholland]

Given the opinion of Jefferson Davis toward Albert Sydney Johnston ("the greatest soldier, the ablest man, Civil or military, Confederate or Federal, then living") had Johnston survived Shiloh, would he have ended up in command of the Southern Army instead of R.E. Lee?

I saw this "what if" idea somewhere on a Civil War blog or site. If Grant had not won on the second day and Johnston had lived the final phase in the East might have been between Johnston and someone else. An interesting theory. Am awaiting some of our learned members theories.

 

[John Winn]

We've debated Albert's generalship before and all I can say is that he showed a lot of potential. Since he lost to Grant and didn't survive to get another chance we'll never really know though. I don't know enough about him to know if he might have become one of Davis' pets or if he outranked Lee. Either of those things might have put him out front for the eastern theater job even if he didn't win any big shootouts. I, too, await the opinions of the more learned.

 

[bankerpapaw]

I think it would be interesting to know when he made that statement if it was before Shiloh I would think yes. However it was madeAfter Shiloh and the general was gone off course he would've said something magnanimous about the man.

The comment was made before Shiloh.

 

[Saruman]

Given the opinion of Jefferson Davis toward Albert Sydney Johnston ("the greatest soldier, the ablest man, Civil or military, Confederate or Federal, then living") had Johnston survived Shiloh, would he have ended up in command of the Southern Army instead of R.E. Lee?

Lee was only made Commander-in-Chief in 1865, so if Johnston had lived I expect he would have retained command of the main Western Army.

If things had gone downhill perhaps he would have been replaced by someone else and then appointed to an advisory role to Davis (like Lee in 1861 or Bragg in 1864) or made Secretary of War.

If things had gone well perhaps the Confederacy wouldn't have ever needed an overall Commander-in-Chief.

 

[TFSmith121]

The answer to that question hinges on whether Johnston, rather than Grant, would have been victorious at the end of the Shiloh fighting. Could Johnston have succeeded in rallying his forces to reach the Tennessee by the end of the first day and prevented Grant from counterattacking with Buell's forces on the following day? Not necessarily, given problems with the confederate attack plan and stiff resistance by Union forces at the Hornet's Nest. Shiloh would have been Johnston's last attempt to hold onto something of a confederate defensive position as Grant and Halleck had already busted Johnston's defensive line wide open across Kentucky and Tennessee in a series of battles including Mill Springs and Fort Donelson.

Good insight. If the point of departure is AS Johnston NOT being KIA at Shiloh, the reality is that by the end of the day, not only had Lew Wallace's division arrived, but Nelson' division of Buell's army was also on the scene, Grant and Sherman et al had assembled a solid line, Webster's grand battery of ~50 guns was in place, and the Navy's gunboats were in a position to support as well.

The rebels had a good day, but if they hadn't shot their bolt, they were pretty close to it by the end of the first day; which means, given the reality that between Wallace and Buell's troops, Grant has something like 25,000 fresh men on Day 2, along with the veterans of the previous day's fighting, odds are pretty much insurmountable for the rebels, whether Johnston or Beauregard is in command.

Which suggests that Johnston has to withdraw on Day 2, just like Beauregard, and he ends up facing Halleck, Grant et al in Mississippi at Iuka/Corinth...

Best,

 

[novushomus]

Given the opinion of Jefferson Davis toward Albert Sydney Johnston ("the greatest soldier, the ablest man, Civil or military, Confederate or Federal, then living") had Johnston survived Shiloh, would he have ended up in command of the Southern Army instead of R.E. Lee?

Its an interesting scenario. Had Johnston lived, he by seniority would have outranked Lee (which didn't really matter as long as they were in different departments) he probably would have ended up as Davis's military adviser as Bragg did. As it was, he apparently didn't like directing the field army anyway, delegating authority crucially at Fort Donelson to Floyd and at Shiloh with Beauregard.

However, I do think that there would have been tremendous pressure to remove Johnston after he was beaten at Shiloh (and he would have been beaten, I have no doubt about it). He had barely survived the public pressures to remove him after the fiascos at Mill Springs and Forts Henry and Donelson. I think, oddly, that his death at Shiloh was the best thing that could have happened for his reputation.

 

[JeffBrooks]

Given the opinion of Jefferson Davis toward Albert Sydney Johnston ("the greatest soldier, the ablest man, Civil or military, Confederate or Federal, then living") had Johnston survived Shiloh, would he have ended up in command of the Southern Army instead of R.E. Lee?

You mean commander-in-chief, as Lee was made in 1865?

 

[Mr. King]

I think the greatest difference between A. S. Johnston, J. E. Johnston, Beauregard, and Bragg is actually the one that we can see and have the ability to judge him by:
Albert Sidney Johnston had the trust, respect, and confidence of both President Davis and his subordinates. That is something that only 1 other Full General in the CS Army possesed, and that was Robert E. Lee.
Bragg had the confidence of Davis, but not his subordinates. Beauregard and J. E. Johnston had the confidence of the men and the public, but not Davis. Lee had everyone's confidence, and thus was much more able to effectively command his army.
I dare say that having a competent, trusted army commander in the West who was free to operate like Lee was in the East, that would have been a Godsend for the South.

Kirby Smith wasn't exactly setting the woods on fire in the Trans-Mississippi, but I think being fairly free of Davis' micro management & oversight worked to his advantage.