Where Albert Sidney Johnston Fell

[Mike Serpa]

Illinois at Shiloh; report of the Shiloh Battlefield Commission and ceremonies at the dedication of the monuments erected to mark the positions of the Illinois commands engaged in the battle; the story of the battle
by Illinois. Shiloh Battlefield Commission; Mason, George, 1840-; Waterloo, Stanley, 1846-1913
Published 1905

https://archive.org/stream/illinoisatshiloh00illi#page/n77/mode/2up

 

[Cavalry Charger]

I looked him up after I saw your post @Mike Serpa , and thought the instance of his death was interesting...I hadn't read an account of it before. Hope you don't mind me sharing it here (taken from Wikipedia).

Battle of Shiloh and death[edit]

Monument to Johnston at Shiloh National Military Park.
"Johnston launched a massive surprise attack with his concentrated forces against Grant at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862. As the Confederate forces overran the Union camps, Johnston seemed to be everywhere, personally leading and rallying troops up and down the line on his horse. At about 2:30 pm, while leading one of those charges against a Union camp near the "Peach Orchard," he was wounded, taking a bullet behind his right knee. He apparently did not think the wound was serious at the time, or even possibly did not feel it. It is possible that Johnston's duel in 1837 had caused nerve damage or numbness to his right leg and that he did not feel the wound to his leg as a result. The bullet had in fact clipped a part of his popliteal artery and his boot was filling up with blood. There were no medical personnel on scene at the time, since Johnston had sent his personal surgeon to care for the wounded Confederate troops and Yankee prisoners earlier in the battle.[92]

Within a few minutes, Johnston was observed by his staff to be nearly fainting. Among his staff was Isham G. Harris, the Governor of Tennessee, who had ceased to make any real effort to function as governor after learning that Abraham Lincoln had appointed Andrew Johnson as military governor of Tennessee. Seeing Johnston slumping in his saddle and his face turning deathly pale, Harris asked: "General, are you wounded?" Johnston glanced down at his leg wound, then faced Harris and replied in a weak voice his last words: "Yes... and I fear seriously." Harris and other staff officers removed Johnston from his horse and carried him to a small ravine near the "Hornets Nest" and desperately tried to aid the general who had lost consciousness by this point. Harris then sent an aide to fetch Johnston's surgeon, but did not apply a tourniquet to Johnson's wounded leg. Before a doctor could be found, Johnston died from blood loss a few minutes later. It is believed that Johnston may have lived for as long as one hour after receiving his fatal wound. Ironically, it was later discovered that Johnston had a tourniquet in his pocket when he died.[93]

Harris and the other officers wrapped General Johnston's body in a blanket so as not to damage the troops' morale with the sight of the dead general. Johnston and his wounded horse, named Fire Eater, were taken to his field headquarters on the Corinth road, where his body remained in his tent until the Confederate Army withdrew to Corinth the next day, April 7, 1862, after failing to gain a decisive victory over the Union armies. From there, his body was taken to the home of Colonel William Inge, which had been his headquarters in Corinth. It was covered in the Confederate flag and lay in state for several hours.[94]

It is probable that a Confederate soldier fired the fatal round. No Union soldiers were observed to have ever gotten behind Johnston during the fatal charge, while it is known that many Confederates were firing at the Union lines while Johnston charged well in advance of his soldiers.[95]

Johnston was the highest-ranking fatality of the war on either side,[2][96] and his death was a strong blow to the morale of the Confederacy. At the time, Jefferson Davis considered him the best general in the country.[97]"

 

[DixieRifles]

Illinois at Shiloh; report of the Shiloh Battlefield Commission

Thanks for the link. I will browse it when Im on my big screen.

The park used to have the dead tree stump still on display many years ago. I would like to find a photo of it before it was gone.

 

[Mike Serpa]

I looked him up after I saw your post @Mike Serpa , and thought the instance of his death was interesting...I hadn't read an account of it before. Hope you don't mind me sharing it here (taken from Wikipedia).

What got me was they were looking for a tourniquet when one was in his pocket. And shot by one of his own.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

* The Ravine at the Shiloh National Military Park.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

Hmmmmm...seemed to be a lot of that going around on the Confederate side. Friendly fire is deadly business...

 

[Longhall]

This was the first battle site I ever visited, in 1972 I was stationed at Biloxi and my roommate was Gen. Johnstons Gr, gr. Grandson. We visited the battle site and spent the weekend at his childhood home, I got to see the uniform The Gen. was wearing that day, he had also taken a shot that split the sole of his boot. He wore a pair of pearl handle colts, a presentation set which according to the family came into the hands of his son after his death and he accompanied Jeff Davis when he was fleeing the country the pistols were confiscated by union soldiers when Davis and his party were captured. This visit started my lifelong interest in all things ACW.

 

[skb8721]

In the Archives were I work we have several items that belonged to Albert Sidney Johnston's son, Col. William Preston Johnston, former president of Louisiana State University (in the antebellum period, when it was a military school), first president of Tulane University in New Orleans, and a poet. William also worked under Robert E. Lee after the war, when Lee was president of Washington College in Lexington, Va.

I once visited the Texas statehouse in Austin, and to my surprise there was inside the statehouse a huge (must have been about 8-foot-high) painting of Albert Sidney Johnston. I say surprise because although I knew Albert Sidney Johnston's name, and knew about his death at Shiloh, I didn't know about his service in the Texas army during the Texas war of independence from Mexico.

He was originally buried in New Orleans, but was reburied in Austin in 1867. Here's his tomb in Austin.

Here's the painting I saw in the Texas statehouse.

 

[Yankeedave]

Interesting thread.

 

[jackt62]

Haven't been to Shiloh, yet, it is definitely on my list.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

* The Ravine at the Shiloh National Military Park.

View attachment 137615

Great image ! I've walked down to that ravine many times.

 

[mofederal]

I always liked ASJ, but most of my focus and research on him is mostly prewar. The Utah Expedition of 1857-58. I have been to the Shiloh battlefield, and walked the area where he was shot, and his death in the ravine are. I know the tree is log gone. I believe from what I have read of him, he was a pretty good administrator, but I think he should have not let Bea. plan the battle. Those three lines of attack at Shiloh were not made for the terrain, but open ground, which Shiloh was not. . I think he was doing his job, up to the point he was killed. What would be can never be known.

 

[LtRusell]

Haven't been to Shiloh, yet, it is definitely on my list.

Shiloh is the ground I think of when I think of ACW fields. It's a quiet place, unimposing (monuments excluded) and unlike Gettysburg was for a long time, you would have a H*** of time finding pop sickle.

 

[diane]

That's a remarkable photo. If you have to die on a battlefield, at least that's a good spot - under a good big tree. It's sad that a rather simple thing could have saved him. When Stonewall Jackson was shot and bleeding out, A P Hill saved him with an improvised tourniquet. That didn't turn out to be for very long, and it might have gone the same way with Johnston - but he had no shattered bones and wasn't recovering from an illness. Might have made it.

PS
Why was Johnston carrying a tourniquet in his pocket?

 

[mofederal]

I think it might have been because of habit, just something he carried in his pocket on a battlefield. Maybe he thought it would be something someone might need. Little knowing he would have been the one who needed it. A tragic event at best, worse because it might have been caused by his own troops.