Born February 3, 1807
Cherry Grove, Virginia
Died March 21, 1891
District of Columbia

Confederate general

Led Army of Tennessee against Union
general William T. Sherman's forces during
Atlanta campaign

Johnston "was loved, respected, admired; yea, almost worshiped by his troops. I do not believe there was a soldier in his army but would gladly have died for him."

One of Johnston's soldiers

Joseph E. Johnston. (Reproduced by permission of the National Portrait Gallery.)

Joseph Johnston's reputation as a Civil War general is a mixed one. On the one hand, he became known as one of the Confederacy's most sensible and intelligent military leaders. Careful and crafty, he never sent his troops into battle rashly. This reluctance to commit troops to battle without good cause understandably made Johnston very popular with many of the soldiers under his command. But critics of Johnston argued that he avoided conflict on...