JOHNSTON, JOSEPH KMJLESTON. 



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nirtti and with ei|iial plainness. The correspond- 

 icd fur by the Confederate Coognw, 

 Mr. Davia submitted his own letter, but took 



advantage "!' :i misstateinent of the dates t<> 

 withhold John-ton'- reply. Both letters are given 

 full in the u''iier;d'> " Narrative." 

 (in 1W. I*. l*i;:i. (Jen. John-ton wa- tran- 

 to the command of the Army of Tennessee 



which. Under tile leadership of (it'll. Hragg, 



ad fought the Moody but fruitless battle of 

 Chickamauica, and been defeated in that of Mis- 

 ionary liidu'c and established his headquarters 

 Dalton, <ia. He spent the winter in reorgan- 

 in.i; his forces, con-trueting defensive works, 

 id preparing for the spring campaign, which, it 

 a- generally believed, would decide the contest. 

 In .May. :V, i, he had about 55,000 men (if 

 unted in the same way that the opposing force 

 inted) to which Folk's corps was added a 

 w days later, when Gen. William T. Sherman, 

 ith an army of 98,000, moved against him. 

 herinan moved by his right flank, turning the 

 ition at Dalton. ami sent .Md'herson's corps 

 march through the gap at Resaca, and cut the 

 ilroad over which Johnston drew his supplies. 

 cPherson found fortifications at Resaca, feared 

 attack them, fell back to the gap in the 

 on n ia ins, and thus lost a golden opportunity, 

 >r before the rest of Sherman's army arrived, 

 ohnston fell back to Resaca with his entire force. 

 iy some fighting and much manoeuvring Sher- 

 an gained, with his right, an elevated position, 

 mi which his guns could destroy the railway 

 idge over the Oostenaula river, and at the 

 me time threw two pontoon bridges across it 

 hree miles below the town. This made it neces- 

 for Johnston to fall back again to save his 

 mnmnications, and in the night of May 15 he 

 retreated, burning the bridges behind him. 

 Sherman followed promptly, and on the 10th 

 fmmd him in position at Cassville, whence, after 

 sharp skirmishing, he retreated again in the 

 night of the 20th and crossed the Etowah to 

 Allatoona. Johnston savs he intended to fight 

 a battle at Cassville, but Hood and Polk two of 

 is corps commanders told him their positions 

 ere enfiladed by Sherman's artillery. That 

 meral avoided the strong position of Alia- 

 na pass, and moved westward to draw John- 

 m out of it. In this he was successful, and 

 the armies met at New Hope church, where there 

 as irregular fighting for six days but no gen- 

 eral engagement. During this time Sherman 

 strengthened his right, and then extended his 

 left, and secured the roads to Allatoona ; after 

 which he sent a force to occupy the pass and 

 repair the railroad. Johnston then retreated 

 in, and took up a position on the mountain 

 .opes crossing the railroad above Marietta. Sher- 

 an followed him closely, and established an in- 

 inched line parallel with his. Here, though 

 o battle was fought, the firing from the rifle 

 pits was incessant, and there was much loss of 

 life. Johnston, finding that he could not hold a 

 line 10 miles long, shortened it until he occupied 

 only the slope of Kenesaw mountain. Sherman 

 made corresponding contractions, kept the lines 

 close, constructed elaborate works, and never 

 Intermitted the fire of artillery and musketry. 

 He gained and held some good positions on the 

 21 -t .and pushed forward two corps to within three 



miles of Marietta, when* Hood's corps attacked 

 them and was repelled with a loss of al*.ut l.iXM) 

 men. ( *n t he 27t h Sherman made a heav y assault 

 on Johnston'.- (enter, which failed with a low of 

 over 'J.-VKl men, while the Confederate I ( ,SH wan 

 but little over KOO. Sherman, Ixildly letting go 

 his communications for a time, now took ten 

 days' provisions in wagons, and moved south- 

 ward with his whole army, thu- comjM-llin^ his 



opponent either to come out of the ilitrench- 

 nientsand fight him or to retreat again. John- 

 ston fell back to the rhattahoochee, where he had 

 elaborate fortifications on the north side of the 

 stream, already prepared by the labor of a thou- 

 sand slaves at work for a month. Sherman 

 moved up promptly, and on July 9 threw a 

 large part of his army across the stream, at a 

 point above the Confederate position. This river 

 was the last great natural obstruction in Sher- 

 man's path to Atlanta, and Johnston was now 

 compelled to surrender it and fall back again. 

 Sherman followed cautiously, and on the 17th 

 made a grand right wheel toward Atlanta. But 

 on that day came orders from Richmond remov- 

 ing Gen. Johnston from command, and making 

 Gen. Hood his successor. Gen. Johnston thus 

 explains his conduct of this campaign : 



Gen. Sherman's troops, with whom we were con- 

 tending, luii I received a longer truiiiiii>r in war than 

 any of those with whom I had served in former timers. 

 It was not to be supposed that such troops, under a 

 sagacious and resolute leader, and covered by in- 

 treiiehments, were to be beaten by greatly ini'i-rinr 

 numbers. 1 therefore thought it our policy to stand 

 on the defensive, to spare the blood of our soldiers by 

 fighting under cover habitually, and to attack only 

 wlien bad position or division of the enemy's force's 

 mijfht give us advantages counter-balancing that of 

 superior numbers. So we held every position occu- 

 pied, until our communications were strongly threat- 

 ened; then tell back only far enough to secure them, 

 watching for opportunities to attack, keeping near 

 enougli to the ieueral army to assure the Confederate 

 Administration that Sherman could not send re-en- 

 forcements to Grant, and hoping to reduce the odds 

 against us by partial engagements. 



The reasons for his removal, as given in the 

 telegram announcing it, were that he had " failed 

 to arrest the advance of the enemy to the vicin- 

 ity of Atlanta, far in the interior of Georgia, and 

 expressed no confidence that he could defeat or 

 repel him." In answer, Gen. Johnston wrote : 

 "As to the alleged cause of my removal, I assert 

 that Sherman's army is much stronger compared 

 with that of Tennessee than Grant's compared 

 with that of Northern Virginia. Yet the enemy 

 has been compelled to advance much more slowly 

 to the vicinity of Atlanta than to that of Rich- 

 mond and Petersburg, and penetrated much 

 deeper into Virginia than into Georgia. Confi- 

 dent language by a military commander is not 

 usually regarded'as evidence of competence." 



On his removal from command, (ien. Johnston 

 went to reside in Macon, (ia.. and afterward to 

 Lincolnton, N. C., where, on Feb. 23, 18G5. he re- 

 ceived orders to assume command of the Army 

 of Tennessee and all troops in the Department of 

 South Carolina. Georgia, and Florida, and "con- 

 centrate all available forces and drive back Sher- 

 man," who had made his inarch to the -ea and 

 was now moving northward through the Caro- 

 linas. The available forces were alxmt 16.000 

 men, somewhat scattered. Such a force, even if 



