The Other CSA Johnstons

[Battleline]

Any Civil War student knows about Joseph E. Johnston and Albert S. Johnston. There were two other Confederate Johnstons, both brigadiers. Below are their stories.

Brig. Gen. Robert D. Johnston (b. 1837, d. 1919) When Robert Daniel Johnston died in Winchester, Virginia, Feb. 1, 1919, it marked the passing of one of the last of the Confederate generals. Johnston, born March 19, 1837 in Lincoln County, North Carolina, first was educated at the University of North Carolina. He later studied law at the University of Virginia and earned admission to the bar in his home state. He also was an elder in the Presbyterian church. When North Carolina seceded, Johnston was a lieutenant in the Beattie’s Ford Rifles militia unit. When it was absorbed into Confederate service, Johnston was commissioned as captain of Company K, 23rd North Carolina Infantry. In the spring of 1862, the 23rd was one of the Confederate units opposing McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign (March-July 1862). The unit fought at the inconclusive Battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, but Johnston earned praise.. Serving as a lieutenant colonel at the Battle of Seven Pines (May 31-June 1, 1862), claimed as a victory by both sides, Johnston was wounded. He returned for the Maryland Campaign (September 1862), fighting in delaying action at South Mountain in Gen. Garland’s brigade and in the Confederate defeat at Sharpsburg (Sept. 16-18, 1862). At Sharpsburg, the 23rd occupied a position in “Bloody Lane.” Johnston earned praise from his division commander, Gen. D.H. Hill. Johnston was picked to lead the 12th North Carolina at the Confederate victory at Chancellorsville, participating in Stonewall Jackson’s flank attack. He was back with the 23rd North Carolina during the Federal victory at Gettysburg. In action on the opening day, Johnston was wounded in the attack of Iverson’s brigade north of the town. In the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia after the Pennsylvania Campaign, he was promoted to brigadier general Sept. 1, 1863. Opposing Grant’s Overland Campaign, Johnston was wounded in at Spotsylvania Court House (May 8-21, 1864) as Lee checked the Federal offensive. Johnston returned for Gen. Early’s Valley Campaign late in 1864 and stood out in the Confederate defeat at Third Winchester, Sept. 19, 1864. Johnston’s brigade was moved into the lines around Petersburg but later moved to the Roanoke River line, where his command picked up deserters. Johnston was paroled at Charlotte, North Carolina, in May 1865. He spent 20 years practicing law in Charlotte before moving to Birmingham, Alabama. There, he was president of the Birmingham National Bank and served for a time as register of the U.S. Land Office. His final days were spent at Winchester, Virginia, site of one of his brightest military moments.

Brig. Gen. George D. Johnston (b. 1832, d. 1910) Generals make good targets, or at least that’s what George Doherty Johnston was led to believe. Johnston was in the thick of fighting both in the east and with the Army of Tennessee. Until he was promoted to brigadier general, he had no major wounds. Two days after his July 26, 1864 promotion, Johnston was hit in the leg and spent much of the rest of the war on crutches, but still in command of his unit. Johnston was born May 30, 1832, in Hillsboro, North Carolina. But his time in the Tarheel State was short as his father took the family to Alabama when George was two. Johnston received education in private schools and Howard College. He learned law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and started his practice in Marion, Alabama. In 1856, he was elected mayor of Marion and in 1857-58, he served in the Alabama legislature. With war coming, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and was commissioned lieutenant of Company G, Fourth Alabama Infantry, part of the brigade of Gen. Barnard Bee. With this unit, he fought in the Confederate victory at Manassas July 21, 1861. A combat veteran, Johnston was valuable as additional units were hastily formed back home. He was made major of the 25th Alabama in January 1862. This unit was used as part of Gen. Jones Withers’ brigade in operations in the Western Theater starting with the bloody battle at Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6-7, 1862. Confederates carried the day early there, but were ultimately repulsed. Johnston continued to command troops at the regimental level through the battles of the Army of Tennessee. In September of 1862, Johnston was promoted to colonel of the 25th Alabama. His unit was in the brigade of Gen. Zachariah Deas at Murfreesboro (Stones River) Chickamauga and Chattanooga. During the Atlanta Campaign, he received his promotion to brigadier general. During the Federal Atlanta Campaign, Johnston led his men in an assault of Federal lines at the Battle of Ezra Church. There, he was hit in the leg during the Federal victory. He spent much time on crutches, including Hood’s Tennessee Campaign (September-December 1864). He was one of the survivors to make it east to North Carolina. After the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina (March 19-21, 1865), Johnston was detailed to join the forces of Gen. Richard Taylor in the Trans-Mississippi Department. There is no record of Johnston’s parole. After the war, Johnston became commandant of cadets at the University of Alabama. He later was superintendent of the South Carolina Military Academy. During the second term of U.S. President Grover Cleveland, he served as U.S. Civil Service commissioner. Returning to Alabama, he resided in Tuscaloosa and was elected to the state senate. He died there, Dec. 8, 1910.

[jkBluesman]

ORIGINAL: Battleline

A combat veteran, Johnston was valuable as additional units were hastily formed back home. He was made major of the 25th Alabama in January 1862.

Great to see you are back with new bios. I just don't get the connection in the two sentences quoted. Is it that he was valuable as combat veteran and thus choosen to lead a unit in the west?

[Battleline]

Early in the war, it was common for units which had been in battle or just in a combat theater to rotate home veteran officers and men to form the core of new units and to help train them for what was to come. Sometimes these new units were sent back to the same theater. Other times, they ended up in different places. Johnston was in the East, but his new unit ended up in the West with the Confederate armies fighting in Tennessee.
I hope that explains that part of the bio.
Thanks,
Battleline

[Gil R.]

Seems like old times. I copied both.