Oval cdv of a portrait of Johnston in civilian clothes. Bust view in oval frame. Image is clear with very good contrast. Period ink identification on lower edge of mount. Printed paper label from photographer pasted to reverse: “Tucker & Perkins, Augusta, Ga.”

Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars.

When Virginia seceded, Johnston was the highest-ranking U.S. Army officer to resign his commission.  He was appointed brigadier general, and relieved Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson of his post at Harpers Ferry in May of 1861. Johnston was the original commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, then known as Army of the Potomac.  He defended Richmond from invading Union general George B. McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign. Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines, providing Davis with the opportunity to appoint Robert E. Lee to command in Johnston’s stead; Lee held this position for the remainder of the war. After recovering from his wounds, Johnston went on to command in the western theater, and was involved but not fully in control of the conflicts at Vicksburg and Chattanooga.

Johnston’s weak offensive strategy and caution caused Davis to remove him from command in July of 1864.  After much public clamor, Davis reinstated him as commander of a loosely collected department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. After many retreats and withdrawals, Johnston finally surrendered the Army of Tennessee and all remaining forces still active in his department to Sherman in April of 1865.

Post war, Johnston served in many business ventures, and later as a U.S. Congressman before dying of pneumonia in 1891, which was contracted at Sherman’s funeral for which he was a pallbearer. He is buried in Baltimore, Maryland.   [jet] [ph:L]

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