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“The Enemy at Richmond”: Joseph E. Johnston and the Confederate Government
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192 richard m. mcmurry “The enemy at richmond” Joseph E. Johnston and the Confederate Government richard M. McMurry The confederacy, historians have long recognized, was torn by intramural quarrels among its leaders. Generals, congressmen, state officials, and members of President Jefferson davis’s administration carried on bitter feuds that diverted attention from their real enemy, consumed inordinate amounts of their time and energies, and weakened theircountry’s bid forindependence. none of these debilitating disputes reached the magnitude of that between General Joseph e. Johnston and the Confederate government. Johnston was of a prominent Virginia family. His father served with distinction in the War for Independence, and his motherwas a niece of Patrick Henry. His boyhood ambition was to be a soldier, and in 1829, he graduated from the Military academy, standing a respectable thirteenth in a class of forty-six. In 1845 Johnston married lydia Mclane, the daughter of a United states senator who had been andrew Jackson’s secretary of the treasury and secretary of state. Forthirtyyears Johnston served in the United statesarmy, receivingwounds and citations for braveryin the seminole and Mexicanwars. In 1860, he became quartermastergeneral of thearmy, a selection carryingwith it promotion to the grade of “brigadiergeneral, staff.”as long as he served as quartermastergeneral, Johnston would be a brigadier general; should he leave that staff assignment, he would revert to his “permanent grade” of lieutenant colonel. 192 E Civil War History, Vol. XXVII, no. 1 Copyright ©1981 by The Kent state University Press joseph e. johnston and the confederate government 193 1. Cilbert e. Govan and James W. livingood, a Different valor: The story of General Joseph E. Johnston, C. s. a. (Indianapolis and new York, 1956), 14–15, 69–70; ellsworth eliot, west Point in the Confederacy (new York, 1941), 81–95. by 1861 when he followed Virginia into the Confederacy, Johnston was regarded as a competent military leader. He owed this reputation to his wartime bravery, tothe almostunanimous southern belief thatConfederate generalswere natural military leaders, and to thewidespread assumption that anyone holding high rank, especially military rank, is ipso facto well qualified for the position. Until wounded in May1862, Johnstoncommanded the majorConfederate army in Virginia. during his long convalescence, robert e. lee, who replaced him, won suchvictories that therecould be noquestionof his relinquishingcommand in Virginia to anyone. Meanwhile, Johnston began to quarrel with Jefferson davis—a quarrel worsened by the exaggerated sensitivity of both and the unwillingness of either to entertain the possibility of personal error. little is known of the origins of this quarrel. There are improbable reports that the differences originated at West Point (davis was in the Class of 1828) when the two are alleged to have been rivals for the attentions of a local belle. some writers have asserted that the differences grew from davis’s treatment of Johnston while davis was secretary of war in Franklin Pierce’s cabinet. others suggest that harsh feelings arose when Johnston became quartermastergeneral,winning the positionoveralbertsidney Johnston, whose claims were supported by davis, then chairman of the senate Militaryaffairs Committee. some accounts trace the quarrel to differences over strategy or to a squabble between Mrs. davis and Mrs. Johnston in the early days of the Confederacy. Johnston seems also to have resented the praise that many newspapers gave to davis and others after the First battle of Manassas—a battle in which Johnston had commanded the southern armies.1 Whatever their origins, the differences between the president and the general were rekindled in the late summer of 1861. a May 1861 law stipulated that Confederate officers would be ranked within each grade in accordance with the relative rank they had held in the army of the United states. The intent was to prevent a Confederate officer from being subordinate to officers of the same gradewho had been his juniors in the“oldarmy.”When davis implemented this law in august 1861, he decided that Johnston’s position should be determined by his “permanent grade” of lieutenant colonel. Johnston had believed that his rank would be based upon his “staff grade” of brigadier general. The difference [44.213.80.174] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 14:24 GMT) 194 richard m. mcmurry was crucial. Under Johnston’s interpretation he ranked first among Confederate generals; if davis’s ranking of the generals prevailed, Johnston stood fourth. because davis was president and because the Confederate Congress acquiesced in his decision, Johnston was ranked below samuel Cooper, albert sidney Johnston, and robert e. lee. davis’s ranking of...