Confederate general (1807–1891) who, when Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, resigned his commission as a brigadier general in the regular army—the highest-ranking U.S. officer to do so. Initially commissioned as a major general in the Virginia militia, he relieved “Stonewall” Jackson’s command at Harper’s Ferry and organized the Army of the Shenandoah. ALS signed “J. E. Johnston,” one page, 4.75 x 7.25, April 15, 1887. Johnston writes to Harry E. Peck. In part: “Genl. A. S. Johnston’s widow resides in Los Angeles, California. I don’t know if any of her children reside with her. Col: Wm. Preston Johnston, his son by the first marriage, is at the State College in Baton Rouge, La., as president….” Albert Sidney Johnston (1803-1862), a veteran of the Texas War of Independence, the Mexican-American War, and the Utah War, was killed leading Confederate troops at Shiloh—the highest-ranking officer of either side to die at that battle. His value to the Confederacy was such that Jefferson Davis observed that his death “was the turning point of our fate.” A. S. Johnston’s son, William Preston Johnston (1831-1899) was a Confederate colonel who served as aide-de-camp to Jefferson Davis and who was captured, together with Davis, at the end of the war. Following the war, at Davis’s personal invitation, Johnston became a professor at Washington College in Virginia. He later served as president of Louisiana State University and the first president of Tulane University. R&R COA.
