Who Were The Key People in Railroading During the Civil War?
Meet General Herman Haupt of the Union Army Herman Haupt (March 26, 1817 – December 14, 1905) was an American civil engineer and railroadconstruction engineer and executive. As a Union Army General in the American Civil War, he revolutionized military transportation in the United States and was one of the unsung heroes of the war. Early Life Haupt, whose first name was sometimes spelled Hermann, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 26, 1817, the son of Jacob and Anna Margaretta Wiall Haupt. Jacob, a merchant, died when Herman was 12 years old, leaving Anna to support three sons and two daughters. Herman worked part-time to pay his school tuition, then in 1831 was appointed to the United States Military Academy at the age of 14 by President Andrew Jackson. He graduated in 1835 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Infantry that July. But he resigned his commission on September 30, 1835, to accept an appointment under Henry R Campbell as Assistant Engineer engaged in the surveys of the Allentown road and of the Norristown & Valley Railroad, which opened in 1835 and 15 years later merged into the Chester Valley railroad. At 19, he was appointed Assistant Engineer in the state service and located the line from Gettysburg to the Potomac across the South Mountain which is now a part of the Western Maryland. On August 30, 1838, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he married Ann Cecelia Keller, with whom he would have seven sons and four daughters. In 1839, he designed and patented a novel bridge construction technique known as the Haupt Truss. Two of his Haupt truss bridges still stand in Altoona and Ardmore, Pennsylvania, both from 1854. From 1840 to 1847, Haupt was a professor of mathematics and engineering at Pennsylvania College. He returned to the railroad business in 1847, becoming a construction engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and then general superintendent from 1849 to 1851. He was the chief engineer of the Southern Railroad of Mississippi from 1851 to 1853, and the chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad until 1856; in the latter position he completed the Mountain Division with the Alleghany Tunnel, opening the line through toPittsburgh. He was the chief engineer on the five-mile (8 km) Hoosac Tunnel project through the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts from 1856 to 1861. Civil War In the spring of 1862, a year after the start of the Civil War, the U.S. War Department organized a new bureau responsible for constructing and operating military railroads in the United States. On April 27, Haupt was appointed chief of the bureau by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, as a colonel and aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell, then in command of the defenses of Washington, D.C. He repaired and fortified war-damaged railroad lines in the vicinity of Washington, arming and training railroad staff, and improved telegraph communications along the railroad lines. Among his most challenging assignments was restoring the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad line, including the Potomac Creek Bridge, which he repaired in nine days. President Abraham Lincoln was impressed with Haupt's work there. In a visit on May 28, 1862, he observed: "That man Haupt has built a bridge four hundred feet long and one hundred feet high, across Potomac Creek, on which loaded trains are passing every hour, and upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but cornstalks and beanpoles." Haupt was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on September 5, 1862, but he officially refused the appointment, explaining that he would be happy to serve without official rank or pay, but he did not want to limit his freedom to work in private business (and he privately bridled at the protocols and discipline of Army service). Offered promotion again in early autumn 1863, he hinged his acceptance on three conditions: that a central Bureau of U.S. Military Railroads be established to inspect, direct, and receive reports concerning construction and operation of all military railroads; difficulties with commanding generals be avoided through consultation and cooperation within their departments; the chief of the bureau should be free to move wherever his personal presence was necessary or to attend to whatever public or private business requiring his attention. The War Department declined to accept such terms and Haupt's appointment was eventually rescinded on September 5, 1863, and he left the service on September 14. During that year as a general, however, he made an enormous impact on the Union war effort. The Civil War was one of the first wars in which large-scale railroad transportation was used to move and supply armies rapidly over long distances. He assisted the Union Army of Virginia and Army of the Potomac in the Northern Virginia Campaign, the Maryland Campaign, and was particularly effective in supporting the Gettysburg Campaign, conducted in an area he knew well from his youth. His hastily organized trains kept the Union Army well supplied, and he organized the returning trains to carry thousands of Union wounded to hospitals. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Haupt boarded one of his trains and arrived at the White House on July 6, 1863, being the first to inform President Lincoln that General Robert E. Lee's defeated Confederate army was not being pursued vigorously by Union Major General George G. Meade. Postbellum After his war service, Haupt returned to railroad, bridge, pipeline, and tunnel construction. He and his wife purchased a small resort hotel at Mountain Lake in Giles County, Virginia. He invented a drilling machine that won the highest prize of the Royal Polytechnic Society of Great Britain and was the first to prove the practicability of transporting oil in pipes. He was the general manager of Piedmont Air-Line Railway (from Richmond, Virginia, to Atlanta, Georgia), 1872 to 1876; general manager of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 1881 to 1885; president of the Dakota and Great Southern Railroad, 1885 to 1886. He was a wealthy man from his investments in railroads, mining, and Pennsylvania real estate, but he eventually lost most of his fortune, in part due to political complications involving the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel. Herman Haupt died of a heart attack at age 88 in Jersey City, New Jersey, stricken while traveling in a Pullman car named "Irma" on a journey from New York to Philadelphia. He is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. His son Lewis M. Haupt was a noted civil engineer. Lt. Col. Silas Burke
Every generation produces those individuals, man and woman, that make a significant impact in their private or professional lives that influence others in their community and even beyond. Silas Burke was just such a man, Fairfax County was just such a place, and the antebellum period was just such a time. In a course of 56 years, from 1796 when he was born in Prince William County, Virginia, to 1854 when he suddenly died from apoplexy, Silas served as a farmer and planter of a large plantation, a director of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Company, the President of the Fairfax Agricultural Society, the President of the Fairfax Turnpike Company, the owner and operator of a local grist mill and lumber mill, a county judge and sheriff, a superintendent of Primary School System for Educating the Indigent Children of Fairfax County, a Lieutenant Colonel in the State Militia, and an owner and operator of a home of public entertainment. At the time of his untimely death, he was considered one of the most important men in the county. In fact, not one to sit on his laurels, just four months before his death, he had applied for, and received approval from the county, a license to operate a “house of entertainment,” known in modern vernacular as a tavern. Hannah Coffer Burke
Hannah Coffer, one of the famous Fairfax Coffer’s, Hannah Coffer married Silas Burke on September 2, 1824.Hannah traces her roots back to Thomas Withers Coffer, born in 1713, and a well-known vestryman of Truro Parish. Other well-known vestrymen of Truro Parish include George Mason, Thomas Wren, the Fairfax’s, and His Excellency George Washington. Thomas Coffer, Thomas Withers Coffer’s grandson, was born in 1773 and served as captain of the 1st Battalion, 60th Regiment, Virginia Militia, an infantry company from Fairfax in the War of 1812.1. He married Ann Simpson and has eight children, one of which is my wife, Hannah. Hannah has a sister, Jane, who also married another Burke, Levi Burke, he’s my brother. (Source: The History of Truro Parish) Capt. John T. Burke Son of Lt. Col. Silas and Hannah Burke, Capt. John T. Burke was born on August 29, 1827 and was trained as an engineer. After his father’s untimely death in 1854, he returned to the home in Fairfax County to assist his mother, Hannah, in running the farm. He married Virginia Skinner on December 16, 1856 in Washington City. As tensions between the North and the South built, John Burke voted in support of succession at Sangster’s on April 23, 1861. Two days later, he enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 17th Virginia, Co. D., Fairfax Rifles, and after the unfortunately, but serious wounding of Capt. William Dulany at Blackburn’s Ford during the early stages of the Battle of 1stManassas, Capt. Burke was elected the Captain of the 17th VA, Co. D. He was wounded at Seven Pines on May 31, 1862 and cited for gallantry at Boonsborough, Maryland. Unfortunately, his luck ran out on September 17, 1862, at Sharpsburg, Maryland, on the bloodiest day in US military history, (Antietam) with about 23,000 casualties, on both the North and the South. Ann Burke Six years the younger of John, her brother, Ann is the daughter of Silas and Hannah. She was born in 1834 in Fairfax County, Virginia. At the age of 16, she traveled to Staunton, to the Virginia Female Institute, where she learned mathematics, moral philosophy, language, music, drawing and painting, and elocution and physical culture. The Copperthites
Henry Copperthite (1847 – October 13, 1925). He was born in the West Indies and immigrated to the United States in 1847. He then lived in Connecticut until 1885, when he moved to Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and operated the Connecticut Pie Company at 1407 32nd Street NW until his retirement in 1904. Upon his retirement, Copperthite lived on his farm in Burke, and opened a harness racing track there in 1908. Copperthite died in the home of his daughter at 209 Poplar Avenue in Clarendon, and was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC on October 17, 1925 John S. Barbour...John Strode Barbour, Jr. (December 29, 1820 – May 14, 1892) was a Representativeand a Senator from Virginia. He is best remembered for taking power in Virginia from the short-lived Readjuster Party in the late 1880s, forming the first political machine of"Conservative Democrats", whose power was to last 80 years until the demise of the Byrd Organization in the late 1960s.
Barbour was born at Catalpa, near Culpeper, Virginia, the son of John S. Barbour. He attended the common schools and graduated from the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Culpeper. Barbour served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1847 to 1851, and was president of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Co. from 1852 to 1881. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh, and the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1881 - March 4, 1887). There he served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia (Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1886. In the late 1880s, Barbour is credited with taking on the Readjuster Party, a coalition of blacks, Republicans, and Conservative Democrats led by Harrison H. Riddleberger andWilliam Mahone, forming the first political machine of "Conservative Democrats", whose power was to last 80 years until the demise of the Byrd Organization in the late 1960s. Barbour was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in 1892 in Washington, D.C.. He was interred in the burial ground at "Poplar Hill," Prince George's County, Maryland. CLARA BARTON
Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was a pioneernurse who founded the American Red Cross. In addition to being a hospital nurse, she worked as a teacher, patent clerk, and humanitarian. At a time when relatively few women worked outside the home, Barton built a career helping others. She was never married, as she knew the restrictions of a married woman at the time, but had a relationship with John J. Elwell. During the end of the American Civil War, Barton worked at a hospital she made helping the people at the Andersonville prison camp where 13,000 people died. Barton's father was Captain Stephen Barton, a member of the local militia and a selectman. Barton's mother was Sarah Stone Barton, a homemaker. When three years old, Clara was sent to school with her brother Stephen where she excelled in reading and spelling. At school, she became close friends with Nancy Fitts; this is the only known friend Clara Barton had as a child due to her extreme timidness. Her parents tried to help cure her of this shyness by sending her to Col. Stones High School, but their strategy turned out to be a disaster. Clara became more timid and depressed and would not eat. She was immediately removed from the school and brought back home to regain her health. Upon her return, her family relocated to help a family member, as the nephew of Captain Stephen Barton had died and left his wife with four children and a farm. The house that the Barton family was to live in needed to be painted and repaired. Clara was persistent in offering her assistance, for which the painter was very grateful. After the work was done, Clara felt at a loss because she had nothing else to do to help and not feel like a burden to her family. She began to play with her male cousins, and to their surprise, she was good at keeping up with such tasks as horseback riding. It was not until after she had injured herself that Clara's mother began to question her playing with the boys. Clara's mother wanted her to become acquainted with her feminine side. She invited one of Clara's female cousins over to help develop her femininity. Upon learning from her cousin, she gained proper social skills as well. She was just ten when she assigned herself the task of nursing her brother David back to health after he fell from the roof of a barn and received a severe injury. She learned how to distribute the prescribed medication to her brother, as well as how to place leeches on his body to bleed him. (This was a regular treatment during this time.) She continued to care for David long after doctors had given up. Her brother made a full recovery. Clara Barton became an educator in 1838 for a dozen years in schools in Canada and West Georgia. Barton fared well as a teacher and knew how to handle rambunctious children, particularly the boys, since as a child she enjoyed her male cousins’ and brothers’ company. She learned how to act like them, making it easier for her to relate to and control the boys in her classroom since they respected her. In 1850, Barton decided to further her education by pursuing writing and languages at the Clinton Liberal Institute in New York. Following these studies, Barton opened a free school in Bordentown, New Jersey, the first free school to be opened in the state. The attendance under her leadership grew to 603, but instead of hiring Barton to head the school, the board hired a man. Frustrated, in 1855 she moved to Washington D.C. and began work as a clerk in the US Patent Office; this was the first time a woman had received a substantial clerkship in the federal government and at a salary equal to a man's salary. Subsequently, under political opposition to women working in government offices, her position was reduced to that of copyist, and in 1856, under the administration of James Buchanan, eliminated entirely. After the election of Abraham Lincoln, having lived with relatives and friends in Massachusetts for three years, she returned to the patent office in the autumn of 1861, now as temporary copyist, in the hope she could make way for more women in government service. She was probably the first woman to hold a government job in the US. Before her father died, Clara Barton was able to talk to him about the war effort. Her father convinced her that it was her duty as a Christian to help the soldiers. In the April following his death, Barton returned to Washington to gather medical supplies. Ladies' Aid societies helped in sending bandages, food, and clothing that would later be distributed during the Civil War. In the August of 1862, Barton finally gained permission from Quartermaster Daniel Rucker to work on the front lines. She gained support from other people who believed in her cause. These people became her patrons, her most supportive being Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts. She worked to distribute stores, clean field hospitals, apply dressings, and serve food to wounded soldiers in close proximity to several battles, including Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. In 1863 she began a romantic relationship with a married officer, Colonel John J. Elwell. In 1864 she was appointed by Union General Benjamin Butler as the "lady in charge" of the hospitals at the front of the Army of the James. Among her more harrowing experiences was an incident in which a bullet tore through the sleeve of her dress without striking her and killed a man to whom she was tending. She is known as the "Angel of the Battlefield." After the war, she ran the Office of Missing Soldiers, at 437 Seventh Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. in the Gallery Placeneighborhood.The office's purpose was to find or identify soldiers killed or missing in action .Barton then achieved widespread recognition by delivering lectures around the country, which lasted well over a year, about her war experiences. After her country wide tour she was both mentally and physically exhausted and under doctor's orders to go somewhere that would take her far from her current work; so she packed up and went on a retreat to Europe for some R&R. She met Susan B. Anthonyand began a long association with the woman's suffrage movement. She also became acquainted with Frederick Douglass and became an activist for civil rights.
In 1869, during her trip to Geneva, Switzerland, Barton was introduced to the Red Cross and Dr. Appia; who later would invite her to be the representative for the American branch of the Red Cross and even help her find financial beneficiaries for the start of the American Red Cross. She was also introduced to Henry Dunant's book A Memory of Solferino, which called for the formation of national societies to provide relief voluntarily on a neutral basis.
At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1870, she assisted the Grand Duchess of Badenin the preparation of military hospitals, and gave the Red Cross society much aid during the war. At the joint request of the German authorities and the Strasbourg Comité de Secours, she superintended the supplying of work to the poor of Strasbourg in 1871, after the Siege of Paris, and in 1871 had charge of the public distribution of supplies to the destitute people of Paris. At the close of the war, she received honorable decorations of the Golden Cross of Baden and the Prussian Iron Cross. When Barton returned to the United States, she inaugurated a movement to gain recognition for the International Committee of the Red Cross by the United States government. In 1873, she began work on this project. In 1878, she met with President Rutherford B. Hayes, who expressed the opinion of most Americans at that time which was the U.S. would never again face a calamity like the Civil War. Barton finally succeeded during the administration of President Chester Arthur, using the argument that the newAmerican Red Cross could respond to crises other than war such as earthquakes, forest fires, and hurricanes. Barton became President of the American branch of the society, which held its first official meeting at her I Street apartment in Washington, DC, May 21, 1881. The first local society was founded August 22, 1882 in Dansville, Livingston County, New York, where she maintained a country home . The society's role changed with the advent of the Spanish-American War during which it aided refugees and prisoners of the civil war. Domestically in 1884 she helped in the floods on the Ohio river, provided Texas with food and supplies during the famine of 1887 and took workers to Illinois in 1888 after a tornado and that same year to Florida for the yellow fever epidemic.[17] Within days after the Johnstown Flood in 1889, she led her delegation of 50 doctors and nurses in response.[18] In 1897, responding to the humanitarian crisis in the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the Hamidian Massacres, Barton sailed toConstantinople and after long negotiations with Abdul Hamid II, opened the first American International Red Cross headquarters in the heart of Turkey. Barton herself traveled along with five other Red Cross expeditions to the Armenian provinces in the spring of 1896, providing relief and humanitarian aid. Barton also worked in hospitals in Cuba in 1898 at the age of seventy-seven.[19] Barton's last field operation as President of the American Red Cross was helping victims of the Galveston hurricane in 1900. The operation established an orphanage for children. As criticism arose of her management of the American Red Cross, plus her advancing age, Barton resigned as president in 1904, at the age of 83. After resigning, Barton founded the National First Aid Society.
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Meet General Joseph Eggleston Johnston of The Confederate Army
Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officersin the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was unrelated to Albert Sidney Johnston, another high-ranking Confederate general.
Johnston was trained as a civil engineer at the U.S. Military Academy. He served in Florida, Texas, and Kansas, and fought with distinction in the Mexican-American War and by 1860 achieved the rank of brigadier general asQuartermaster General of the U.S. Army. When his native state of Virginia seceded from the Union, Johnston resigned his commission, the highest-ranking officer to join the Confederacy. To his dismay, however, he was appointed only the fourth ranking full general in the Confederate Army. Johnston's effectiveness in the Civil War was undercut by tensions with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who often criticized him for a lack of aggressiveness, and victory eluded him in most campaigns he personally commanded. However, he was the senior Confederate commander at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, and his recognition of the important necessary actions, and prompt application of leadership in that victory is usually credited to his subordinate, P. G. T. Beauregard. He defended the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, withdrawing under the pressure of a superior force under Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. In his only offensive action during the campaign, he suffered a severe wound at the Battle of Seven Pines, after which he was replaced in command by his classmate at West Point, Robert E. Lee. In 1863, in command of the Department of the West, he was criticized for his actions and failures in the Vicksburg Campaign. In 1864, he fought against Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign, but was relieved of command after withdrawing from northwest Georgia to the outskirts of the city. In the final days of the war, he was returned to command of the small remaining forces in the Carolinas Campaign and surrendered his armies to Sherman on April 26, 1865. Two of his major opponents, Grant and Sherman, made comments highly respectful of his actions in the war, and they became close friends with Johnston in subsequent years. After the war Johnston was an executive in the railroad and insurance businesses. He served a term in Congressand was commissioner of railroads under Grover Cleveland. He died of pneumonia after serving in inclement weather as a pallbearer at the funeral of his former adversary, and later friend, William T. Sherman. Early years Johnston was born at Longwood House in "Cherry Grove", near Farmville, Virginia. (Longwood House later burned down. The rebuilt house was the birthplace in 1827 of Charles S. Venable, an officer on the staff of Robert E. Lee, and is now the home of the president of Longwood University.) His grandfather, Peter Johnston, emigrated to Virginia from Scotland in 1726. Joseph was the seventh son of Judge Peter Johnston (1763-1831) and Mary Valentine Wood (1769-1825), a niece of Patrick Henry. He was named for Major Joseph Eggleston, under whom his father served in the American Revolutionary War, in the command of Light-Horse Harry Lee. His brother Charles Clement Johnston served as a congressman, and his nephew John Warfield Johnston was a senator; both represented Virginia. In 1811, the Johnston family moved to Abingdon, Virginia, a town near the Tennessee border, where Peter built a home he named Panecillo. Johnston attended the United States Military Academy, nominated by John C. Calhoun while he was Secretary of War, days before he was inaugurated as vice president in 1825. He was moderately successful at academics and received only a small number of disciplinary demerits. He graduated in 1829, ranking 13th of 46 cadets, and was appointed a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Artillery. He would become the first West Point graduate to be promoted to a general officer in the regular army, reaching a higher rank in the U.S. Army than did his 1829 classmate, Robert E. Lee (2nd of 46). U.S. Army service Johnston resigned from the Army in March 1837 and studied civil engineering.[2] During the Second Seminole War, he was a civilian topographic engineer aboard a ship led by William Pope McArthur. On January 12, 1838, at Jupiter, Florida, the sailors who had gone ashore were attacked and Johnston was to claim there were "no less than 30 bullet holes" in his clothing and one bullet creased his scalp, leaving a scar he had for the rest of his life. Having encountered more combat activities in Florida as a civilian than he had had previously as an artillery officer, Johnston decided to rejoin the Army. He departed for Washington, D.C., in April 1838 and was appointed a first lieutenant of topographic engineers on July 7; on that same day, he received abrevet promotion to captain for the actions at Jupiter Inlet and his explorations of the Florida Everglades. On July 10, 1845, in Baltimore, Johnston married Lydia Milligan Sims McLane (1822–1887), the daughter of Louis McLane, the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and a prominent former politician (congressman and senator from Delaware, minister to London, and a member of President Andrew Jackson'scabinet). They had no children. Johnston was enthusiastic about the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. He served on the staff of Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott in the Siege of Veracruz, having been chosen by Scott to be the officer carrying the demand for surrender beforehand to the provincial governor. He was in the vanguard of the movement inland under Brig. Gen. David E. Twiggs and was severely wounded by grapeshot performing reconnaissance prior to the Battle of Cerro Gordo. He was appointed a brevet lieutenant colonel for his actions at Cerro Gordo. After recovering in a field hospital, he rejoined the army at Puebla. During the advance toward Mexico City, he was second in command of a regiment of U.S. "Voltigeurs", meaning light infantry or skirmishers. He distinguished himself at Contreras and Churubusco, was wounded again at Chapultepec, and received two brevet promotions for the latter two engagements, ending the war as a brevet colonel of volunteers. (After the end of hostilities, he reverted to his peacetime rank of captain in the topographical engineers.) Winfield Scott remarked humorously that "Johnston is a great soldier, but he had an unfortunate knack of getting himself shot in nearly every engagement." Despite his wounds, however, Johnston's greatest anguish during the war was the death of his nephew, Preston Johnston. When Robert E. Lee informed Johnston that Preston had been killed by a Mexican artillery shell at Contreras, both officers wept, and Johnston grieved for the remainder of his life. Johnston was an engineer on the Texas-United States boundary survey in 1841 and returned to be chief topographical engineer of the Department of Texas from 1848 to 1853. During the 1850s he displayed an early indication of his sensitivity for rank and prestige, sending letters to the War Department suggesting that he should be returned to a combat regiment with his wartime rank of colonel. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, an acquaintance of Johnston's from West Point, rebuffed these suggestions, a practice that he would continue during the Civil War, much to Johnston's irritation. Despite this disagreement, Davis thought enough of Johnston to appoint him lieutenant colonel in one of the newly formed regiments, the 1st U.S. Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under Col. Edwin V. "Bull" Sumner, on March 1, 1855. (At this same time, Robert E. Lee was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry under Col. Albert Sidney Johnston (no relation).) In this role, Johnston participated in actions against the Sioux in the Wyoming Territory and in the violence known as Bleeding Kansas. He developed a mentor relationship and close friendship with one of his junior officers, Capt. George B. McClellan, who would become one of his principal opponents during the Civil War. In the fall of 1856, Johnston was transferred to a depot for new recruits at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. In 1857 he led surveying expeditions to determine the Kansas border. Later that year, a new Secretary of War replaced Jefferson Davis--John B. Floyd, a native of Abingdon, a cousin of Johnston's by marriage, and former guardian of Preston Johnston. Floyd overturned Davis's previous decision about Johnston's highest brevet rank and he was listed as a brevet colonel for Cerro Gordo, an action that caused grumbling within the Army about favoritism. In 1859, President James Buchanan named Johnston's brother-in-law, Robert McLane, as minister to Mexico, and Johnston accompanied him on a journey to visit Benito Juárez's government in Veracruz, ordered to inspect possible military routes across the country in case of further hostilities. Brig. Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, the Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army, died on June 10, 1860. Winfield Scott was responsible for naming a replacement, but instead of one name, he offered four possibilities: Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, and Charles F. Smith. Although Jefferson Davis, now a member of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, favored Albert Sidney Johnston, Secretary of War Floyd chose Joseph E. Johnston for the position. Johnston was promoted to brigadier general on June 28, 1860. Johnston did not enjoy the position, preferring field command to paperwork in Washington. In addition, he suffered from the pressures of the imminent sectional crisis and the ethical dilemma of administering war matériel that might prove useful to his native South; he did not yield to temptation, however, as Secretary of War Floyd was accused of doing. Civil War When his native state, Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, Johnston resigned his commission as a brigadier general in the regular army, the highest-ranking U.S. Army officer to do so. He was initially commissioned as a major general in the Virginia militia on May 4, but the Virginia Convention decided two weeks later that only one major general was required in the state army and Robert E. Lee was their choice. Johnston was then offered a state brigadier general commission, which he declined, accepting instead a brigadier general commission in the Confederate Army on May 14. Johnston relieved Col. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson of command at Harpers Ferry in May and organized the Army of the Shenandoah in July. In the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), July 21, 1861, Johnston rapidly moved his small army from the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce that of Brig. Gen.P. G. T. Beauregard, but he lacked familiarity with the terrain and ceded tactical planning of the battle to the more junior Beauregard as a professional courtesy. At midday, while Beauregard was still unclear about the direction his Union opponent was taking in the battle, Johnston decided that the critical point was to the north of his headquarters (the Lewis house, "Portici"), at Henry House Hill. He abruptly announced "The battle is there. I am going." Beauregard and the staffs of both generals followed his lead and rode off. Johnston encountered a scattered unit, the 4th Alabama, all of whose field grade officers had been killed, and personally rallied the men to reinforce the Confederate line. He consoled the despairing Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee and urged him to lead his men back into the fight. (General Bee's exhortation to his men was the inspiration for Stonewall Jackson's nickname.) Beauregard then convinced Johnston that he would be more valuable organizing the arrival of reinforcements for the remainder of the battle than providing at-the-front tactical leadership. Although Beauregard managed to claim the majority of public credit, Johnston's behind-the-scenes role was a critical factor in the Southern victory. After Bull Run, Johnston assisted Beauregard and William Porcher Miles in the design and production of the Confederate Battle Flag. It was Johnston's idea to make the flag square. n August, Johnston was promoted to full general—what is called a four-star general in the modern U.S. Army—but was not pleased that three other men he had outranked in the "old Army" now outranked him, even though Davis backdated his promotion to July 4. Johnston felt that since he was the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army and join the Confederacy he should not be ranked behind Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Robert E. Lee. Only Beauregard was placed behind Johnston on the list of five new generals. This led to much bad blood between Johnston and Jefferson Davis, which would last throughout the war. The crux of Davis's counterargument was that Johnston's U.S. commission as a brigadier general was as a staff officer and that his highest line commission was as a lieutenant colonel; both Sidney Johnston and Lee had been full colonels. Johnston sent an intemperately worded letter to Davis, who was offended enough to discuss its tone with his cabinet. Johnston was placed in command of the Department of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of the Potomac on July 21, 1861, and the Department of Northern Virginia on October 22. From July to November 1861, he was headquartered at the Conner House. The winter of 1861–62 was relatively quiet for Johnston in his Centreville headquarters, concerned primarily with organization and equipment issues, as the principal Northern army, also named Army of the Potomac, was being organized by George B. McClellan. McClellan perceived Johnston's army as overwhelmingly strong in its fortifications, which prompted the Union general to plan an amphibious movement around Johnston's flank. In early March, learning of Union offensive preparations, Johnston withdrew his army to Culpeper Court House. This movement had repercussions on both sides. President Davis was surprised and disappointed by the unannounced move, which he considered a "precipitate retreat." At about this time, Davis moved to restrict Johnston's authority by bringing Robert E. Lee to Richmond as his military adviser and began issuing direct orders to some of the forces under Johnston's ostensible command. On the Northern side, McClellan was publicly embarrassed when it was revealed that the Confederate position had not been nearly as strong as he had portrayed. But more importantly, it required him to replan his spring offensive, and instead of an amphibious landing at his preferred target of Urbanna, he chose the Virginia Peninsula, between the James and York Rivers, as his avenue of approach toward Richmond. In August, Johnston was promoted to full general—what is called a four-star general in the modern U.S. Army—but was not pleased that three other men he had outranked in the "old Army" now outranked him, even though Davis backdated his promotion to July 4. Johnston felt that since he was the senior officer to leave the U.S. Army and join the Confederacy he should not be ranked behind Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Robert E. Lee. Only Beauregard was placed behind Johnston on the list of five new generals. This led to much bad blood between Johnston and Jefferson Davis, which would last throughout the war. The crux of Davis's counterargument was that Johnston's U.S. commission as a brigadier general was as a staff officer and that his highest line commission was as a lieutenant colonel; both Sidney Johnston and Lee had been full colonels. Johnston sent an intemperately worded letter to Davis, who was offended enough to discuss its tone with his cabinet. Johnston was placed in command of the Department of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of the Potomac on July 21, 1861, and the Department of Northern Virginia on October 22. From July to November 1861, he was headquartered at the Conner House. The winter of 1861–62 was relatively quiet for Johnston in his Centreville headquarters, concerned primarily with organization and equipment issues, as the principal Northern army, also named Army of the Potomac, was being organized by George B. McClellan. McClellan perceived Johnston's army as overwhelmingly strong in its fortifications, which prompted the Union general to plan an amphibious movement around Johnston's flank. In early March, learning of Union offensive preparations, Johnston withdrew his army to Culpeper Court House. This movement had repercussions on both sides. President Davis was surprised and disappointed by the unannounced move, which he considered a "precipitate retreat." At about this time, Davis moved to restrict Johnston's authority by bringing Robert E. Lee to Richmond as his military adviser and began issuing direct orders to some of the forces under Johnston's ostensible command. On the Northern side, McClellan was publicly embarrassed when it was revealed that the Confederate position had not been nearly as strong as he had portrayed. But more importantly, it required him to replan his spring offensive, and instead of an amphibious landing at his preferred target of Urbanna, he chose the Virginia Peninsula, between the James and York Rivers, as his avenue of approach toward Richmond. Postbellum Life After the war Johnston struggled to make a living for himself and his wife, who was ailing. He became president of a small railroad, the Alabama & Tennessee River Rail Road Company, which during his tenure of May 1866 to November 1867, was renamed the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad. Johnston was bored with the position and the company failed for lack of capital. He established in 1868 an insurance company in Savannah, Georgia, acting as an agent for the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, and within four years had a network of more than 120 agents across the deep South. The income from this venture allowed him to devote time to his great postwar activity, writing his memoirs. His Narrative of Military Operations, published in 1874, was highly critical of Davis and many of his fellow generals, continuing his grievance about the unfairness of his ranking as a general and attempting to justify his career as a cautious campaigner. The book sold poorly and its publisher failed to make a profit. Although many Confederate generals were critical of Johnston, the memoirs of both Sherman and Grant put him in a favorable light. Sherman described him as a "dangerous and wily opponent" and criticized Johnston's nemeses, Hood and Davis. Grant supported his decisions in the Vicksburg Campaign: "Johnston evidently took in the situation, and wisely, I think, abstained from making an assault on us because it would simply have inflicted losses on both sides without accomplishing any result." Commenting on the Atlanta Campaign, Grant wrote, "For my own part, I think that Johnston's tactics were right. Anything that could have prolonged the war a year beyond the time that it finally did close, would probably have exhausted the North to such an extent that they might then have abandoned the contest and agreed to a settlement." Johnston moved from Savannah to Richmond in the winter of 1876–77. He served in the 46th Congress from 1879 to 1881 as a Democratic congressman having been elected with 58.11% of the vote over Greenback William W. Newman; he was not a candidate for renomination in 1880. He was a commissioner of railroads in the administration of President Grover Cleveland. After his wife died in 1887, Johnston spent his remaining years traveling to veterans' gatherings, where he was universally cheered. Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the magnanimity of the man to whom he surrendered, and would not allow an unkind word to be said about Sherman in his presence. Sherman and Johnston corresponded frequently and they met for friendly dinners in Washington whenever Johnston traveled there. When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral; during the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect in the cold, rainy weather. Someone with concern for the old general's health asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied "If I were in his place and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat." He caught a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia, and he died several weeks later in Washington, D.C. He was buried next to his wife in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland. His personal papers are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary. John Henry Devereuxa civil engineer and leading Midwest railroad manager, was born in Boston, son of John and Matilda (Burton) Devereux. He attended Portsmouth Academy in New Hampshire, and at 16 came to Cleveland as a construction engineer on first the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, then the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad. From 1852-61 he worked in Tennessee, joining the Union Army when the Civil War began. In 1862, as a colonel, he was in charge of all Union rail lines in Virginia, in disarray because of damage inflicted by Confederates and conflicts between various Army and government departments using the lines. Devereux improved efficiency, organized inspection and repair units, obtained equipment, enforced use rules, and smoothed differences between departments. Under his supervision, the trains moved large amounts of troops, artillery, and the sick. Devereux resigned as a general in the spring of 1864.
After the war, Devereux returned to Cleveland as general superintendent, and later vice-president, of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad. In 1868 he became vice-president, then president, of the Lake Shore Railroad, and became general manager when that consolidated into the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. In 1873 he became president of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad and the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Co. and several smaller companies. |