military_branch joseph e. johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston ( February 3 , 1807 -- March 21 , 1891 ) was a career U . S . ___MASK96___ officer , serving with distinction in the Mexican - American War and Seminole Wars , and was also one of the most senior general officers in the ___MASK69___ during the American Civil War . He was unrelated to Albert Sidney Johnston , another high - ranking Confederate general during the Civil war . 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 as Quartermaster General of the U . S . ___MASK96___ . When his native state of Virginia declared secession from the Union , Johnston resigned his U . S . commission and became the highest - ranking U . S . 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 American 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 at Bennett Place near Durham Station , North Carolina on April 26 , 1865 . Two of his major opponents , General Ulysses S . 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 Congress and 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 . The ___MASK69___ ( CSA ) was the military ground force of the Confederate States ( C . S .), also known as the " Confederacy ", while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War . On February 28 , 1861 , the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the Confederate president , Jefferson Davis , a graduate of the U . S . Military Academy and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican War . In March 1861 , the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent ___MASK69___ . The Seminole Wars , also known as the Florida Wars , were three conflicts in Florida between the Seminole  the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of Native Americans and African Americans who settled in Florida in the early 18th century  and the ___MASK91___ . Taken together , the Seminole Wars were the longest and most expensive ( both in human and monetary terms ) Indian Wars in United States history . Albert Sidney Johnston ( February 2 , 1803  April 6 , 1862 ) served as a general in three different armies : the Texian (" i . e .", Republic of Texas ) ___MASK96___ , the ___MASK91___ , and the Confederate States ___MASK96___ . He saw extensive combat during his military career , fighting actions in the Texas War of Independence , the Mexican  American War , the Utah War , and the American Civil War . The ___MASK91___ ( USA ) is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land - based military operations . It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution , Article 2 , Section 2 , Clause 1 and United States Code , Title 10 , Subtitle B , Chapter 301 , Section 3001 . As the largest and senior branch of the U . S . military , the modern U . S . Army has its roots in the Continental Army , which was formed ( 14 June 1775 ) to fight the American Revolutionary War ( 1775  1783 ) before the U . S . was established as a country . After the Revolutionary War , the Congress of the Confederation created the ___MASK91___ on 3 June 1784 , to replace the disbanded Continental Army . The ___MASK91___ considers itself descended from the Continental Army , and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775 .