A Kentucky-born Texan and an 1826 West Point graduate, Albert Sidney Johnston fought in the Black Hawk War, the Mexican War, and led U.S. troops in the Utah Expedition against the Mormons in 1858. When Texas seceded early in 1861, he declined an offer to serve as Winfield Scott's second-in-command, joining the Confederacy instead as its second-ranking officer.
In 1861 President Davis judged him the most capable of his contemporaries, describing him as "the greatest soldier... living." His success at Bowling Green seemed to validate Davis' assessment, but the record of unbroken defeat that Johnston built in Kentucky and Tennessee in 1862, retreating from Fort Donelson through Nashville to northern Mississippi, quickly reversed it.
In April 1862, he led the Army of Mississippi on the first day of fighting at Shiloh, attacking Grant's Union army near the country church. During the assault he sustained a leg wound and bled to death on the battlefield.