Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 6.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

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[167] and his willingness to sacrifice himself for it. Was it that his grand presence inspired you with unmeasured confidence and the hope — of happier days when opportunity should offer? or was it that your judgment told you that you followed, as I verily believe you did, the greatest soldier, the ablest man, civil or military, Confederate *or Federal, then living? He seemed about to fulfill these hopes and expectations, when, concentrating all the forces within his reach, he moved forward to the battle of Shiloh. General Johnston sent to me a cipher dispatch, being his plan of battle, and I regret the loss of it the more, because it was the only instance within my knowledge of a plan which was executed as it was devised. How well the tide of battle rose and swept onward in the channels his great arm directed, I need not say to you who saw it. When at last an obstinate resistance stayed the steady progress of our lines, Johnston rode to the point of danger, to lead his men to the capture of what was believed to be the last point to be carried. There, and in the performance of that supreme duty, your great leader received the wound which proved mortal. A prompt attention would have prevented a fatal result, but his heart was all his country's, his only thought was of his duty — he remembered not himself.

[Mr. Davis here read a beautiful tribute to General Johnston, which has been often published.]

There have been those who supposed he had been goaded into recklessness and had thrown away his life. As a friend who had known him intimately through all the years of our manhood, had served with him in barracks and in battle, I lay claim to more than ordinary ability to judge of his motives under any given state of facts, and unhesitatingly reject the supposition as unjust to his nature and refuted by the testimony of his whole life. When he left his command in California to cross the continent on horseback and join the Confederacy, he came without herald, without pretension or claim for high rank from the Confederate Government. He simply offered himself to the cause. When he arrived in Richmond, he came unexpectedly to my residence, where I was ill, confined to my bed and unable to receive visitors. When he entered the hall, I recognized his step and sent to have him shown up. He came, and by his accession I felt strengthened and reassured, knowing that a great support had thereby been added to the Confederate cause. When he fell, I realized that our strongest pillar had been broken.

I will not follow you through your long career of honorable service, or pause to exult with you over the battle fields rendered illustrious by your victories, but cannot forbear expressing the hope that some competent person will give to the world a full history of the Army of Tennessee. Yet, before leaving the subject, I wish to mention one of the many proofs I saw of your efficiency and valor. On the field of Chicamauga, where you achieved a brilliant victory under that true patriot and able soldier, General Bragg, it was noticeable, after the conflict, to see the side of the