Leaving the old Army.
His battles with the Indians and his service in
Mexico demonstrated those qualities of coolness and courage, skill and strategy, that so pre-eminently distinguished him as a commander.
He emerged from the
Mexican war adored by the army and trusted by the
Government.
He had but to will it and the forces of the
United States would ultimately have been placed in his hands.
But his ambition yielded to patriotism.
Leaving behind a brilliant post and sacrificing the possibilities of a glorious future, he offered to the
South his life and his sword.
He was made a general in the Confederate army.
His unwillingness to exchange his plans for those of the Administration more than once brought upon him the censure of the
Government and the criticism of his friends, but neither the doubt of one nor the mistrust of the other cooled his ardor nor
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weakened his loyalty for the cause to which he had pledged his life and honor.
This trait of his character shines out with conspicuous brightness and beauty in the closing days of the bitter and bloody struggle.
The grand army of
Lee was reduced to the last extremity.
It had at last worn itself away by continuous victories.
That of the
Tennessee, snatched from the hands of
Johnston at the very moment of giving its decisive blow, had been broken, beaten, and butchered at
Franklin after sustaining against overwhelming numbers one of the bloodiest conflicts in the annals of war. So fierce was the conflict that the soldiers snapped their bayonets in each other's faces.
The resources of the
Confederacy were exhausted.
Its armies were almost naked and starving.
The spirit of the people was broken, and further resistance seemed madness.
Defeat and disaster were certain.
Gloom rested like a pall over the whole
South.
Under these distressing circumstances
Johnston was recalled by
Lee to the command of the army from which he had been arbitrarily removed.
It would have been natural for him to have refused.
