Tour Stop 15: Shiloh: The Death of Albert Sidney Johnston
While leading his troops on April 6, 1862, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was shot in the leg, and due to nerve damage from the wound he did not know the severity of his injury until it was too late. Johnston remains the highest ranking American officer to be killed in combat.
General Parker Hills, Dr. Timothy B. Smith, Dr. Chris Mackowski and Garry Adelman detail the events surrounding Johnston's death, and talk about the history of the tour stop on the Shiloh battlefield. #ShilohBattlefieldTour
This video is part of our Battlefield Tour Series covering Civil War Tennessee and Mississippi. View the full playlist here: • Civil War Tennessee/Mi...
The American Battlefield Trust preserves America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educates the public about what happened there and why it matters. We permanently protect these battlefields for future generations as a lasting and tangible memorial to the brave soldiers who fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.
Timothy Smith is the absolute expert when it comes to the Battle of Shiloh. He knows it all.
" Roll the Iron Dice of War". That says it! Never heard those words in that sequence. Wow!! Great video Gentleman!🎩🇺🇸🎩🇺🇸🎩
I led tours at Shiloh back in the early 90's as well as Franklin and Stones River. The tree with the wrought iron fence was still there at that time as was the plaque which according to my reading was placed exactly on the spot indicated by Isham Harris who returned to the battlefield in 1896 for the specific purpose of locating the place where Harris found Johnston and where he was placed in the ravine and died. The reference was Timothy Smith's work "This Great Battlefield of Shiloh" on pg 61 of Chapter 5 "Preserved On The Ground" gave detailed explanation and recounted the way that Harris was guided to the general area and then found his way to the spot. "This is the place," he remarked, "I cannot be mistaken." I can't say obviously if one version is more accurate than another, but this seemed convincing to me. The truly wonderful quality of Shiloh was that there was NOTHING else around it. There was no Shiloh drycleaners or Shiloh Furniture store etc. If you were not going to the battlefield, there was NO reason to out on that road because there was truly nothing else around there to see or do. Consequently, the Shiloh battlefield was to my knowledge always regarded as the most unchanged of all battlefields in the country. Also back in the day they had a replica Union and a Confederate tunic that they would loan to visitors to go outside the visitors center and take a picture (when we were still using film) with a cannon that was on display.
Antietam and Shiloh are basically as they were.... Sharpsburg only now starting to get commerical businesses related to war tourism.
I have visited this area several times. I actually saw the oak tree before it was taken down. Where he died in the ravine is very humbling when you realize the Confederacy lost the battle down there with Johnston’s death. I had a relative in the Union Army who was shot in the chest and died during the Confederate advance that morning. He is buried in the National Cemetery there. Thank you for this video.
General Johnston, not Johnstown.....my great, great, great grandfather.
@@Crunk99ify Siri autocorrected on me.
What a history lesson!!! Thank you!
I had no idea the significance. Thank you folks so much for what you do.
I love it. i am in the middle of reading Dr Smith's trilogy on VIcksburg. Just finished the Champion's Hill book (outstanding) and now on the 1st half of the sige. just great research and writing.
Great work that you do..as many times as I’ve been to Shiloh, I was never aware of that ravine. This is why I love watching you guys..I look forward to your talk on the Battle at Fallen Timbers!
Awesome job as always Gary! Thank you for the history.
Use to be there the tree he died on but long gone now they have removed it. Glad I got to see it. Before it was caged, after it was caged and before they removed it completely. I've been going to shiloh since I can remember.
Outstanding! You all brought out some heavy hitters for this series.
I’m loving this series, thanks guys. It time for me to start planning a battle field vacation.
Thank you for this video as it was well done. As a CW mounted cavalry reenactor for the past 30 years (7th TN. Cav, Co. D) we have done living histories almost every year on this battlefield. We also did all of the reenactments such as the 150th, etc. Our commanding officer, Ronnie Fullwood, lives and has a farm on land adjacent to the battlefield. We were blessed to be able to get up each Sunday morning and ride over portions of the battlefield that most never see. After the ride, we arrived at the Shiloh church in time to join in on the worship services while our horses were tied up in the woods. I cannot express the emotions of the first time that I rode up on the remnants of the "tree" that Albert Sidney Johnston took this fatal shot. It was like I was once again there on April 6th, 1862. I appreciate the knowledge of these men in your video and the excellent job they have done.
This fellow is a good story teller!
Awesome job as we've come to expect! Great to see the lesser known West interpreted by such assembled talent!
I love this! I’m so excited for Shiloh!
Always an interesting and informative presentations.
Confederate Veteran accounts of McCulloch at Pea Ridge a Month before and Johnston at Shiloh say the battle stopped as the Generals died. Great stories in the Confederate Veteran.
My 3 times Great Grandfather was wounded at the Peach Orchard. 28th IL infantry. Cpl Pine Dexter. Loving the Shiloh show.
You guys rock!!! Thank you!!!
Very cool guest speakers. I was at Shiloh battle field a few years ago. My great great grandfather fought in the civil war for the union side Illinois 12th INF volunteers. He fought at Shiloh under General US Grant.
So much of history is subjective dealing with the affective. As a drafted disabled Republic of Vietnam combat veteran '68, I continue to see little difference on the battlefield no matter time in history. I have the remembrances of the oral histories of my gg grandfathers fighting in the Civil War. Eaglegards...+
Never heard this story. Great video.
Keep up the good work
Thank you!
THANK YOU..
Amazing. Thank you.
Excellent. I need to visit Shiloh.
My husband went to the 150th at Shiloh in 2012 and he went to where Johnston was wounded and then carried to where he passed away at the time it said on the tablet that use to b there so he said that was a really great experience to not only be at the spot where he died( or the vicinity), but to be there at the exact time and day on April 6th.
Also, it's bare ground. Noone has excavated any metal detected sights, everything is still where it landed.
Gary Poe - I have been to Shiloh 2 times, and while I agree that the Shiloh Battlefield hasn’t been metal detected that I am aware of, I’m pretty certain in the 32 years BEFORE it became a National Park, (in 1894), there were a lot of people both local and from other parts of the Country that most likely picked the Battlefield and surrounding areas clean of everything they could possibly find lying about. Especially those that would have been involved in Body recovery and Burial Details immediately following the Battle. In addition, we have to consider all the workers that have worked to clean/build and maintain the Park that have undoubtedly found a “souvenir” or two that they have found throughout all these years. But just like any other Battlefield, certainly there are relics that are still there that people would have missed, scattered about throughout the Woods and surrounding areas of the Park. This is just my opinion…
General Hills: Given your careful archeological detective work at the Battle of Raymond, because General Albert Sidney Johnston’s mortal wound was to the rear of his right popliteal artery and he was forward of the confederate line. During a post-mortum, it’s reported that a surgeon recovered the fatal bullet from Johnston's leg and identified it as an Enfield bullet. The soldiers Johnston was leading carrying Enfield’s.Union soldiers in that sector weren't carrying Enfield's. This forensic evidence would seem to imply that Johnston was the victim of a friendly fire accident. I’ve always wondered if he was, in fact, a friendly fire casualty. What are your thoughts and opinion? Respectfully, WS
So, you're suggesting this "beloved" general was fragged?? Maybe he wasn't all that beloved....... .......kinda reminds one of that whole Tillman fiasco.
@@sophistichistory4645 Not fragged at all. It's called friendly fire. The reason I went these comments is that the same thing had just occurred to me, how do you get shot in the back of the knee by an enemy you are facing? Now that Mr. Schooley adds the part about the Enfield bullet and rifles, it confirms my suspicion of friendly fire. Nothing to do with fragging at all, an accident in the heat of battle!
@@sophistichistory4645 Fragging is the murder of your officer. It is possible that some soldier shot at the Union and the General moved in front or some inexperienced soldier shot and missed his target hitting the general. Happens more than you would like to think.
It's crazy that the highest ranking general of the Confederacy, a former vice-president of the U.S., and a state governor should have led a charge. Did Grant or Sherman ever lead a charge? Did Napoleon ever lead a charge? Longstreet? As for Lee, he wanted to lead an attack at The Wilderness, but was talked out of it by the Texans. Even Pickett, at Gettysburg, was a little ways back. The cavalry was different. Stuart and Custer were right in the center of the action, but that's due to the fluidity of that type of combat.
There's a famous painting of Bonaparte, flag in hand, leading the troops of the Army of Italy to capture the bridge at Arcole in 1796. More recent history tells that the bridge wasn't actually captured that day, General Bonaparte instead had another bridge built at another location, allowing his troops to outflank the Austrians. But the heroic image depicted in the painting is what most people remember. Certainly the conflict between what actually happened and what people imagine happened is not unique to our Civil War.
There's a good reason why, as napoleon said, [In war] the presence of a general is indispensable. He is the head… An army is nothing without the head.
Man by all accounts and listening to this series your saying Albert Sidney Johnston’s death was just as detrimental then Stonewall Jackson’s.
No one knows how good Johnston would have been. That said, the South had a good first team at the beginning of the war, but not much talent on the bench. Jackson and Lee were good, but not miracle workers. Both had issues.
Johnson may not have turned out to be another Lee but he would have been a huge improvement over Bragg.
I remember seeing the remains of the oak tree shored up my iron bands and surrounded by a fence.
A friend and I toured Shiloh in the 70s. We saw the stump or a replacement tree stump and we went down in the hollow and toasted the general with a small shot of bourbon. I posed by a gun where Robert's Arkansas battery was engaged, (a cornfield was planted there & tall at the time of our visit). My first cap & ball .44 was tucked in my belt in the pic.
My great grandfather's eldest brother, Horace Bailey, 19th Ohio, KIA on the second day there.
Were Johnston, Breckinridge, and Harris dismounted when leading the charge with the Tennesseans?
Enjoy these
Wait a second....isn't Tim Smith that grumpy guy who's always yelling about Sickles/Chamberlain and flanking maneuvers😡? Great video!
Pretty incredible!
Who were the Union forces by Reg in the peach Orchard ?
The commentators said it correctly. Shiloh was the turning point as the western theater fell like dominoes after this battle. The Confederacy didn’t replace Johnston with anyone competent and never recovered and Grant took full advantage.
Shocked this memorial is still standing. Another brave American killed in combat.
We will water our horses in the Tennessee river by night fall ……ASJ I think?????
I went to Johnston Elementary, named for him, in Abilene Texas. I'm sure it's been or will be renamed.
Due to the location of the popliteal artery behind the knew I have often wondered if Johnston was hit by friendly fire if the federals we're in front of him how did a federal bullet hit him behind the knee
Oops knee
@@kimberleyannedemong5621 Could have gone sideways. As he was on horseback he’d have been turning round all the time. That’s my guess.
Gary, You have to utilize your guests. When you have guests on youtube you have to break up the parts equally.
He does a great job.
@@dougmarkham6791 Well not always, but my constructive feedback is when you invite someone into a youtube video you have to give them a little bit more time.
Never been to Shiloh
My Great Great Is Buried With Him Here In New Orleans
The commander of an army should not be leading a charge. As commander Johnston was responsible for making sure his commanders were up to the task.
He left Beauregard at the rear to feed in troops, the job he himself should have done. But if he hadn't sent away his personal surgeon to tend Union prisoners, he may have been saved. No good deed goes unpunished!
I'm surprised that Gary Adelman didn't push back at least a little on that.
Nah.... at this point of the war... with this type of leadership.... with inexperienced troops... if the mission is failing or on the line.... in the words of Hancock "you better get in there pretty god damn quick"
My Grandmothers paternal grandfather fought with the 11th Illinios in the sunken road. I work with a young women who is a direct descendant of Johnston. We joke that my ancestor killed her ancestor all the time.
Awesome but kind of hard to hear everything he's saying.
Chris looks like he could be a distant relative of Breckenridge....😁
Meanwhile Grant was racing his horse up and down the line on the other side holding the Union together - they both got into the fray
There's a big difference between going up and down the line and leading a charge.
@@genes.3285 True, but both demonstrated effective leadership when it mattered. Grant secured the entire fluid defensive plan. Albert was enabling a breakthrough where it counted.
It wasn't all valor Shelby Foote
In war if you have to put everything on the line in a big gamble it's probably not gonna work out.
Albert Sidney Johnston's home in Texas was China Grove......is this the same as the Doobie Brothers song?
Yes it is a small town East of downtown SAT. "When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town Down around San Antone"
His real mistake was getting into duels and worse getting shot in one. Control your temper ol' cork.
Gary is so hyper that it's hard to grasp what he's talking about. Take a chill pill, man! inhale...exhale. There, now - aren't you feeling better?
GEN. A.S. Johnston had medical training.
Johnston was leading by example, is what he was doing
In my humble opinion the south lost it's best general.
Just an fyi while some gush about Johnston's military prowess. Remember, he spent an entire hungry winter in the Rockies eating his horses and mules because a bunch of rag tag Mormons deprived him of not only the grass, (which they torched) where he planned to winter but his entire year supplies and food of which he foolishly left unguarded, AHEAD OF HIS ARMY! When he finally entered the salt lake valley, he was greeted by a deserted city and forced to abide by an agreement made without him between the president of the United states and Brigham Young. Which forced him to quarter his army no less than 40 miles away from the city. After a short time at his Camp Floyd, his new home 40 miles away, he abandoned his entire command and defected to the Confederacy. Johnston was not incompetent but he wasn't the military genius he's being made out to be.
A year on from making this it's still great... From a red coat over the pond......