Albert Sidney Johnston

Albert Sidney Johnston was born February 2, 1803 at Washington, Kentucky. A West Point graduate, he served briefly in the United States Army but came to Texas in 1836 and enlisted as a private in the Texas Army where he soon was appointed adjutant general. In January 1837, President Houston made him commander-in-chief. During President Lamar’s administration he served as Secretary of War and led an expedition against the Cherokee Indians in East Texas.

Johnston served with distinction in the United States Army during and after the Mexican War, but at the outbreak of the War Between the States in 1861, he resigned his commission. Jefferson Davis appointed him commander of the Western Division of the Confederate forces. In early April he moved against Grant’s army at Shiloh. In what was basically a surprise attack, he drove the enemy back. Unfortunately for the Confederacy, Johnston was killed in the battle on April 6, 1862.

He was buried temporarily in New Orleans, but in January 1867 his remains were transferred to Austin for burial in the Texas State Cemetery. His grave was marked in 1906 by a stone monument executed by noted sculptor, Elisabet Ney. This information is from the book To the Tyrants Never Yield by Kevin Young. Albert Sidney Johnston is called the “Soldier of Three Republics” as he was an officer in the armies of the United States of America, the Republic of Texas and the Confederate States of America, the only American to achieve this distinction.