Respected by his opponents yet at odds with his own authorities, Joseph E. Johnston remains as divisive a soldier now as he was at the time of the Civil War. One of the Confederacy's highest ranking and most experienced officers, he was regularly criticized both for lacking aggression and for his failures across his campaigns. Despite effectively halting McClellan's advance at Seven Pines, having been wounded President Davis replaced Johnston with his old classmate, Gen. Lee. Already bitter, his relationship with Davis only continued to sour, but in spite of Davis' desire to be rid of him Johnston had the support of Louis Wigfall. In 1865, nearly three weeks after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Johnston surrendered his own forces to Gen. Sherman; it was the largest such act of the war, and saved numerous lives. Joseph E. Johnston (1807-91) was an American career soldier. Graduating from West Point in 1829, he served in the U.S. Army through the Mexican-American and Seminole Wars. When Virginia declared its secession from the Union, Johnston, then a Brigadier General, resigned his commission and joined the Confederates. Ending the Civil War a full General, he later served a term in Congress.

"This Da Capo Press paperback edition of Narrative of military operations during the Civil War is an unabridged republication of the edition published in 1874, here supplemented with an introduction and index by Frank E. Vandiver, with the permission of Indiana University Press." -- Includes index. Reprint, with new index. Originally published: Narrative of military operations directed during the late War Between the States. New York : D. Appleton, 1874.