March 11, 1862 (Tuesday): Doubts About Albert Sydney Johnston

Confederate Congressman E. M. Bruce

ATLANTA, March 11, 1862.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS:
   I have been with and near General Johnston's army ever since he was assigned command; have been his admirer and defender; still admire him as a man; but in my judgment his errors of omission, commission, and delay have been greater than any general who ever preceded him in any country; inexcusably and culpably lost us unnecessarily an army of 12,000 men, the Mississippi Valley, comparatively all provision stores, by one dash of the enemy. This is the almost unanimous judgment of officers, soldiers, and citizens. Neither is it mere opinion, but is demonstrable by dates, facts, figures, and disastrous results. He never can reorganize and re-enforce his army with any confidence. The people now look to you as their deliverer, and imploringly call upon you to come to the field of our late disasters and assume command, as you promised in a speech to take the field whenever it should become necessary. That necessity is now upon us. Such a step would be worth a hundred thousand soldiers throughout the Confederacy. Can you then hesitate? We cannot survive the permanent loss of Tennessee and Kentucky for the war. They must be immediately retaken at all hazards, or great suffering for provisions and forage is the inevitable and immediate consequence. If your presence is impossible, for God's sake, give immediate command to Beauregard, Bragg, or Breckinridge, or all will be irretrievably lost. Save us while it is yet time. I will be in Richmond next week.



E. M. BRUCE,
Member Congress Ninth District Kentucky.

Official Record, Series I., Vol. 10, Part 2, Page 314. 

In the time Johnston had been in command in the west the Confederacy had seen  a series of disasters and many, including Bruce, had begun to wonder whether Johnston was capable of living up to his reputation.  He was very highly regarded in the old Army, had been the focus of a nation-wide manhunt by Union authorities as he worked his way east  from Los Angeles in a months long journey, but had so far not been the deliver many thought he would be.  Bruce had made a fortune before the war establishing and selling meat packing facilities, and had personally helped fund part of the Army he know expressed concern over.  On close terms with Davis, he was with the Confederate President when he fled Richmond in 1865.  After the war he gave over $400,000 to Confederate veterans who had lost a limb in the war for their educational expenses.  He died in 1866 of heart disease.