man in the Confederacy."4 The English observer and critic, Chesney, says: "What he might have ventured had a rasher or less wary commander been before him, is as impossible to say as it would be to declare what would have been the result to Lee had Sherman taken the place of Grant in Virginia. As things were actually disposed, it is not too much to declare that Johnston's doing what he did with the limited means at his command is a feat that should leave his name in the annals of defensive war at least as high as that of Fabius, or Turenne, or Moreau."5 Among Johnston's enemies, Grant said to Bishop Lay, "When I heard your Government had removed Johnston from command, I was as happy as if I had reinforced Sherman with a large army corps";6 and to Young, "I have had nearly all of the Southern generals in high command in front of me, and Joe Johnston gave me more anxiety than any of the others. I was never half so anxious about Lee."7 Sherman, who should have known, declares that "Johnston is one of the most enterprising of all their generals."8 And in the opinion of Ropes, writing in dispassionate study, "Johnston had as good a military mind as any general on either side."9
Yet I confess, I wish the man had achieved something. The skill, the prudence mixed with daring, which held every position before Sherman till the last possible moment and then slipped away, without loss, without disaster, cannot be too much commended. Perhaps Stonewall
