19 Facts About Bushrod Johnson

Bushrod Rust Johnson was a Confederate general in the American Civil War and an officer in the United States Army.

Bushrod Johnson served under Robert E Lee throughout the 10-month Siege of Petersburg, and surrendered with him at Appomattox.

Bushrod Johnson was raised as a Quaker and, before moving to the South, worked on the Underground Railroad with his uncle.

Bushrod Johnson graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1840 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd US Infantry.

Bushrod Johnson was forced to resign from the Army in October 1847 after being accused of selling contraband goods.

Bushrod Johnson worked as a professor of natural philosophy and chemistry at the Western Military Institute, Georgetown, Kentucky, and professor of mathematics and engineering at the University of Nashville.

Bushrod Johnson approved the locations of two new river-defenses, Fort Donelson on the west bank of the Cumberland River in Tennessee and Fort Henry on the low and flood-prone east bank of the Tennessee River, just 12 miles west of Fort Donelson and located in Tennessee.

Bushrod Johnson was promoted to brigadier general on January 24,1862.

Bushrod Johnson commanded a division of the army at Donelson, but was effectively overshadowed by the more politically astute Pillow, who led the wing in a fierce assault in an attempt to break out and escape from the encircled fort.

Ulysses S Grant on February 16,1862, but two days later Johnson was able to walk unimpeded out through the porous Union Army lines and escaped capture.

Bushrod Johnson commanded a brigade of the Army of Mississippi at the Battle of Shiloh, and on the second day of battle, April 7,1862, he became the division commander, but was severely wounded by the concussion of an artillery shell.

Bragg followed up with a siege of Chattanooga, while Bushrod Johnson, now commanding a division, accompanied Longstreet's force north for the Siege of Knoxville.

Bushrod Johnson's division spent the next seven months of the siege in the trenches.

In late March 1865, Bushrod Johnson's division was withdrawn from the trench line to meet the Union drive around the Confederate right flank, and fought at Lewis's Farm on March 29.

Bushrod Johnson led the rest of the division in the retreat toward Appomattox.

Bushrod Johnson accompanied the army without a command until the surrender at Appomattox Court House, when he was paroled.

Bushrod Johnson returned to teaching to become a professor and co-chancellor of the University of Nashville with former Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith.

Bushrod Johnson's health failing, he retired in 1875 to a farm near Brighton, Illinois, where he died in 1880.

Bushrod Johnson was originally buried in Miles Station, near Brighton, but was reinterred in 1975 to Old City Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee, to be next to the grave of his wife, Mary.