Robert Daniel Johnston

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Robert Daniel Johnston (March 19, 1837–February 1, 1919) was a Brigadier General for the Confederate States of America.

[edit] Biography

A native of North Carolina, Johnston joined the Confederate States Army where he was appointed captain and given command of Company K, 23rd North Carolina Infantry on July 15, 1861. On April 16, 1862 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the regiment and on May 5 saw his first action at the Battle of Williamsburg, on the Peninsula. He succeeded to the command of the regiment following the Battle of Seven Pines, where he had been wounded. He returned to duty in time to participate in the Maryland Campaign and fought at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam.

At Chancellorsville, Johnston was given command of the 12th North Carolina Infantry, after that unit had lost all of its field officers. He returned to the 23rd for the Gettysburg Campaign and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was promoted to brigadier general on September 1, 1863 and was given command to the brigade that Alfred Iverson had commanded at Gettysburg. He commanded the brigade through the Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864 until he suffered his third wound at Spotsylvania. He returned to the brigade in August during General Jubal A. Early's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. In the Valley Campaign he saw action at the Third Battle of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. Along with the rest of Early's army, he returned to the Petersburg trenches to rejoin Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. During his time at Petersburg, Johnston briefly commanded the division and served on detached duty attempting to catch deserters. Following the war he resumed his law practice in North Carolina and eventually became a banker in Alabama.^[1]

He was the father of decorated soldier Col. Gordon Johnston.^[2]

[edit] References

^ Sifakis, Stewart (1988). Who Was Who in the Confederacy: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Biographical Reference to More Than 1,000 of the Principal Confederacy Participants in the Civil War. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0816022046. OCLC 19921710.
^ "Col. Johnston Dies of Injury at Polo" (PDF, fee required), The New York Times, The New York Times Co., March 9, 1934, p. 19. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.