Joseph E. Johnston Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was a career United States Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and Seminole Wars. After Virginia seceded, he entered the Confederate States Army as one of the most senior general officers. (He was unrelated to Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston, who was killed in early 1862.) Johnston was trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating in the same class as Robert E. Lee. He served in Florida, Texas, and Kansas. By 1860 he
Departments of the Continental Army "magazines" (supply depots) of the Quartermaster General's Department, or hospitals of the Hospital Department. The militia in a department was usually at the disposal of the department commander. The Continental troops in a department constituted its garrison. If the garrison was sufficiently large, the units might be assembled into a field army. In this case the commander of the territorial department and the commander of the field army would be one and the same officer. Thus, the commanding general of the Northern Department was also commanding general of the Northern Army, and the commanding general of the Southern Department was