Robert Daniel Johnston the Petersburg trenches to rejoin Gen. 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 Johnston resumed his law practice in North Carolina and eventually became a banker in Alabama. Johnston married Elizabeth Johnston "Johnsie" Evans, who founded the Alabama Boys' Industrial School. They had nine children. He was the father of Medal of Honor recipient Gordon Johnston. Robert Daniel Johnston Robert Daniel Johnston (March 19, 1837 – February 1, 1919) was a brigadier general for the Confederate States of
USS Azalea (1864) President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet retired into the Deep South in the hope of continuing the struggle. However, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia on the 9th and General Joseph E. Johnston realized that his army, the only significant body of Confederate troops left in the field, could not prevail. On the 25th, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman informed Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren that he expected General Johnston to surrender the next day and asked the commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron to ". . . watch the east coast and send word round to the west