6. Albert Sidney Johnston fell to friendly fire at the Battle of Shiloh
Albert Sidney Johnston graduated 8th in his class of 41 cadets, and served in the United States Army, the Army of Texas, and in 1861, the Confederate States Army. For many southerners, the Mexican War veteran was the best general the Confederates had, Jefferson Davis among them. Davis assigned Johnston to command the Western Department, essentially all of the land between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River. As Johnston slowly raised troops throughout the vast area, relying on the state governors to recruit them, he kept Union forces in Kentucky on edge with a series of small raids. In 1862 Johnston concentrated his forces at Corinth, and moved on the Union positions at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.
On the first day of the fighting in what became known as the Battle of Shiloh, for a small church on the battlefield, Johnson’s troops drove the Union back in heavy fighting. In the early afternoon, Johnston took a bullet in the back of his knee, which tore an artery. He bled to death in just a few minutes, without medical attention. There had been no Union troops to his rear when he was hit. A surgeon later discovered a tourniquet in Johnston’s pocket, which could have saved his life had it been applied. The surgeon also removed the fatal bullet, discovering it to be from an 1853 Enfield rifle. Union troops did not carry the Enfield, though some Confederates did. Although some historians and Civil War buffs dispute it, Johnston likely fell to friendly fire, a fate which cost the Confederacy one of its most able commanders.
