Hey everyone, welcome to another special bonus episode of our Civil War podcast.

My name is Rich.

And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Thanks for downloading this show about Confederate General

Albert Sidney Johnston.

Yeah, Tracy and I just wanted to do another short episode that would expand a bit on something

else we touched upon in the last show, episode 82. When we mentioned Albert Sidney Johnston's

resigning his commission in the US Army and his subsequent epic journey from California

to Texas and then on to Virginia after the start of the Civil War.

We mentioned that Jefferson Davis and Johnston were old friends and comrades in arms, or

at least for his part, the Confederate President considered them to be old friends and comrades

in arms. You see, back when the two were at West Point, Davis had developed a major case

of hero worship for the older cadet. And over the years since those days of the military

academy, Jefferson Davis's respect for Albert Sidney Johnston had only grown.

The first week of September 1861, after completing his cross-country trek, when Johnston finally

arrived in Richmond and called on the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis was sick and

bed, but he rallied when he heard Johnston stride confidently into the parlor. Davis

reportedly said, that is Sidney Johnston's step, bring him up.

Davis had already seen to it that Johnston was to hold a commission as a full general,

one of only five in the Confederate service. In fact, Johnston would be the ranking

southern officer in the field, senior even to Robert E. Lee. As Jefferson Davis wrote

later, I hoped and expected that I had others who had proved generals, but I knew I had

one, and that was Sidney Johnston.

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