Johnston graduated from West Point in 1826, and resigned from the U.S. Army to move to Texas in 1834. He served as commander of the Texan army from 1837 to 1838 and then as secretary of war from 1838 to 1840 of the Texas republic. Johnston was recommissioned into the U.S. Army in 1849 and commanded forces in the Utah War from 1857 to 1858. In 1861 he joined the Confederacy and was given the impossible task of defending the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. He was killed at the Battle of Shiloh.
Bibliography: Roland, Charles P., Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three Republics (1964; repr. 1987).
