DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Albert Sidney Johnston, right here in Brazoria County. Now, if you were to draw up a list of men who lived several lives inside one life, Albert Sidney Johnston would sit near the top of that list. Born February 2, 1803, in Kentucky — and that Kentucky connection, you'll see, keeps pulling him back like a long rope.
He went to West Point and graduated in 1826. The United States Army sent him to posts in New York and Missouri, and in 1832 he was in the thick of the Black Hawk War. Seemed like a man building a straight-line military career.
Then 1834 comes along, and Johnston does something the Army didn't expect — he resigned his commission. Not for glory, not for land. He went home to Kentucky to care for his dying wife.
You don't forget a detail like that about a man. But Johnston wasn't the kind to stay still for long. In July of 1836 he came to Texas — the Republic of Texas, mind you, brand new and rough around the edges.
He enlisted in the Republic army. One month later, he was appointed adjutant general. And then in January of 1837, he was named senior brigadier general in command of the entire army.
That is a fast climb through a young republic's ranks. Then President Mirabeau B. Lamar appointed him secretary of war in December of 1838.
In 1840 Johnston returned to Kentucky — there's that rope again — and in 1843 he married Eliza Griffin. The two of them settled at China Grove, Johnston's large plantation at this very site in Brazoria County, and they lived here together until 1849. During those years, Johnston also commanded a company of Texas volunteers in the Mexican War.
After that, as a colonel in the U.S. Army, he served on the Texas frontier and out in the West. And then — 1861.
The Civil War breaks open like a storm that had been building for years. Johnston resigned from the U.S. Army, and President Jefferson Davis appointed him a Confederate general.
He didn't resign to sit out the fight. He was heading straight into it. The Battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862.
Albert Sidney Johnston was killed there. He was buried in New Orleans — but that wasn't where he'd stay. In 1867, he was reinterred in the State Cemetery in Austin.
From a Kentucky boy to West Point, from the Black Hawk War to the Republic of Texas, from this plantation at China Grove to the fields of Shiloh — the marker here in Brazoria County holds all of it. Some men seem to belong to more than one country, more than one era. Johnston was one of those men.
What the marker says
(February 2, 1803 -April 6, 1862) Kentucky native Albert Sidney Johnston graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1826. He was assigned to posts in New York and Missouri, and served in the Black Hawk War in 1832. He resigned his commission in 1834 to return to Kentucky to care for his dying wife. Johnston came to Texas in July 1836 and enlisted in the Republic army. A month later he was appointed adjutant general, and in January 1837 became senior brigadier general in command of the army. He was appointed secretary of war by President Mirabeau B. Lamar in December 1838. In 1840 Johnston returned to Kentucky, where he married Eliza Griffin in 1843. They settled at China Grove, Johnston's large plantation at this site, and continued to live here until 1849. During the Mexican war Johnston commanded a company of Texas volunteers. Later, as a colonel in the U. S. Army, he served on the Texas frontier and in the West. At the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned and was appointed a Confederate general by President Jefferson Davis. Johnston was killed at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and was buried in New Orleans. In 1867 he was reinterred in the State Cemetery in Austin. (1989)