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10
CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS

Johnston probably had justice on his side. The Confederate generals were to have ranked according to their position in the United States Army. In that army Johnston stood highest. But Davis placed him below Cooper, A. S. Johnston, and Lee. Davis had, as always, ingenious arguments to support this procedure. Johnston thought the real argument was personal preference, and it may be that he was right. At any rate, he did not like it, and said so.

Further, there was a radical difference between president and general as to military policy all through the war. Johnston believed that the true course was concentration, to let outlying regions go, mass forces, beat the enemy, and then easily recover what had been given up. Davis felt that the demoralization consequent upon such a course would more than outweigh the military advantages.

Neither was a man to give up his own opinion. Neither was a man to compromise. Neither was a man who could forget his own view to work out honestly, heartily, successfully, the view of another. "They were too much alike to get along," says Johnston's biographer. ". . . They were each high-tempered, impetuous, jealous of honor, of the love of their friends, and they could brook no rival. They required absolute devotion, without question."21

You see that from these adjectives we begin to get a little more insight into Johnston's ill luck. Not that Davis