General McCook Discovers Governor Johnson at Shiloh

Riding over the Shiloh battlefield on April 8, 1862, Generals Alexander McCook and William "Bull" Nelson came across an old acquaintance lying upon the battlefield: George W. Johnson, the provisional Confederate governor of Kentucky. The 49-year-old, serving as a volunteer aide on the staff of General John C. Breckinridge, had a horse shot out from under him on April 6th, then took his place as a private in the ranks of Co. E of the 4th Kentucky on the 7th. In the course of the fighting, Johnson suffered a mortal wound in the right thigh and abdomen.

          I saw lying upon the ground a tall man dressed in gray jeans. I dismounted, approached him, and recognized him as a Kentucky Johnson and told him so,” McCook wrote years later. “He replied, ‘Yes, I am George W. Johnson, Confederate governor of Kentucky.’ He asked me to come nearer. I knelt beside him, better to hear what he had to say. He asked me if I was a Mason, I convinced him I was. He then told me he had been fighting the day before with Trabue’s men, that he was fatally wounded through the body and had no hopes of recovery.”

          McCook administered some brandy, summoned an ambulance, and called over General Nelson and later Colonel James Jackson of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry to speak with Johnson. Johnson would die aboard a hospital ship on April 8th, and within six months, Nelson would be murdered in Louisville by a fellow Federal general, and Jackson would have been killed in action under McCook’s command at Perryville. McCook’s description of this event first saw publication in the Lexington Herald’s August 18, 1901, edition, supplied to the Herald’s manager Desha Breckinridge by Thomas J. Bush.

 

General Alexander McDowell McCook

Grant’s battle of Pittsburg Landing was fought on Sunday, April 6, 1862, the Battle of Shiloh fought on Monday, April 7, 1862. Three divisions of the Army of the Ohio, about 20,000 men under the immediate command of General Buell were successfully engaged on the Union side.

Tuesday morning, day after the battle, General William Nelson came to my headquarters and finding me prepared to ride over the battlefield, asked to accompany me. I conducted him to the points of most interest to my mind. In reaching a thicket surrounding a live oak swamp where a determined stand had been made in front of my division by the Kentucky troops under Breckinridge, I saw lying upon the ground a tall man dressed in gray jeans. I dismounted, approached him, and recognized him as a Kentucky Johnson and told him so. He replied, ‘Yes, I am George W. Johnson, Confederate governor of Kentucky.’ He asked me to come nearer. I knelt beside him, better to hear what he had to say. He asked me if I was a Mason, I convinced him I was. He then told me he had been fighting the day before with Trabue’s men, that he was fatally wounded through the body and had no hopes of recovery. He told of the battle and of other things not necessary to mention here.

Governor George W. Johnson of Kentucky

It having rained hard Monday night, Governor Johnson was wet and chilled. I administered brandy and gave him such nourishment as my party carried. I told him that General Nelson was nearby and asked if he would like to speak with him; he said yes. Nelson then came forward, knelt near him, and held a short conversation. Meantime, Colonel Jim Jackson of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry approached and I notified Governor Johnson and he said he would like to speak with him. General Nelson and Colonel Jackson had been great friends, but, from some cause, were estranged, enemies in fact, and arrangements were made to settle their difficulty by code duello at the end of the war.

At the close of Colonel Jackson’s interview, and after he had risen to his feet, I then addressed General Nelson and Colonel Jackson. ‘I am told you are enemies now. In view of our glorious victory yesterday, surrounded by these dead and dying men, there could not be a more fitting opportunity for you both to clasp each other’s hand, mutually asking forgiveness, and again to become friends.’ Instantly, the hands were extended and grasped and from that hour they were again friends.

Previously a field ambulance had been sent for and upon its arrival, Governor Johnson was tenderly placed in it.  On our way to this interesting point on the battlefield, we found the dead body of a Confederate officer whose features and size of body bore a strong resemblance to General Albert Sindey Johnston. When we again reached this point, this body was raised so that Governor Johnson could view it from the ambulance. He said in the presence of myself, General Nelson, and others that ‘that is the body of General Johnston.’ Giving full credence to this testimony, General Nelson gave orders to a burial party to prepare a grave. The body was placed in it and marked with a picket fence placed around it. This proved to be a case of mistaken identity; this body was afterwards proven to be that of Colonel Preston of Louisiana.

Colonel James S. Jackson of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry became Brigadier General later that summer and met his demise while serving as a division commander at the Battle of Perryville. 


Governor Johnson requested me to send for a minister of the Gospel. Meeting one of our chaplains, I asked him to come to the ambulance and introduced him to the governor. He was directed to conduct the ambulance to Pittsburg Landing where the hospital steamboat Hannibal was lying. Upon this boat, surgeons from the North were caring for the wounded with experienced nurses from Cincinnati hospital, and where all the needed delicacies were found for the wounded and the sick. Two or three days later, the chaplain reported that Governor Johnson had died. A few minutes before death struck, the governor asked him if he could sing Kirk White’s hymn “The Star of Bethlehem.” The chaplain, holding his hand, sang the hymn and just at the close, the spirit of Governor Johnson passed into the peace of God.

Source:

“Recollections of Shiloh’s Battlefield: Major General McCook Writes of Incidents and Scenes of that Famous Engagement,” Lexington Herald (Kentucky), August 18, 1901, pg. 11

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