“ONE OF THE EARLY CLASSIC NARRATIVES BY A CONFEDERATE GENERAL”: FIRST EDITION OF JOHNSTON’S NARRATIVE OF MILITARY OPERATIONS

JOHNSTON, Joseph E. Narrative of Military Operations, Directed, During the Late War Between the States. New York: D. Appleton, 1874. Thick octavo, later three-quarter green morocco gilt, spine with gilt-stamped Civil War motifs, top edge gilt. $1250.

First edition of “one of the early classic narratives by a senior commanding general of the Confederate armies,” illustrated with six engraved maps (one folding) and 15 engraved portraits, including frontispiece portrait of Johnston.

General Johnston remains one of the Confederacy's most controversial figures. He assumed command immediately after secession and continued in one capacity or another until the very end, when he surrendered to Sherman in April 1865. It was Johnston who sought a fighting withdrawal against Sherman during the infamous March to the Sea; the Confederacy's refusal to implement this strategy led to Hood's disastrous defeat at Atlanta. Johnston's fiery relationship with Jefferson Davis and others led him, at war's end, to engage in a "'battle of the books' with those who had criticized his leadership" (ANB). Johnston's Narrative is "one of the first narratives by a major Confederate military figure. It is a vigorous defense of his own actions and necessarily, therefore, a hard-hitting attack on others, particularly on President Davis" (In Tall Cotton 101). "This is one of the early classic narratives by a senior commanding general of the Confederate armies" (Eicher 257). With three leaves of advertisements at rear. Howes J167. Nevins II:68. Dornbusch III:1399.

Minor spotting to contents; spine mildly toned. A near-fine copy, handsomely bound.