Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) is a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and is one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

He is unrelated to Albert Sidney Johnston, another high-ranking Confederate general.

Johnston, trained as a civil engineer at the U. S. Military Academy, serves in Florida, Texas, and Kansas, and fights with distinction in the Mexican-American War.

By 1860, he achieves the rank of brigadier general as Quartermaster General of the U. S. Army.

When his native state of Virginia secedes from the Union, Johnston resigns his commission, the highest-ranking officer to join the Confederacy.

To his dismay, however, he is appointed only the fourth ranking full general in the Confederate Army.

Johnston's effectiveness in the Civil War is undercut by tensions with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who often criticizes him for a lack of aggressiveness, and victory eludes him in most campaigns he personally commands.

However, he is the senior Confederate commander at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, and his recognition of the important necessary actions, and prompt application of leadership in that victory is usually credited to his subordinate, P. G. T. Beauregard.

He defends the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, withdrawing under the pressure of a superior force under Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan.

In his only offensive action during the campaign, he suffers a severe wound at the Battle of Seven Pines, after which he is replaced in command by his classmate at West Point, Robert E. Lee.

In 1863, in command of the Department of the West, he is criticized for his actions and failures in the Vicksburg Campaign.

In 1864, he fights against Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign, but is relieved of command after withdrawing from northwest Georgia to the outskirts of the city.

In the final days of the war, he is returned to command of the small remaining forces in the Carolinas Campaign and surrenders his armies to Sherman on April 26, 1865.

Two of his major opponents, Grant and Sherman, make comments highly respectful of his actions in the war, and they become close friends with Johnston in subsequent years.

After the war, Johnston is an executive in the railroad and insurance businesses.

He serves a term in Congress and was commissioner of railroads under Grover Cleveland.

He dies of pneumonia after serving in inclement weather as a pallbearer at the funeral of his former adversary, and later friend, William T. Sherman.