The Birthday of Eternity

Joseph Johnston, died March 21, 1891

 After his wife of forty-two years, Lydia, died in 1887, Joseph Johnston spent his remaining years traveling to veterans' gatherings, where he was universally cheered.

Johnston outlived many of his old opponents, attending the funerals of George B. McClellan and Ulysses S. Grant in 1885.

Johnston, like Robert E. Lee, never forgot the magnanimity of the man to whom he surrendered, and would not allow an unkind word to be said about Sherman in his presence. Sherman and Johnston corresponded frequently and they met for friendly dinners in Washington whenever Johnston traveled there. 

When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral; during the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect in the cold, rainy weather. Someone with concern for the old general's health asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied "If I were in his place and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat." 

He caught a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia, and he died several weeks later in Washington, D.C. on March 21, 1891.  He was 84 years old.

He was buried next to his wife in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.

Grave of Joseph Johnston and his wife, Lydia