Book Review Reckless in their Statements: Challenging History’s Harshest Criticisms of Albert Sidney Johnston in the Civil War

Reckless in their Statements: Challenging History’s Harshest Criticisms of Albert Sidney Johnston in the Civil War. By Leigh S. Goggin. Fremantle, Western Australia: Fontaine Press, 2025. Softcover, 441 pp. $27.99.

Reviewed by Darryl Smith

If you have closely read the book review header above, you might have thought, “a Civil War book published in Australia?” Yes, and it is one that you may want to consider if you have an interest in the Western Theater during the early part of the war. Leigh Goggin has written a thought-provoking examination of the commander of Department No. 2, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, taking the historical criticisms leveled at him and one by one attempts to dispel our conventional thinking of this Confederate officer.

Goggin divides Reckless in their Statements into twenty-four chapters. In twenty-two of the chapters, Goggin challenges traditional or more recent interpretations of Johnston’s command performance, facets presented to us in the past by such noted authors as Thomas Connelly, Benjamin Cooling, and recently Timothy B. Smith in Iron Dice of Battle: Albert Sidney Johnston and the Civil War in the West (LSU Press, 2023). Googin presents the chapters in chronological order and examines a wide array of topics ranging from Johnston’s strategy for Department No. 2, to Johnston’s alleged neglect of forts Henry and Donelson, to whether the general should have been leading charges at Shiloh, and many more besides.

The author relies a bit too heavily on previous Johnston biographers, such as Johnston’s own son, William Preston Johnston, but in conjunction with other primary and secondary sources, Goggin uses this mix to rebuff, or at the very least offer an opposing view, to each of these criticisms of Johnston.

I believe the author has at the very least given us food for thought, although in some cases the arguments seem to fall somewhat short. One example would be Johnston’s seeming lack of interest in the river forts. The importance of these forts, Johnston’s inability to spend time at them as opposed to spending a month at the defenses of the more distant Columbus, Kentucky, coupled with a lack of a strong and cohesive command and a clear mission at Fort Donelson, falls squarely on Johnston’s shoulders. Another example that seems stretched is the author’s argument about the overwhelming numbers available to William T. Sherman in late 1861, but in doing so he neglects to explain that Sherman’s 50,000 Federals were spread across Kentucky, that Sherman’s immediate force between Louisville and Bowling Green was much smaller, and that Johnston was defending key terrain south of the Green and Barren rivers.

However, Goggin’s well-written study does provide value and contributes to the existing scholarship on the Western Theater. Being published in Australia, some American readers may be annoyed with the use of metric and imperial format when discussing distances and measurements. Regardless, Goggin at the very least is successful in encouraging his readers to question previous conventional thinking, even if at times the book’s arguments fail to fully persuade one to all of his contentions.

Anyone studying the first year of the Civil War in the Western Theater could benefit from reading Reckless in their Statements. I suggest readers pair Goggins’ arguments and theories with those offered in Timothy B. Smith’s Iron Dice of Battle, using both to develop their own conclusions. This is a well-intentioned effort and is a worthy addition to the increasing number of publications on the Western Theater.

Darryl Smith is the owner and operator of Walking With History LLC. Darryl is an avid hiker and backpacker, who also is a Civil War and American military history enthusiast.  Darryl was the founder of the Miami Rivers Chapter of the Buckeye Trail Association, served as the Activities Chair for the Cincinnati Civil War Round Table, served as the Communication Coordinator for the Military Heritage Chapter of the League of World War One Aviation Historians, and was a board of trustees member for the Buckeye Trail Association. He served as membership chair for the Cynthiana Battlefields Foundation and is currently involved in helping develop a Civil War organization in Augusta, Kentucky. In addition, Darryl serves as blog writer and co-administrator for the Western Theater in the Civil War website. He has always believed that the most effective way to understand our history is to walk the ground where history took place.