General Albert S. Johnson led the Confederate Army of theMississippi. His plan of a surprise attack seemed to be workingfine as the Federals were hastily forced into a retreat. Johnston'soriginal plan of attack was to assemble his army in a single battleline with one corps held back as a reserve. His experienced GeneralPT Beauregard offered to Johnston a different formation of attackwhich Johnston accepted. This involved forming multiple lines ofattack. On its surface, there was nothing wrong with Beauregard'splan. The problem that did arise was due to this "last minute"change of plans. The result was that officers were given commandover units that they were unfamiliar with. The advance of the linesof attack were not properly coordinated which hampered theeffectiveness of the attack.