Confederate Johnsons

[Battleline]

I've got the following listed as needing to be done among the Johnsons who fought for the Confederacy:
Adam R. "Stovepipe" Johnson
Bradley T. Johnson
Bushrod R. Johnson
Edward "Old Allegheny" Johnson
Of those, I have jkBluesman as having done Edward Johnson. I'm preparing to work on the other three, unless someone has taken care of any of them.
Battleline

[Gil R.]

Those three are still unassigned, so I think it's safe to do them.

[Battleline]

Maj. Gen. Bushrod R. Johnson (b. 1817, d. 1880) Bushrod Rust Johnson was born in Ohio and died in Illinois. So how did he come to rise to the rank of major general and division commander in the armies of the Confederacy? When war broke out, Johnson had been teaching in Kentucky and Tennessee since leaving the U.S. Army in 1847. Thus he ended up in the Confederate Army. Johnson was born in Belmont County, Ohio, Oct. 7, 1817. Despite his Quaker upbringing, he accepted an appointment to attend the U.S. Military Academy, where he graduated 23rd in the Class of 1840. That class also produced William T. Sherman and George H. Thomas. For seven years, Johnson served in the U.S. Army, including time in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican War. He resigned his commission in 1847 (after being accused of smuggling while commissary officer at Vera Cruz) and went into education. Between that time, Johnson taught at the Western Military Institute in Georgetown, Kentucky (chemistry professor and superintendent 1851-55). He was superintendent at the Military College of University of Nashville. During that time, Johnson stayed active with militia units in Kentucky and Tennessee, ascending to the rank of colonel. At the start of the Civil War, he accepted a commission as a colonel of engineers in the Confederate Army. He was promoted to brigadier general Jan. 24, 1862, but immediately ran into misfortune. He was captured in Gen. Grant’s sack of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, Feb. 16, 1862. Johnson escaped to join Confederate forces. At the battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862), Johnson led a brigade until he was wounded during the first day of the bloody fight, which eventually was won by the Federals. He recovered to lead a brigade in the Kentucky Campaign of 1862, seeing action in the Battle of Perryville. At the end of that year (Dec. 31, 1862-Jan. 2, 1863), Johnson’s unit fought in the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River) before retiring with Gen. Braxton Bragg’s command at the end of that fight. During the Confederate victory at Chickamauga, Georgia, Sept. 18-20, 1863, Johnson was in charge of a Tennessee brigade, and later Gen. Buckner’s Division, which wrecked the Federal right. In November 1863, Johnson’s command was detached to go with Gen. Longstreet on his unsuccessful Knoxville Campaign. After that campaign, Johnson’s command was sent east to join the Army of Northern Virginia. His first action there was in the Bermuda Hundred Campaign (May 1864) against forces of Gen. Butler. Johnson received promotion to major general May 24, 1864. His unit then formed part of the entrenched defenses at Petersburg during the siege there. Johnson’s forces helped the Confederates win the Battle of the Crater there July 30, 1864. At the Battle of Sayler’s Creek, April 6, 1865, Johnson’s division ceased to exist as a fighting force in the mass surrender there. Johnson escaped the fate of many of his men and continued as a general without command until surrendering at Appomattox with the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. Following the war, Johnson returned to Tennessee to teach. In 1870, he became chancellor of the University of Nashville. In 1874, Johnson moved to Macoupin County, Illinois, farming near the community of Brighton. He died there, Sept. 12, 1880. His remains were later moved to City Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.

Brig. Gen. Bradley T. Johnson (b. 1829, d. 1903) One of the most prominent of the Maryland officers in the Confederacy, Bradley Tyler Johnson commanded infantry, cavalry and prisoners during the Civil War. He also was one of the officers responsible for burning Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Johnson was born in Frederick, Maryland, Sept. 29, 1829. He graduated from Princeton in 1849 and studied law. He earned admission to the Maryland bar in 1851. He served in various roles in Maryland for the next 10 years, including the state’s attorney, chairman of the state’s Democratic Party committee and delegate to the conventions of 1860 at Charleston and Baltimore. He was a supporter of John C. Breckinridge. With war coming, he helped to recruit the First Maryland (Confederate) Infantry and was that unit’s major. Johnson fought at First Manassas (Bull Run) and then went to the Shenandoah Valley with Stonewall Jackson. As the unit’s colonel, he led the First Maryland into combat in the streets of Front Royal, where it helped to secure a major victory for the Confederates. He led the regiment through the Seven Days Campaign as the Confederates pushed McClellan’s Federals away from Richmond. During the campaign against forces of Gen. Pope, which ultimately led to the Confederate victory at Second Manassas (Bull Run), Johnson had temporary command of a brigade. His leadership prompted one veteran to proclaim that “Nobody did it better.” For a long time, Johnson was overlooked for promotion. His superior, Stonewall Jackson, repeatedly pushed for Johnson to be elevated. He finally received a promotion to brigadier general June 28, 1864, after the death of Gen. William E. Jones, taking charge of a cavalry brigade. During the Early’s Valley Campaign (June-August, 1864) Johnson was detailed to try to free Confederate prisoners at Point Lookout, Maryland, but the task was too difficult. On July 30, 1864, Johnson’s command and troops of Gen. McCausland burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on orders from Gen. Early. The burning was in retaliation for Federal Gen. David Hunter’s heavy hand against civilians of the Shenandoah Valley. When Early’s forces were driven from the Shenandoah Valley, Johnson found himself without a command after reorganization. Johnson was sent to Salisbury, North Carolina, to command the prison stockade there. After the war, Johnson practiced law in Richmond, Virginia, and served for four years in the state senate (1875-79). He moved to Baltimore and wrote a number of historical and legal documents. He died Oct. 5, 1903, in Amelia Virginia, and was buried in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Note about the Salisbury Prison: It was one of the first documented places the sport of baseball was played with games between prisoners and guards. There is a well-known lithograph of a game there (National Archives, can be seen in Heidler’s) which might be the first representation of the sport. In April (13-15) of this year, the Ohio Village Muffins vintage base ball team traveled there to recreate the famous scene and play against local teams. It was part of the 10th Annual Salisbury Confederate Prison Symposium. That was still the talk of the town when I was there two weeks later for an NSSA event. Thanks to a prominent Salisbury attorney, I have a print of the famous lithograph.

Brig. Gen. Adam R. Johnson (b. 1834, d. 1922) Exploits as a partisan ranger earned Adam Rankin Johnson both his promotion to brigadier general and his unusual nickname of “Stovepipe.” Johnson picked up the moniker when he used a stovepipe mounted on the wagon wheels to capture the town of Newburgh, Indiana, July 18, 1862. Accounts state that Johnson had from 12-27 men with him on the raid which captured a town of 1,300 which included 100 Federal soldiers. Johnson was born Feb. 8, 1834, in Henderson, Kentucky. He moved to Burnet County, Texas, at the age of 20. In his new home, he became known as a surveyor, Indian fighter and Overland Mail station conductor. When the Civil War broke out, Johnson was returning to Kentucky when he met Nathan B. Forrest, who enlisted him as a scout. He saw first action at the Battle of Sacramento, Kentucky, Dec. 28, 1861. Encircled with Confederates at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, Johnson found a route for escape from the siege. Forrest’s command and Gen. Floyd were among those who used that route. Starting in June 1862, Johnson served with a partisan ranger unit. Johnson’s small command won a skirmish against Federal cavalry near Henderson, Kentucky, June 30, 1862. He defeated another Federal cavalry detachment near Madisonville, Kentucky July 5. Then, he crossed the Ohio River in the first Confederate raid into Indiana. He demanded the surrender of the Newburgh garrison. The commander initially refused, but Johnson pointed out his two “cannon” which were above the river town. Under threat of being shelled, the Federals gave up and Johnson quickly raided the town. The two “cannon,” lengths of stovepipe on wagon wheels, were left behind. Johnson’s unit was incorporated into the 10th Kentucky Partisan Ranger Regiment with Johnson elected colonel Aug. 13, 1862. Formal appointment came Nov. 4, 1862. Between that time, the 10th Kentucky Partisan Ranger Regiment was made part of Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s second brigade. It immediately went into action. With the Second Kentucky Cavalry, Johnson’s men captured Clarksville, Tennessee, Aug. 18, 1862. Johnson participated in Morgan’s Third (Christmas) Raid through Kentucky Dec. 21, 1862-Jan. 2, 1863. This raid was designed to hit Federal supply routes while the Confederates were trying to defend Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Morgan’s division missed the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River) while on the raid. Johnson’s command also went on Morgan’s Ohio Raid (July 2-26, 1863) and was destroyed as a fighting unit. Johnson and some of his men escaped the fate of the division by swimming across the Ohio River following defeat at the Battle of Buffington’s Island July 19, 1863. Johnson received his own command. He was commissioned as a brigadier general June 1, 1864. Raiding a Federal outpost at Grubb’s Crossroads, Kentucky, Aug. 21, 1864, Johnson was wounded by friendly fire, being hit in the head. He was rendered totally blind as both eyes were destroyed. Johnson was captured and briefly was a prisoner at Fort Warren. Exchanged, he refused to resign his commission and was paroled after being captured near Macon, Mississippi, in April 1865. After the war, Johnson returned to Texas. There, he founded the town of Marble Falls and became a prominent figure in Central Texas. In 1904, he dictated a history of the war, “The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army.” He died in Burnet, Texas, Oct. 20, 1922. He is buried in Austin, Texas. Two of Johnson’s descendants, both named Adam Rankin Johnson (both known as Rankin Johnson) played Major League Baseball.

Johnson has become the subject of various Web sites and publications. Two are:
History and links on the 10th Kentucky Partisan Rangers http://webpages.charter.net/lecgbe/10ky/10cavhome.htm
A book about Johnson’s Newburgh raid: Thunder From a Clear Sky by Ray Mulesky http://www.thunderfromaclearsky.com/

[Gil R.]

Thanks for these. And that's very interesting about the baseball link.