Robert Ward Johnson
Robert Ward Johnson | |
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Confederate States Senator from Arkansas | |
In office February 18, 1862 – March 18, 1865 | |
Preceded by | New constituency |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Delegate from Arkansas to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States | |
In office May 18, 1861 – February 17, 1862 | |
Preceded by | New constituency |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
United States Senator from Arkansas | |
In office July 6, 1853 – March 3, 1861 | |
Preceded by | Solon Borland |
Succeeded by | Charles B. Mitchel |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's At-large district | |
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853 | |
Preceded by | Thomas W. Newton |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Personal details | |
Born |
Scott County, Kentucky | July 22, 1814
Died |
July 26, 1879 65) Little Rock, Arkansas | (aged
Resting place |
Mount Holly Cemetery Little Rock, Arkansas 34°44′16.5″N 92°16′38.6″W / 34.737917°N 92.277389°W |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) |
Sarah Smith (m. 1836–62) Laura Smith (m. 1863–79) |
Alma mater | St. Joseph's College |
Robert Ward Johnson (July 22, 1814 – July 26, 1879) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States Senator from Arkansas (1862–1865). He had previously served as a U.S. Representative from 1847 to 1853, U.S. Senator from 1853 to 1861 and delegate to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States (1861–1862).
Early life
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Johnson was born to Benjamin and Matilda (née Williams) Johnson in Scott County, Kentucky;[1] his father had three brothers who were elected as US Congressmen and the family was politically prominent in the state. His grandfather had acquired thousands of acres of land in the area at the end of the eighteenth century. The family were slaveholders.
Robert Johnson's siblings included a sister Juliette. His paternal uncles were Richard Johnson, a United States Representative and Senator, and Vice President of the United States under Martin Van Buren; and his brothers James Johnson and John Telemachus Johnson, older and younger, respectively, who were each elected as US Representatives from Kentucky.
In 1821 when Robert was seven, his parents moved the family to Arkansas Territory, where his father had been appointed as Superior Judge.[1] They settled in Little Rock. His father was appointed in 1836 as the first federal district judge in the new state of Arkansas.[1] Johnson was later sent back to Kentucky to study at the Choctaw Academy, which his uncle Richard Johnson had founded in 1825 on his farm near Georgetown, primarily to educate Choctaw boys from the Southeast in the English language and European-American culture. He was handsomely paid by the federal government.[1][2]
At times, 200–300 boys attended the academy. The Choctaw students were at the school in the period prior to the Indian Removal in the 1830s of the Five Civilized Tribes, but they were under pressure in the Southeast from encroaching settlers. His uncle kept the school going into the late 1830s, after some peoples had been forcibly relocated to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.[2] The young Johnson went on to study at St. Joseph's College, an academy in Bardstown, and graduated.
After St. Joseph's, Johnson returned to Little Rock. He studied law as a legal apprentice and was admitted to the bar in 1835. He married Sarah Smith in 1836. They had six children together; three survived to adulthood. Sarah died in 1862, during the American Civil War. The next year, Johnson at the age of 49 married her younger sister, Laura Smith. They had no children.
Political career
In Little Rock, Johnson soon became involved in Democratic Party politics. He was elected as the prosecuting attorney for Little Rock and served from 1840 to 1842. He effectively acted as the state's attorney.
His sister Juliette married Ambrose Sevier, who was later elected as US Senator from Arkansas. Both Sevier and Johnson became part of The Family, a group of men related by marriage and politics, who dominated the state Democratic Party and politics, and its national representation in the antebellum years.
Prior to the Civil War, Johnson moved his family to Helena, Arkansas, in the Mississippi Delta, where he established his law practice. Johnson was elected from there, beginning in 1846, to the Thirtieth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-second Congresses. He became chairman of the House Committee on Indian Affairs. In this period, his brother-in-law Sevier was chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
Johnson declined to run for reelection in 1852. He was appointed by the legislature to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Senator Solon Borland. In 1855, he was elected by the legislature to the seat, serving the full term until 3 March 1861. After the outbreak of the American Civil War, he served as a delegate to the Provisional Government of the Confederate States in 1862. He served as a member of the Confederate Senate from 1862 to 1865.
Later life
The American Civil War ended Johnson's political career. Property damage and the abolition of slavery ruined him economically. After the war, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. for more than a decade. Returning to Arkansas in the late 1870s, he ran unsuccessfully for reelection to the Senate in 1878. Johnson died in Little Rock in 1879. He is buried in the historic Mount Holly Cemetery there.
Works
- Address of Robert W. Johnson, to the Citizens of Arkansas. Washington: Jno. T. Towers. 1850.
- Speech of Mr. Johnson of Arkansas, in the C. S. Senate, February 9th, 1864, on the Bill to Limit and Define the Terms of Office of the Principal Officers or Heads of Departments. Richmond: James E. Goode, Printer. 1864. LCCN 16025849.
- To the People of Arkansas. Washington, D. C.: W. H. Moore, Printer. 1861.
See also
- List of Confederate States Senators
- List of people from Kentucky
- List of slave owners
- List of United States Senators from Arkansas
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Robert Ward Johnson (1814-1879)", Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, accessed 12 November 2013
- 1 2 Carolyn Foreman, "The Choctaw Academy", Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 6, No. 4, December 1928, accessed 12 November 2013
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Ward Johnson. |
- Robert Ward Johnson at Find a Grave
- Robert Ward Johnson at The Political Graveyard
- United States Congress. "Robert Ward Johnson (id: J000172)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.