Robert Ward Johnson

The Honorable Robert Johnson
File:Hon. Johnson - NARA - 528703.jpg
Confederate States Senator from Arkansas
In office February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
United States Senator from Arkansas
In office July 6, 1853 – March 3, 1861
Preceded by	Solon Borland
Succeeded by	Charles 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 Newton
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1814-07-22)July 22, 1814 Scott County, Kentucky, US
Died	Little Rock, Arkansas, US
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Sarah Frances Smith Laura Smith
Alma mater	St. Joseph's College, Kentucky

Robert Ward Johnson (July 22, 1814 – July 26, 1879) was an attorney and politician, elected United States Representative and Democratic US Senator, as well as Confederate States Senator, from the state of Arkansas.

Considered a member of The Family, a political network in Arkansas, he was the nephew of three Johnson brothers in Kentucky who each served as US Congressman from the state, and held other prominent business and political positions in the state and nationally.

Early life and education

File:Robert Ward Johnson.jpg

Portrait of Johnson in his younger years.

Robert Ward Johnson was born to Benjamin and Matilda (née Williams) Johnson in Scott County, Kentucky; his father had three brothers who were elected as US Congressmen and the family was politically prominent in the state. His grandfather Johnson 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 Mentor Johnson, a US 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. They settled in Little Rock. His father was appointed in 1836 as the first federal district judge in the new state of Arkansas.

The boy was later sent back to Kentucky to study at the Choctaw Academy, which his uncle Richard M. Johnson had founded in 1825 on his farm near Georgetown, Kentucky primarily to educate Choctaw boys from the Southeast in the English language and European-American culture. He was handsomely paid by the federal government. At times, 200-300 boys were there as students.

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. The youth Johnson went on to study at Saint Joseph's College, an academy in Bardstown, and graduated.

After St. Joseph's, Johnson returned to Little Rock, Arkansas, which was the capital. He studied law (read the law) as a legal apprentice and was admitted to the bar in 1835.

Marriage and family

After being admitted to the bar in Arkansas, Johnson 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.

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 Hundley 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 (United States) 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.

File:RWJohnson-portrait.jpg

Portrait of Johnson c. 1865.

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.

The 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 during Reconstruction era. Returning to Arkansas in the late 1870s, after the end of Reconstruction, he ran unsuccessfully for reelection to the Senate in 1878.

Robert Ward Johnson died in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1879. He is buried in the historic Mount Holly Cemetery there.

See also

• The Family (Arkansas politics)

External links

• Robert Ward Johnson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Robert Ward Johnson at Find A Grave
• Robert Ward Johnson at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Thomas Newton	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's At-large congressional district 1847–1853	Constituency abolished
United States Senate
Preceded by Solon Borland	United States Senator (Class 3) from Arkansas 1853–1861 Served alongside: William Sebastian	Succeeded by Charles Mitchel
Confederate States Senate
New constituency	Confederate States Senator (Class 1) from Arkansas 1862–1865 Served alongside: Charles Mitchel, Augustus Garland	Constituency abolished