Colonel of the 1st Maryland Infantry, C.S.A.

RETAIL PRICE $395.00

(1829-1903) Born at Frederick, Maryland, he graduated from Princeton in 1849, studied law, and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1851 after finishing his law degree at Harvard. During the next ten years, he gained fame as the Maryland State Attorney, Chairman of the Maryland State Democratic Committee, and delegate to the presidential conventions of 1860 at Charleston, and Baltimore where he staunchly supported John C. Breckenridge for president. He aided in the recruitment and organization, and equipped a company at his own expense of the 1st Maryland Infantry, and served with it as major, and colonel at the Battle of 1st Manassas, and in General Stonewall Jackson's celebrated 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign, and during the Seven Days battles. On May 17, 1862, the initial 12-month term of duty of the 1st Maryland Regiment, expired, and the men began to clamor for their immediate discharge. Johnson reluctantly agreed with the men, but he could not disband the entire regiment in mid-campaign, and discontent began to spread. By May 22nd, on the eve of the Battle of Front Royal, discontent became open mutiny. Johnson argued with the men to no avail, though news of the rebellion was kept secret from General Stonewall Jackson. When given orders to engage the enemy, Johnson addressed his soldiers:

"You have heard the order, and I must confess are in a pretty good condition to obey it. I will have to return it with the endorsement upon the back that "the First Maryland refuses to meet the enemy," despite being given orders by General Jackson. Before this day, I was proud to call myself a Marylander, but now, God knows, I would rather be known as anything else. Shame on you to bring this stigma upon the fair name of your native state - to cause the finger of scorn to be pointed at those who confided to your keeping their most sacred trust - their honor and that of the glorious Old State. Marylander's you call yourselves - profane not that hallowed name again, for it is not yours. What Marylander ever before threw down his arms and deserted his colors in the presence of the enemy, and those arms, and those colors too, placed in your hands by a woman. Never before has one single blot defaced her honored history. Could it be possible to conceive a crime more atrocious, an outrage more damnable? Go home and publish to the world your infamy. Boast of it when you meet your fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters and sweethearts. Tell them it was you who, when brought face to face with the enemy, proved yourselves recreants, and acknowledged yourselves to be cowards. Tell them this, and see if you are not spurned from their presence like some loathsome leper, and despised, detested, nay abhorred, by those whose confidence you have so shamefully betrayed; you will wander over the face of the earth with the brand of "coward," and "traitor," indelibly imprinted on your foreheads, and in the end sink into a dishonored grave, unwept for, uncared for, leaving behind as a heritage to your posterity the scorn and contempt of every honest man and virtuous woman in the land."

Colonel Johnson's speech seems to have worked where threats had failed, and the Marylander's rallied to the regimental colors, seizing their weapons and crying "lead us to the enemy and we will prove to you that we are not cowards!"

An able officer, he was assigned to various important field duties by his superior officers.

At the Battle of Front Royal, Va., on May 23, 1862, the 1st Maryland Infantry (CSA) was forced into battle with their fellow Marylander's, the 1st Regiment Maryland Infantry (USA) commanded by Colonel John R. Kenly. This is the only time in United States military history that two regiments of the same numerical designation, and from the same state have engaged each other in battle. Just two days later, on May 25, 1862, the 1st Maryland fought again at the First Battle of Winchester, and at the Battle of Cross Keys on June 8th, where the 1st Maryland were placed on General Richard S. Ewell's left, successfully fighting off three assaults by the Yankee troops. After the Confederate victory at the First Battle of Winchester, Colonel Johnson, was described as "one of the handsomest men in the First Maryland." He saw action in the Seven Days Battles in 1862, part of the Peninsula Campaign, a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, in which General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George B. McClellan, away from Richmond, and into a retreat down the Virginia Peninsula. After the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Johnson succeeded to the command of the Second Brigade which he led in the Second Battle of Manassas, and during the 1862 Maryland campaign. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1864.

He executed General Jubal A. Early's orders to burn the town of Chambersburg, Pa. in June 1864. This act was in retaliation for excessive destruction committed by General David Hunter's soldiers in the Shenandoah Valley. Johnson spent the last months of the war in command of the Confederate prison at Salisbury, North Carolina. After the war he returned to his law practice, and also served four years in the Virginia State Senate. Johnson initially maintained support from African-Americans, known as "Johnson clubs," which were political organizations of African-American voters. Unfortunately, Johnson lost their support. After the war, Johnson practiced law in Richmond until 1879, when he moved to Baltimore. After the death of his wife, he moved to Amelia, Virginia, where he died, but his remains were interred back in Baltimore in Loudon Park Cemetery.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 card. Bust view in uniform. Back mark: E. & H.T. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York. This view was taken in 1863 when Johnson was colonel of the 1st Maryland Infantry. Excellent image. Scarce. This image was once part of the famous and historic late William A. Turner collection. Mr. Turner was one of the foremost experts and collectors of Confederate photography in the world. He was the author of "Even More Confederate Faces," and his amazing Confederate images were used in countless books, magazines, and documentary television programs. Here is a RARE opportunity to own a Confederate image from this extraordinary collection!