Stovepipe Johnson

Adam Rankin Stovepipe Johnson (February 6,

1834 October 20, 1922) was an antebellum Western
frontiersman and later an ocer in the Confederate States
Army during the American Civil War.

only supposed to raid on the Kentucky side of the river.

Following the Confederate disaster at the Battle of Buington Island, Johnson led nearly 350 of his men across
the rain-swollen Ohio River to safety. The remainder of
Morgans division was trapped on the Ohio side of the
Permanently blinded during a skirmish in 1864, Johnson
in 1887 founded the town of Marble Falls, Texas, which river and eventually forced to surrender.
Johnson was appointed brigadier general on September 6,
became known as the blind mans town.
1864, to rank from June 1, 1864, though his appointment
was never conrmed by the Confederate Congress.[2] On
August 21, 1864, he was blinded by an accidental shot
1 Early life
from one of his own men during a skirmish at Grubbs
Crossroads, near Princeton, Kentucky. Left behind beJohnson was born in Henderson, Kentucky, a son of cause of his injuries, he was captured by the Federals and
Thomas J. and Juliet (Rankin) Johnson. Educated in the was a prisoner for much of the remainder of the war in
local schools, he went to work at age 12 in a drugstore Fort Warren. He was exchanged near the wars end, and
for the next eight years. In 1854 he moved to Hamil- despite his blindness attempted to return to active duty.
ton Valley in Burnet County, Texas, and worked as a sur- However, the nal surrender put a stop to that.
veyor on the West Texas frontier. He was a noted Indian ghter and provided supplies and animals for the
Buttereld Overland Mail stations. On January 1, 1861,
he married Josephine Eastland of Austin, with whom he
3 Postbellum
had nine children.

Adam R. Johnson returned to Texas after being exchanged and paroled in 1865. Despite being blind, he
founded a town, established a company, and worked to
harness the water power of the Colorado River.

Civil War

When the Civil War began and his native Kentucky struggled to maintain its neutrality, Johnson returned home
and joined Nathan B. Forrest's cavalry battalion as a
scout, ghting with him at his rst engagement at the
Battle of Sacramento.[1] He escaped capture with Forrest after Fort Donelson, when the Confederate commanders decided to surrender their post to the Union besiegers. He later received a promotion to colonel in recognition of his exploits with his 10th Kentucky Partisan
Rangers, a regiment he raised that often operated deep
behind Federal lines in Kentucky. Johnsons men harassed Union supply lines and attacked isolated garrisons.
In July 1862, in his Newburgh Raid, Johnson captured
the town of Newburgh, Indiana, blung its sizable Union
militia force into surrendering with only twelve of his men
and two joints of a stovepipe mounted on the running gear
of an abandoned wagon to form a Quaker cannon. His
capture of the rst Northern city to fall to the Confederates made the news even in Europe, and Johnsons men
thereafter nicknamed him Stovepipe.

He died in Burnet, Texas in 1922 at the age of 88, and

is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas.
He rests beside his wife Josephine and near his grandson,
Judge George Christian, Sr., and a great-grandson, former White House Press Secretary George Christian, Jr.

4 Notes
[1] Davison, E. W. and D. Foxx (2007). Nathan Bedford Forrest: In Search of the Enigma. Pelican Publishing. pp.
3641. ISBN 1589804155.

[2] Eicher, p. 601; United States War Department, The Military Secretarys Oce, Memorandum relative to the general ocers appointed by the President in the armies of the
Confederate States-1861-1865 (1908) (Compiled from
ocial records), p. 32. Caption shows 1905 but printing date is February 11, 1908. https://archive.org/details/
memorandumrelati01unit, retrieved August 5, 2010..

In 1863, Johnson assumed command of a brigade in the

cavalry division of Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan. He
reluctantly participated in Morgans Raid, though he was
1

References
Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War
High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001,
ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
Johnson, Adam R., The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate Army. Louisville, Kentucky: George G.
Fetter, 1904.
United States War Department, The Military Secretarys Oce, Memorandum relative to the general
ocers appointed by the President in the armies of
the Confederate States1861-1865 (1908) (Compiled from ocial records). Caption shows 1905
but printing date is February 11, 1908. https:
//archive.org/details/memorandumrelati01unit, retrieved August 5, 2010.
Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the
Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
Johnson, E. Polk (1912). A History of Kentucky and
Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in
Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities. Lewis
Publishing Company. pp. 10031004. Retrieved
2008-11-10.

External links
Texas State Cemetery Ocial Website

EXTERNAL LINKS

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Stovepipe Johnson Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stovepipe_Johnson?oldid=665316281 Contributors: Hlj, Stevietheman, Nutmegger, Bender235, Tony Sidaway, Woohookitty, BD2412, Bedford, Scott Mingus, Hmains, Thumperward, Ser Amantio di Nicolao,
Majora4, Billy Hathorn, Spacini, Cydebot, SGGH, JustAGal, RobotG, Kresock, Acdixon, R'n'B, 8th Ohio Volunteers, GhostPirate, GrahamHardy, BOTijo, Patriciacraig, Kumioko (renamed), ClueBot, Patriciacjohnson, Passargea, 1ForTheMoney, Addbot, Yobot, Citation
bot, FrescoBot, ZroBot, Donner60, Mnoirot64, ProudIrishAspie, Valetude, Tymon.r and Anonymous: 15

7.2

Images

File:ARJohnson.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/ARJohnson.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

File:Brigadier-General_John_H._Morgan.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Brigadier-General_
John_H._Morgan.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Johnson, Robert Underwood; Buel, Clarence Clough (1887) "Morgans Ohio
Raid" in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 3, New York City: The Century Company, pp. p. 653 Retrieved on 3 July 2009. Original
artist: Unknown
File:Union_army_col_rank_insignia.jpg Source:
insignia.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Union_army_col_rank_

US-O6_insignia.svg Original artist: US-O6_insignia.svg: Ipankonin

7.3

Content license

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