One of the Many Unsung Heroes of the Civil War

By Diane Euston

  Few wars in this country’s history dug deeper into the soul of the nation like the Civil War. Not only was it the deadliest of American conflicts with approximately 620,000 casualties, but it marked the end of hundreds of years of enslavement. Freedom for all came at a large price of life.

  When the country climbed into the Second World War in 1941, a handful of the three million veterans of the Civil War were still alive. In Kansas City, one of these veterans, George Washington Johnson, wasn’t just one of the last survivors of the Civil War living in Missouri. This man, born free, was one of the last Black veterans in the United States.

Piecing Together an Early Life

  George W. Johnson was born a freedman on Independence Day 1847 in Washington, D.C.  His parents are unknown, and even later in life, George claimed not to remember their names. He did state he had a twin brother.

  Little is known about George’s early life – a common issue with African American history. What is known is that he, despite little to no schooling, was an “exceptional” reader. In his early life, he stayed predominately in Washington, D.C. as part of the approximate 10,000 freedmen living in the city before the Civil War.

  Four million people were enslaved prior to the Civil War, so George W. Johnson’s place as one of those free prior to emancipation was quite rare. 

  Before enlisting in the Union Army, George worked as a butcher and a saloon waiter. Described as “dark mulatto” and about 5’4” tall, George was 14 years old when cannons fired on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began.

The 1st United States Colored Troops

  African Americans lined up in droves trying to enlist in the Union Army; however, a 1792 law banned Blacks from serving. But, as the war progressed and enlistment numbers dropped dramatically, President Abraham Lincoln had little choice but to look for fresh bodies to help secure a victory. 

  On July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation and Militia Act which allowed use of African Americans in federal service, but it wasn’t until the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 that Blacks were allowed to serve in combat.

  Across the nation, Black regiments formed to serve the Union. In Spring 1863, two chaplains convinced the President to utilize the overgrowing Black population of Washington, D.C. The request was granted, and recruitment for the 1st Regiment, District of Columbia Colored Infantry was born.

  George W. Johnson was only 16 years old at the time, so he lied about his age in order to enlist on June 14, 1863 at Mason’s Island near the capitol.

  Mason’s Island, about two miles west of the White House, was strategically chosen to train these Black soldiers. Its remote location – on an island in the middle of the Potomac – was easier to protect. 

  Many residents were sympathetic to the Confederate cause, and the threat of violence on newly mustered troops increased. The removal to Mason’s Island (now known as Roosevelt Island) was so secretive that President Lincoln didn’t even know where they were.

  Treatment within the Union Army was not equal. Black soldiers were paid $10 per month with an automatic $3 taken out of each payment for clothing. In comparison, white soldiers were paid $13 per month with an additional $3.50 given for clothing. 

  Mortality rates were also higher for African American soldiers. One out of every five Black soldiers died – 35% higher than white regiments. 

  A member of Company D, 1st Regiment, George served for just over two years. One of his biggest memories from his time served was the Battle of Wilson’s Landing (also called Wilson’s Wharf) when under the command of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler.

  Over 1,000 troops, including Johnson, marched to Wilson’s Wharf in Virginia, tasked with building a supply depot for Union troops in the area. Word reached the Confederacy in Richmond, alerting them to the activity.

  About 2,500 Confederates stormed Wilson’s Wharf on May 24, 1864 under the command of Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, Robert E. Lee’s nephew. About 1,100 Black soldiers, including Johnson, were able to hold the Confederates. Lee was allegedly mortified his men were defeated by Black soldiers. 

  George’s regiment stayed active around Virginia until moving to North Carolina in December 1864. On September 29, 1865, he mustered out of service at Roanoke Island at the close of the war.

  In all, about 172,000 African Americans served in the Civil War, 10% of that number losing their lives.

  It was later reported that Johnson, then just an 18 year old, returned home only to run away “from his older brothers” three days later. He traveled to Baltimore where he secured a job on a ship there.

  On November 15, 1865, the ship left Baltimore, bound for London. After arrival two months later, George opted to end his seafaring journey when he heard the ship was continuing onto Bombay. He didn’t have the confidence in the ship’s sturdiness to make it there.

  He walked to Liverpool where he got another job sailing on a ship back to the United States. After arriving, he spent a short amount of time in Texas before landing in Little Rock, Ark. by 1870. There, he returned to his training as a butcher.

An Exodus to Kansas 

  Thousands of newly emancipated people flooded into Kansas between 1860 and 1870, but the true gush of migration to Kansas started in 1879. At about this time, George left the South never to return again, likely enticed by the “promised land” touted to African Americans at the time.

  Most African Americans that settled in Kansas lived predominately in counties in the northeastern portion of the state, such as Topeka, Leavenworth, Lawrence and Kansas City, Kan.

  At about this time, George, now a 30-something single man, packed his bags and moved to Leavenworth, Kan. where he found an apprenticeship making “wagons, buggies, furniture and other wood products.”  In 1878, 31-year-old George married 23-year-old Emma Lee.

  Unfortunately, their marriage was cut short when Emma died of unknown causes in 1883.

  The following Christmas Eve, George married a second time to Josella Guinn. Josella was born free in Weston, Mo. in about 1857 before moving by 1860 to Leavenworth where her grandmother, Priscilla Lee, was a well-known cook at a hotel.

  George and Josella welcomed their only child, named Priscilla Lee Johnson after her maternal great-grandmother, in 1890.

  George continued to work as a carpenter throughout Leavenworth, earning a living wage and working to provide the best for his wife and daughter. He showed little interest in joining any fraternal organizations at this point in his life, likely choosing not to speak much of his time as a soldier.

  Tragedy struck George’s little family again when his second wife, Josella, passed away in December 1909.

  After the loss of his wife, George moved to Kansas City in 1910, first settling on the Kansas side and eventually moving to Missouri. There, his daughter, Priscilla was married to Sam Jones in 1916. George himself married for a third time to Cecelia R. Brown. 

  George’s time was limited in Kansas City. Shortly after his third marriage, the 68-year-old became quite ill and moved back to Leavenworth to receive medical care at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. He suffered from chronic bronchitis and low back pain. After his release, he opted to work for several years at the hospital in order to care for ailing veteran soldiers.

The Rise to One of the Sole Survivors

  George’s third wife, Cecelia, born in 1857 in Platte County, was “one of the most widely known and most prominent fraternal leaders of Kansas City and the Southwest.” At one time, she was associated with 10 different secret orders.

  Her involvement in societies may have been part of the reason that George became more involved in honoring his past. When Cecelia passed away in 1934, George lived with his daughter and her two children. The rarity of surviving Civil War veterans made George a very popular man in his later years. 

  The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a national association of Civil War veterans, was founded in 1866 in Illinois. Posts popped up across the country, allowing veterans a place to gather and find comradery. In addition, the GAR was one of the first advocacy groups in politics, pushing for pensions, voting rights and making Memorial Day a national holiday.

  The GAR reached peak membership in the 1890s with about 400,000 members. George waited until his late 80s to join the GAR – well past the height of membership.

  In 1938, George received an invitation of a lifetime that opened many doors to the aging vet. An engraved invitation from the Secretary of War invited him on an all-expenses paid trip to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. The event, from July 3-5, invited all living veterans to attend the festivities.

  George didn’t think twice. “He immediately began making preparations for the trip,” The Call reported. The “active and stylish dresser,” Private George Washington Johnson, spent his 91st birthday at Gettysburg celebrating. “When all those firecrackers are shot off [at Gettysburg], they are celebrating my birthday,” George mused.

  Just shy of 1,800 veterans of the 8,000 survivors attended. He was one of three Black veterans in Missouri to attend. Each attendee was given a bronze medal.

  The encampment at Gettysburg brought back deep memories of his time as a Union soldier. “It recalled to me memories of an encampment in 1863 when we were fighting against General Fitz Lee, just out of Richmond. I hadn’t been long in the army then,” George told The Call.

  This publicity and his joining the McPherson chapter of the GAR in Kansas City made George a bit of a local celebrity as more and more veterans passed away. Even at the 1938 reunion, three attendees- veterans of the Civil War- died over the three-day celebration. The average attendee was 94 years old.

  Just one year later, George was the guest of the National Guard in Sedalia as they celebrated veterans at the state fair. Even at the spry age of 92 years old, nothing could slow him down. “He goes wherever he wishes on foot and disdains riding in a car,” the Kansas City Times reported. 

  By 1939, only 39 Civil War veterans were alive in Missouri. By 1940, the dwindling members of the GAR elected George state chaplain and only nine Civil War veterans were alive in Kansas City. It was an annual feature of memorial services for George to stand up and read the Gettysburg Address.

  George’s last years of life were spent traveling around to various states as a guest at the national GAR meetings. In 1941, a special event put into perspective how far things had advanced since his service.

  Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis (1877-1970), the first Black general in the Army, shook hands with Private George W. Johnson. “During his life span,” The Call reported, “he has seen remarkable progress.” 

  At the event, George received an insignia ring, “symbolic of his high rank in the GAR.” He was the only Black man ever given the honor.

  On August 1, 1945 at the age of 98, George Washington Johnson, the very last Civil War veteran in Kansas City, passed away from heart disease at his home at 2307 Michigan. He was the chairman emeritus of the Memorial Day committee in Kansas City, and at his death, the very last GAR post in Kansas City closed.

  At his funeral at the African Methodist Episcopal Church at 22nd and Prospect, 250 people lined up to pay their respects to George. “Freedom was in the blood of Brother Johnson,” the pastor proclaimed. “He was born free, himself, but he fought as a volunteer in a war that set four million Negroes free.”

  His daughter, a grandson and a great-granddaughter survived him. 

Honor in the Last Fallen

  At the close of the Civil War, 2.2 million veterans walked off the battlefields and back to their lives. By 1918, just shy of 300,000 remained. 

  Prior to George’s death in 1945, 240 veterans from the Civil War remained alive out of the three million who served.  A year later, 154 veterans remained. In Missouri, the last veteran died four days after his 105th birthday in 1951; in Kansas, the last veteran also died in 1951 at the age of 102.

  The final Civil War veteran, Albert Woolson, died in 1956 at the age of 109 in Minnesota. With his death, the very last GAR post turned out their lights.

  The Veterans Administration carefully tracked the longevity of those who served, partially in order to assess how much in benefits would be paid out over time. In 1947, the VA predicted that the “hardiest World War I veteran would be gone by 1995.”

  Little could one predict that the last veteran of World War I would die in 2011 at the age of 110.

  Black veterans such as George Washington Johnson may have been lost among the microfilm reels of Civil War service and pension records had he not outlived his comrades over the decades. Regardless, his story is a testament of a soldiers’ sacrifice for the love and promises this country has offered over time.

  Time is the enemy; memories last only as long as the stories are told.

  Diane writes a blog on the history of the area. To read more of the stories, go to http://www.newsantafetrailer.blogspot.com.