Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson (February 22, 1834 – April 22, 1869) was the fourth-born child of Andrew Johnson and Eliza McCardle, a lawyer by profession, one-term Tennessee state legislator, Union Army cavalry officer during the American Civil War, and Secretary to the President of the United States. Johnson suffered from severe and chronic alcohol dependence. Despite having played little to no role in commanding his company during the war, Johnson was breveted brigadier general by his father. He died by overdose of alcohol and laudanum in the family home in Greeneville, Tennessee, six weeks after the end of President Johnson's term in office.

Early life Robert Johnson, called Bob, was born in the family's Water Street house in Greeneville, the county seat of Greene County, Tennessee. He is said to have briefly studied at Franklin College during the winter of 1850–51, but within short order returned home "for unknown reasons." During this time period he also apparently experienced some hemorrhaging of the lungs, possibly consequent to a tuberculosis infection. first licensed in 1856, having studied under an attorney named Robert McFarland. Robert and his brother Charles Johnson also managed their father's business affairs and real estate when Andrew Johnson was away from Tennessee. According to the newspaper of dedicated Andy Johnson hater Parson Brownlow, "It is said that a principal object in trying to get Bob Johnson into the Legislature is to nominate, through that body, his daddy for the Presidency." Robert Johnson attended the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. In June 1861, he was a delegate from Greene County to the pro-Union East Tennessee Convention. As a vocal Southern Unionist, Johnson (along with his brothers, and his brothers-in-law David T. Patterson and Dan Stover) was in genuine danger in Tennessee in 1861—correspondents informed Andrew Johnson, safe in Washington, that Robert Johnson was under threat of arrest and even hanging.

Union Army Johnson's muster-roll summaryRobert Johnson joined the Union Army at Camp Dennison (near Cincinnati, Ohio), in February 1862 for three years' service, being commissioned Colonel of the 4th Tennessee Volunteer Regiment, which he organized. He nominally commanded said unit, which was eventually mounted and redesignated 1st Tennessee Cavalry Regiment, in the Western theater of the American Civil War. In summer 1862, "Andrew Johnson exchanged communications with General George W. Morgan, begging him to watch over Robert and to encourage him to do his duty. The general responded with positive news." Years later, an Ohio newspaper writer wrote that circa October 1862, as the outnumbered federal army abandoned the Cumberland Gap and retreated to safer ground in Ohio, "between Portland and Gallipolis, the military authorities forbade every doggery keeper on the road letting [Robert Johnson] have any liquor, on account of his violent character when drunk."

On November 14, 1862, he was at the Union barracks in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his unit, where he made a speech to a couple of hundred East Tennessee refugees, and had dinner at the Burnet House hotel with politicians and military officers, including Horace Maynard; his son Lt. Col. Edward Maynard, 6th Tennessee; Col. Joseph Cooper, 6th Tennessee; and the redoubtable Parson Brownlow. Johnson, who was , The 34-star American flag, also inscribed Johnson's 1st Tennessee Cavalry and "bound round the edge with yellow silk fringe," was produced by Hamlin of Cincinnati, "the prince of military furnishers in the West." "Col. Robert Johnson, son of Andy Johnson, is dead. He drank himself crazy years ago. When he was with Gen. George W. Morgan's army, between Portland and Gallipolis, the military authorities forbade every doggery keeper on the road letting him have any liquor, on account of his violent character when drunk." (Jackson Standard, Jackson, Ohio, May 5, 1869)

On April 4, 1863, Robert Johnson's older brother Charles Johnson, an assistant surgeon with the 10th Tennessee Infantry, died at Nashville after being thrown from a horse. Robert Johnson was probably the only family member to attend the funeral in Middle Tennessee; part of his regiment participated in the funeral procession. On April 18, 1863, a New York newspaper published a small blurb stating, "The story about the capture by the rebels of Col. Robert Johnson, son of Gov. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, was fabricated. He is in Nashville, attending to his duties." Five days later, a Chicago paper reported that Johnson "reported captured by the rebels, is safe in Nashville." Following Charles Johnson's death, Robert Johnson's drinking became problematic that enough that Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans wrote Andrew Johnson, who had been appointed military governor of Tennessee by Abraham Lincoln, that "Robert has been drinking so as to become a subject of remark everywhere." James Patton Brownlow, the 20-year-old son of Andrew Johnson's longtime nemesis, William Gannaway Brownlow, replaced Robert Johnson as colonel. Brownlow had joined the regiment as a private, subsequently promoted to captain of a company, and then was made a lieutenant colonel; according to the 1902 regimental history, which does not otherwise record Johnson's troubles. Col. Jim Brownlow, seated front and center, was in 70 battles and skirmishes and had four horses killed under him; Calvin Dyer, back row far left, took over after Brownlow was wounded in action Per the editors of The Papers of Andrew Johnson, in May 1863, the month following Charles Johnson's death, Robert had been placed on "detached duty, first to raise a brigade, in which he was unsuccessful, and then for unspecified activities at Nashville..."

You tender your resignation, predicated upon my wish for you to do so, and as I obtained the Commission…require you to resign and therefore you do resign...I have not [until now] indicated to you by work or deed any desire or wish on my part, that you Should resign your Commission as Col of the regiment; but on the contrary have expressed myself in the most emphatic terms, that I would rather See you once more yourself again and at the head of your Regiment, going to your own native home, than be possessed by the highest honors which Could be conferred upon me. In this so far, I have been doomed to deep disappointment. — Andrew Johnson

Presidency of Andrew Johnson

1865–1866 According to a letter from Martha Patterson to Andrew Johnson, at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Robert was "in his usual condition" and apparently so out of it that he was unaware "of the awful calamity." Johnson arrived in D.C. on Saturday, August 5, 1865 in the company of Patterson, his widowed sister Mary Stover, and her three children, who were 10, eight and five years old. He was officially appointed Johnson's personal secretary in November 1865, replacing William A. Browning, who had been appointed secretary of legation to Mexico. Per one account, Mrs. Johnson had hoped that under "the personal influence of his sisters and herself would reclaim him but alas she found his new position, in its surroundings, a still heavier dead weight to her hopes. Clever genial 'Bob,' the young man who had the ear of the President at any time, was everybody's friend. A crowd followed him wherever he went. The choicest viands of Willard's and Welcker's were set before him, miniature rivers were made to float with wine..." A third account had it that "he was feted and flattered by those who hoped to use him, and led into habits which eventually rendered him a wreck. He was a good-natured, genial young man, and probably without an enemy in the world save himself." The keepers of Andrew Johnson's presidential papers confirm that during his time in office Robert Johnson was the indeed recipient of countless letters, variously seeking favor, reporting on family, financial, and political news, and/or hoping to communicate with the president through him.

Johnson apparently wrote in his diary that he spent December 31, 1865 with "some old friends, drank to the old year." (The event was otherwise attended by diplomats; Army officers, including Ulysses S.) Grant; members of the general public who appeared to be of the white race; and then "after two o'clock, such of the colored people as were in waiting outside." and who had served with Johnson in the 1st Tennessee Cavalry during the war. In December, the New York Times listed the president's confirmed staff: "President JOHNSON'S household is thus organized, under a law passed by Congress at its last session: Private Secretary, ROBERT JOHNSON; Assistant Secretary, ROBERT MORROW; Secretary to Sign Land Patents, EDWARD D. NEILL; Aid-de-Camps, Col. W. G. MOORE, Lieut.-Col. WRIGHT RIVES, Col. ANDREW K. LONG."

1867–1868 On May 23, 1867, Robert Johnson testified before the Judiciary Committee regarding the administration's presidential pardon process. Johnson was apparently gone from Washington, D.C. from June until October 20, 1867. Per his diary he purchased a quantity of gin on July 14, 1867.

Apparently while in the Washington, D.C., asylum Robert Johnson was able to host "various young women friends" who came to visit. He started drinking again November 5, was again consigned to the asylum, and remained there until November 24, 1867. (Stereoscopic view from Robert Dennis Collection, NYPL) On Tuesday, December 3, 1867, at 12:30, Col. Johnson "reported the President's annual message" to the U.S. House of Representatives. He vowed in his journal to abstain from alcohol for a year, and wrote in his diary on December 13, 1867, "May God...bring me now out of all my troubles and trials and see me enter life with renewed hope and vigor." and January 17, 1868, but as of January 24, 1868, he was reportedly back in the "lunatic asylum of the District of Columbia" for "periodical drunkenness." The full text of this news item suggests that Johnson's alcoholism had at least some impact on his father's political standing, as it references President Johnson's relationship with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and recommends removal of President Johnson. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson over Johnson's removal of Stanton from the Cabinet began less than a month later.

It was considered worth telegraphing from Washington the other day that Col. Robert Johnson, the son and private Secretary of President Johnson, had announced that "we"—that is the President and his private Secretary—were not going to recognize Mr. Stanton as Secretary of War in any manner whatsoever. We now perceive that "Col. Robert Johnson, son and private Secretary to the President has been placed in the lunatic asylum of Washington, D.C., to cure him if possible of periodical drunkenness, which in his case amounts to insanity." It might be well for the country if the same treatment could be tried in the case of the remainder of "we."

Death

For the last year or two of his life, Johnson was said to have been "mentally and physically incapacitated for any public duties by prolonged dissipation," and little was seen or heard of him. He was an inmate of the New York State Inebriate Asylum in Binghamton at the time of the March 4, 1869, presidential inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant. Johnson reportedly left Washington, D.C. for Greeneville on March 18, 1869, traveling with his parents and the Pattersons. About a month later, and two days after his widowed sister Mary's second wedding ceremony, Johnson died of an overdose of alcohol and laudanum. He sent out for a bottle of laudanum, or purchased it himself at a drugstore, the day before he died. and the laudanum overdose occurred overnight in his bedroom above the dining room in the family home in Greeneville, Tennessee. Per Bergeron, the accounts of Johnson's death conflict slightly on details, "although much credence has been given to the belief that he committed suicide." The Chicago Evening Post reported his death with an enigmatic comment: "Col. Robert Johnson, son of ex-President Johnson, died yesterday at Greenville, Tenn. He was a young man of intemperate habits and came by them honestly." A communication to Laura Holloway (a native Tennessean and biographer of First Ladies) provides this narrative:

From a tear-stained letter, we gather these sad particulars. "He was well and on the street at five o'clock, and at dusk, as the servant went as usual, to light his lamp, she discovered that he was in a deep sleep. He was never aroused from it. All the physicians of the village were immediately called in, but alas! too late to do any good. He breathed his last at half-past eleven that night, without a single groan or struggle. ¶ I do not suppose he ever made an enemy in his life. He was certainly the most popular boy ever raised in this part of the country, and continued so after he became a man. Oh, if he could only have spoken one word to us!" Ex-President Johnson wrote a letter to his sole surviving son, Frank Johnson, two weeks after Robert Johnson's death and funeral, but made no mention of Bob's passing. Someone who knew him during the war described him as "a young man of naturally good impulses, but weak, and easily influenced and led by others." A fictionalized Jim Brownlow plays straight man to the fictionalized Bob Johnson for a chapter. The regiment captures a Confederate town and Johnson demands whiskey from a bartender, who is cousin to Jeff Davis; the bartender refuses. Brownlow tries to keep the peace: "'You can arrange this matter at once by giving the colonel some whisky. He's a very moderate drinker; ten gallons will make him as happy as a lamb and innocent as a dove till morning.'...'Jim,' he said, turning to Brownlow, 'Havn't I the temper of an A No. 1 angel?' 'If you don't know that you're angelically disposed, Bob, it isn't for want of my telling you. I have watched with wondering awe your familiarity and daily intercourse with the spirits.'"