A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF
BENJAMIN SQUIBB JOHNSON
(born June 11,1836; died
February 2, 1875)
submitted by
Morris D.
Johnson
My great-grandfather, Capt. Ben S.
Johnson, was city marshal of McKinney, Texas, when he died in 1875. I have
not been able to find any McKinney newspaper or city records in existence
for the period which we have confirmed by other sources that he and his
family lived there (c.1867-1880). I am attaching a piece that I wrote about
him for a web page maintained by the Missouri SCV; also a photograph of him
and his wife, Susan Townley Johns which I believe to have been taken in
Collin County during the time he was city marshal of McKinney (c.1870-1875).
I should be very interested in any other information about him or the
politics and circumstances of that time. My grandfather, William Luther
Johnson, married Ellen Ora ("Nona") Martin (daughter of John Berryman
Martin) in Collin County November 24, 1889. They moved to Foard County,
Texas (Thalia) where they homesteaded and where my father Dr. John Edward
Johnson was born. I have considerable information about this line I will be
glad to share.
My great-grandfather, Capt. Benjamin S. Johnson, was city
marshal of Mckinney, Texas when he died in 1875 at the age of 39. Since he
died before the end of the "Reconstruction" period, and before Confederate
veterans from southwestern Missouri could safely engage in reunion
activities, not much information about him was passed down to my generation
or written down.
He was born in Tennessee and was a fourteen year-old boy
living in the household of his widowed mother, Jane Squibb Johnson in 1850
in Greene County, Tennessee (his father, James Johnson had died the year
before). Sometime during the next five years he and his mother moved to
Greene County, Missouri, where other Johnson and Squibb relatives were
already settled. As a nineteen year-old he married Susan Townley Johns
October 14, 1855.
After several years of research by members of my family
and me we now know that in 1860 he was a 24 year-old farmer in Center
Township, Greene County, Missouri with a wife and two young sons, ages 2 and
1 (the younger being my grandfather). At the outbreak of the Civil War he
enlisted as a private in Co. "A", 3rd Missouri Infantry June 22, 1861. The
Battle of Wilson's Creek , August 11, 1861, occurred about 15 miles from his
homestead on the day his mother was buried in John's Chapel cemetery (a
family member in later years said they could hear the guns). I am sure that
his unit of the Missouri State Guard (McBride's Division) was involved in
the battle. The Missouri State Archives record shows that he was discharged
December 11, 1861 and was paid $89.40 on April 28, 1862.
The next official record of him I have found so far was
his enlistment August 1, 1862 in Capt. A. Don Brown's Company, Greene's
Regiment, Missouri Volunteers as a private at Rolling Prairie, Carroll
County, Arkansas. He then appeared on the Company "A", 3rd Regiment,
Missouri Cavalry Muster Roll August 1, to December 31, 1862, and is shown as
"Transferred by promotion to Senior 2nd Lieutenant, Company "H" (Capt. James
F. Wyatt's Company), Greene's Regiment (Col. Colton Greene) October 3, 1862
at Pocahontas, Arkansas, The Official Record history of his unit indicates
that it was involved almost constantly in battles, skirmishes and raids in
northern Arkansas and southern Missouri during 1863 and 1864. Lt. Col.
Leonidas C. Campbell, Mustering Officer wrote: " Detachments from this
company ( "H") were engaged in actions November 8, 1862 at Fort Stevenson,
Douglas County, Missouri, December 4, 1862 near Hartville,
Missouri, and December 24, 1862 near Van Buren, Missouri."
" In all of these actions they were victorious, and bore themselves
gallantly.: " They have marched in various scouts and and against the enemy
1,130 miles.." "They have been constantly on duty in front of the enemy on
the border." "This company is efficient in action, arms poor, private guns
of various kinds, and no equipments (sic.)." "The property in its possession
was mostly captured."
In January and February, 1864 the Company Muster Roll
lists him as Capt. Benjamin S. Johnson, Company "H", 3rd Regiment Missouri
Cavalry at Jacksonport, Arkansas. On February 26, 1864 he was listed as
"absent with leave." We know from family tradition that his wife and
children had left Missouri during the war for safety -- probably during late
1862 or early 1863 -- and moved down into safer territory in Arkansas (I
haven't found them yet, but I think it was probably at or near Camden,
Arkansas).
During General Sterling Price's last Missouri raid in the
Fall of 1864, Capt. Benjamin S. Johnson was promoted in the field by Col.
Colton Greene to command the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment temporarily
October 23, 1864. Col. Greene reported: " Here the injuries and wound
received at Blue Mills the day before became so painful that I was compelled
to turn my regiment over to Capt. B. S. Johnson, whose report of an action
on the 23rd of October is herewith annexed, and to whom much commendation is
due for uniform skill and courage while in command."
Captain Johnson's subsequent report of the action appears
in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion as follows: Report of
Capt. Benjamin S. Johnson, Third Missouri Cavalry: CAMP ON RED RIVER ARK.,
December 8, 1864
MAJOR: I have the honor to make the following report
of the part taken by this regiment in the action of the 23rd of October
at Big Blue River:
I assumed command of the regiment the evening of the
22nd of October, Colonel Greene being disabled from injuries received at
the battle of Little Blue on the 21st of October. I was ordered to form
the regiment at sunrise on the bank of Big Blue River as infantry. After
being in position about half and hour the enemy appeared in sight and
opened fire on us from small-arms, compelling us, owing to the formation
of the creek, to leave our position, they being
enabled to fire on us from the right flank and rear. We fell back one
mile and a half in good order to a skirt of timber at the edge of a
small prairie, and were ordered to form to support Pratt's artillery.
The enemy appeared in sight and opened heavily upon us. We replied,
compelling them to fall back to the shelter of some houses on the
prairie. They again advanced at a charge to take our battery. We opened
fire on them while Company G, under the command of First Sergeant
Woolsey, dashed gallantly forward and hauled the guns off by hand, the
balance of the regiment keeping a steady fire upon the enemy. We
remained in our position until every gun was discharged and every
cartridge expended. Ordered by General Clark to fall back to our horses,
which we did in good order. Our loss was 3 killed and 7 wounded. The
whole regiment acted very gallantly. Particular praise is due to
Sergeant Woolsey, of Company G, for his gallant conduct.
I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
B. S. JOHNSON, Captain, Commanding Regiment.
Maj. F. S. Robertson, Acting Assistant
Adjutant-General, Marmaduke's Brigage.
A biography of Colonel Colton Green (which can be found at
http://www.sterlingprice145.org/greene.htm) states that at the end of
the war "...After a brief stay in Mexico, Greene returned to the U.S. and
settled in Memphis, Tennessee. In partnership with other Missouri exiles, he
started an insurance agency and in a remarkably short time rebuilt his
fortune."
I don't know whether or not my great-grandfather, Benjamin
S. Johnson went with his Colonel Greene to Mexico or not, as others did with
Col. Jo Shelby to offer their services to Maximillian. I do know that he
(Capt. Ben S. Johnson) showed up in McKinney, Collin County, Texas a couple
of years later. A November, 1869 voter registration stated that he had lived
in the county two years. According to his widow ( who lived until 1914) the
family stayed in Arkansas for some period of time before moving to Collin
County, Texas.
Capt. Johnson's friend and former army surgeon in the 3rd
Missouri Cavalry, Dr. Andrew Gullett, also settled in McKinney, Texas about
the same time (1867) and became a prominent physician and member of the
County Democratic Committee. I suspect that Dr. Gullett might have had some
influence in my great-grandfather's election (or appointment) as city
marshal of McKinney, Texas in 1872 or 1873. Unfortunately, the municipal
records of the city of McKinney prior to 1881 have been lost. However, we
have been able to confirm that he was city marshal from an obituary notice
in the DALLAS DAILY HERALD, which mentioned his February 2, 1875 death as
follows: "McKinney has lost its city marshal, Capt. Ben S. Johnson, one of
"Pap" Price's veterans."
Capt. Ben S. Johnson is buried in Pecan Grove Cemetery,
McKinney, Texas near his friend, Dr. Andrew Gullet, who died in 1903. One of
his sons was named Andrew Gullett Johnson and was called "Doc" as a
nickname.
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"Benjamin Squibb Johnson,
EARLY SETTLERS OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin County, Texas History
and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
