Talk:Stovepipe Johnson

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The following unformatted text was moved from the article to here for safekeeping. It should be integrated with the existing material in context, not simply dumped at the end of the article. It also needs a citation for its origin. Hal Jespersen 14:47, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Blind Man With A Vision

The Story of Adam Johnson

Burnet County (then called Hamilton Valley) was among the wildest places in the west when Adam Rankin Johnson moved here in 1854, but the twenty-year-old Kentuckian proved equal to every adversity, and then some. To this day he remains Burnet County’s most influential citizen; a truly great man whose ingenuity, courage, fortitude, and vision should be an inspiration to us all.

Adam Johnson’s boyhood was a perfect preparation for his exploits in later life: the son of a prominent physician in Henderson, he enjoyed a freedom to roam the forests and fields, while acquiring a superb education during evening hours at home. At the age of eight he was allowed the use of a gun, and became an expert shot and a great hunter. He also learned to swim well. He was healthy, strong, and active, and quickly became a leader of the other boys. James R. Holloway, who later fought for the Union army, described Adam as a born leader: "He was ever characterized by a genius in designing and a boldness in executing, and got us in and out of many scrapes". His keen powers of observation and his decisiveness would serve him well all his life.

At the age of twelve Adam was hired by a pharmacist who preferred pleasure to work and left the business almost entirely to Adam’s care. Adam managed the store for three years ‘til, at the age of sixteen, he accepted a job at a factory and was put in charge of eighty workers. His study of human nature and his enormous personal energy helped him set production records, but at age twenty the restless young man decided to go west.

Thinking that surveying would be a profitable occupation as the area became more populated, Adam took a job with a party of surveyors, and soon began a series of run-ins with the Indians who were resisting the incursions of the white men. Serving as county surveyor and as an agent for the Overland Mail as far west as El Paso, Adam developed a keen instinct for responding to danger; sometimes boldly attacking, sometimes making cunning escapes. When the Civil War began in 1861 Adam Johnson could say, "Perhaps I was more frequently engaged in battle with the Indians than any other man upon the Plains," yet "When I was personally present none of my men or stock was ever lost." By that time, he had tired of the fighting and was ready to settle down with his new wife (Josephine Eastland) in his new home (Rocky Rest ), but the greatest adventures of his life were still ahead of him.

Despite the new wife and new home, and the promising future in Burnet, Adam Johnson joined the Confederate army as soon as Texas seceded from the Union. He soon was paired with Robert Martin as a scout for Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. The two went through adventures that would have made Robin Hood or Davy Crockett seem tame in comparison, and though perhaps Bob Martin was the more reckless of the two, he was certainly no more effective as a soldier. Fighting much of the war behind enemy lines, as described in his book "The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army," Johnson reached the rank of Brigadier General, and constantly bedeviled the superior forces of the Union Army. Perhaps his most famous escapade was the capture of the Federal arsenal in Newburg, Indiana.

As Johnson himself told the story, he and his twenty-seven men prepared for the attack across the Ohio River by manufacturing two "cannons" from old wagon wheels, a charred log, and a stovepipe. They aimed the "cannons" at the town from the most visible spot on the Kentucky side of the river, then Johnson and two of his men crossed the river in a skiff, heading directly toward the house where the guns were stored, while Martin and the other twenty-four men crossed the river on a ferry a few miles upstream, to attack the town by road.

The guns were unguarded, and the three men began to barricade the doors and windows to wait for Martin, when they noticed a number of men in a nearby hotel. Johnson walked to the double doors of the hotel and found himself facing the guns of eighty armed men. Telling them that they were about to be surrounded, he convinced them to lay down their guns and surrender. When Martin arrived, they filled two wagons with rifles and took them to waiting boats. As several citizens tried to organize the two hundred and fifty "Home Guards" for an attack, Johnson shouted to them that he would leave peaceably with the guns, but, gesturing toward the "cannons" on the other side of the river, threatened to shell the town to the ground if attacked. No one attacked, and the twenty-seven arrived safely back in Kentucky with all the guns they could carry. The Union Army massed troops at every town on the Ohio, fearing a repeat performance, and The Times had a lengthy editorial upon the importance of this first town captured north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Twenty-seven men had struck fear into the hearts of the North.

In July of 1864, General Johnson divided his force into three groups to attempt the capture of a Union force numbering three or four hundred. About fifty of the Union soldiers surrendered to General Johnson himself. As he led them back toward his lines, one group of his men mistakenly fired at the Union soldiers, thinking they were under attack. A musket ball struck General Johnson in the right eye and, exiting the left temple, cut out both eyes. He was well taken care of, but became a prisoner of the Union army, and was blind for the rest of his life.

After the war, General Johnson returned to Burnet County in September of 1865, blind, sick, and penniless.

Burnet County was not much better off. Poverty, Indian raids, and Reconstruction government made conditions generally bad, and in 1867, General Johnson moved to Honey Creek Cove in Llano County. That fall, despite the dangers of the trail, General Johnson led a cattle drive to Fort Worth, bringing back cash and provisions for the beleaguered settlers. (General Johnson is probably the only blind man to lead a cattle drive. He did it at least twice.) In 1869, after increasingly brutal attacks by the Comanches, General Johnson organized the settlers into "minute-men" to respond to any danger. This led to several conclusive victories for the settlers, and the Indian attacks subsided.

In 1872, General Johnson sold his ranch and cattle, and returned to Burnet, where he re-opened the land office he had opened before the war. The sad condition of the town persuaded him to open a store and raise a subscription for a stone schoolhouse. One of his next undertakings was a paper known as "The Western Texas Advertiser", which touted the healthfulness and resources of Burnet County. Recognizing the value of the granite in Burnet County, General Johnson raised capital and donated land to build a railroad. His familiarity with the land from his surveying days was invaluable in his land business, and drove him to pursue a dream from his earlier days of building a city by the "great marble falls" of the Colorado River. His dream became a reality after the arrival of the railroad, and in 1887 he built Liberty Hall overlooking the falls in "his" town of Marble Falls.

The general’s land company continued to prosper with the growth of Burnet and Marble Falls. In 1890, he published a catalog entitled "Homes in Texas, 200,000 Acres of Valuable Land for Sale". One of the listings was for "4400 acres, 6 miles SW of Burnet; 2 dwelling houses, everlasting water, no better grazing land in Texas, all under 5-wire fence: price $3.00 per acre ; terms easy". Another recommended a "nice residence, 300 yds. from public square; rents without trouble at $12.00 per month, price $800.00". The ex-governor of Texas, Francis R. Lubbock wrote of him, "He wore green goggles, would receive strangers in his office, point out on the map the various lands, describe them most accurately, for he knew every acre he described, having surveyed the land. The parties would leave the office, never dreaming that he was blind."

When General Adam R. Johnson died in 1922, his body was laid in state at the Capitol Building in Austin, while thousands around the state of Texas paid their last respects to one of the real heroes of our nation. Very few have ever lived a life of such dignity, honor, and vision. We can be proud to claim him as our own.