Waldo Johnson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Confederate States Senator fromMissouri | |
| In office December 24, 1863 – May 10, 1865 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Peyton |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| United States Senator fromMissouri | |
| In office March 17, 1861 – January 10, 1862 | |
| Preceded by | James Green |
| Succeeded by | Robert Wilson |
| Member of theMissouri House of Representatives | |
| In office 1847–1848 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Waldo Porter Johnson (1817-09-16)September 16, 1817 Bridgeport, Virginia, U.S. (now West Virginia) |
| Died | August 14, 1885(1885-08-14) (aged 67) Osceola, Missouri, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Hill Calvary Cemetery Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Children | William Tell Johnson |
| Education | Rector College (BA) |
| Signature | .png) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States Confederate States |
| Branch/service | United States Army Confederate States Army |
| Unit | 1st Missouri Regiment of Mounted Volunteers 4th Missouri Infantry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | Mexican–American War American Civil War |
Waldo Porter Johnson (September 16, 1817 – August 14, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a Missouri state representative, as well as briefly as a U.S. Senator before being expelled for treason in 1862, then serving as a Confederate States Army officer andConfederate States Senator fromMissouri from 1863 to 1865 and finally as chairman of the Missouri constitutional convention of 1875.
Born inBridgeport, Virginia (present-day West Virginia), to the former Olive Waldo (1798-1852) and her New-York born cousin and husband, William Johnson (1791-1868). Waldo Porter Johnson had a dozen siblings and attended public and private schools. His father had become Bridgeport's postmaster and his older brother (this boy's uncle)Joseph Johnson, was a prominent local farmer and politician who intermittently served as the area's Congressman during this boy's youth, and became Governor of Virginia in 1851, after this Johnson moved to Missouri as described below. W.P. Johnson graduated from Baptist-affiliated Rector College[1] (Pruntytown, Virginia) in 1839.
After reading law, Johnson was admitted to the Virginiabar, and began his legal practice inHarrison County, Virginia in 1841.
A year later, in 1842, Johnson moved westward toOsceola, Missouri, and continued his legal practice in the developing (and troubled) border between Missouri and what became the State of Kansas following theMissouri Compromise of 1850.
Meanwhile, Johnson volunteered to fight in theMexican–American War, serving as a private in the First Missouri Regiment of Mounted Volunteers. In 1847 he won election to theMissouri House of Representatives and was elected circuit attorney in 1848 and judge of the seventh judicial circuit in 1851. He resigned his government positions in 1852 and resumed his private legal practice.
During the 1850s, Johnson filed several land claims with the General Land office.
Missouri voters elected Johnson as aDemocrat to theUnited States Senate in 1860 and he served from March 17, 1861, to January 10, 1862, when he wasexpelled from the Senate for disloyalty to the government. He was a member of thepeace convention of 1861 held inWashington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impendingAmerican Civil War.
Johnson volunteered to serve in theConfederate Army during the Civil War, having attained the rank of Major in the Missouri State Guard. He recruited a battalion which fought in theBattle of Pea Ridge near Bentonville, Arkansas. On April 28, 1862 his unit was re organized in Memphis Tennessee as the4th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Confederate) with Johnson aslieutenant colonel. In 1863, Johnson was appointed a member of theConfederate States Senate to fill a vacancy.
Following the Confederate surrender, from August 1865 to April 1866, Johnson resided inHamilton, Ontario. He returned to Osceola, received a presidential pardon and resumed his legal practice. Johnson was president of theState constitutional convention in 1875.
In 1847 he married Emily Moore (1822-1884) in Harrison County.[2] By 1850 they lived in Missouri, where she had given birth to the future lawyer and judgeWilliam Tell Johnson (1848-1930).[3][4] In the 1860 census, Johnson's real estate and personal property values had soared, and his family included 11 year old W.T. Johnson and his brothers Charles (1859-1901), St. Clair (1855-1900) and Thomas Moore Johnson (1851-1919),[5] Johnson also owned a 30 year old mulatto woman as a slave.[6]
Johnson survived his wife, but died of a lung abscess in Osceola in 1885.[7] He was reburied in the elaborate family tomb atForest Hill Calvary Cemetery inKansas City, Missouri.[8]His sonWilliam Tell Johnson also became a Missouri lawyer and judge, and named a son to honor this man.[9] His son Thomas Moore Johnson also became a lawyer, as well as Osceola's mayor and a writer.Their son St. Clair Johnson moved to Texas, where he died, but his remains and those of his brother Charles were later returned for burial at Forest Hill Cemetery.
| U.S. Senate | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Senator (Class 3) from Missouri 1861–1862 Served alongside:Trusten Polk | Succeeded by |
| Confederate States Senate | ||
| Preceded by | Confederate States Senator (Class 2) from Missouri 1863–1865 Served alongside:John Clark,George Vest | Seat abolished |
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