Robert Ward Johnson

Robert Ward Johnson
Confederate States Senator from Arkansas
In office February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865
Preceded by	New institution
Succeeded by	End of Confederacy
United States Senator from Arkansas
In office July 6, 1853 – March 3, 1861
Preceded by	Solon Borland
Succeeded by	Charles B. Mitchel
Personal details
Born	July 22, 1814(1814-07-22) Scott County, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	July 26, 1879(1879-07-26) (aged 65) Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Sarah Frances Smith Johnson Laura Smith Johnson
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Portrait of Johnson in his younger years.

Portrait of Johnson circa 1865.

Robert Ward Johnson (July 22, 1814 – July 26, 1879) was a Democratic United States Senator and Confederate States Senator from the State of Arkansas.

Robert Ward Johnson was born in Scott County, Kentucky. He attended Choctaw Academy and St. Joseph's College in Bardstown, Kentucky. He moved with his father to Arkansas in 1821.

Johnson studied law and was admitted to the Arkansas bar in 1835. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Little Rock, Arkansas and served from 1840 to 1842 and effectively acted as the state's attorney. Johnson took up residence in Helena, Arkansas prior to the Civil War.

Johnson was elected to the Thirtieth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-second congresses. He was chairman on the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Johnson declined to run for reelection in 1852. He was appointed and later elected to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Senator Solon Borland. He was reelected in 1855 and served until 3 March 1861.

After the outbreak of the American Civil War he served as a delegate to the Provisional Government of the Confederate States in 1862. Member of the Confederate Senate from 1862 to 1865.

After the war he practiced law in Washington, D.C. and ran unsuccessfully for reelection to the Senate in 1878.

Robert Ward Johnson died in Little Rock, Arkansas. Johnson is buried in the historic Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.

Robert Ward Johnson was the nephew of Vice President of the United States Richard Mentor Johnson and his brothers James Johnson and John Telemachus Johnson who were both US Representatives from Kentucky. Robert Ward Johnson was the brother-in-law of Senator Ambrose Hundley Sevier, Sevier marrying Johnson's sister. Johnson himself married twice, first to Sarah Smith in 1836, whom he had six children with (three living to adulthood), and, after Sarah's death in 1862, her younger sister, Laura, in 1863, with whom he had no children.

External links

• Robert Ward Johnson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Robert Ward Johnson at Find A Grave
• Robert Ward Johnson at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Thomas W. Newton	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas's At-large congressional district March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853	Succeeded by (none)
Confederate States House of Representatives
Preceded by (none)	Representative to the Provisional Confederate Congress from Arkansas 1861	Succeeded by (none)
United States Senate
Preceded by Solon Borland	United States Senator (Class 3) from Arkansas July 6, 1853 – March 3, 1861 Served alongside: William K. Sebastian	Succeeded by Charles B. Mitchel
Confederate States Senate
New institution	Confederate States Senator from Arkansas February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865 Served alongside: Charles B. Mitchel and Augustus H. Garland	Defeat of the Confederacy