The President's Valet

African American William Henry Johnson a personal valet of United States President Abraham Lincoln died January 28^th 1864 most likely from smallpox.

William Henry Johnson a free African American was born about 1835.  He was working in Springfield, Illinois as a barber and bootblack when he met Abraham Lincoln in 1860.  When Lincoln became President he brought Johnson with him to the White House.  There seems to have been issues between the existing White House staff and Johnson.  In a letter that Lincoln wrote to United States Navy Secretary Gideon Welles on March 7^th 1861 he stated the trouble seemed to be “the difference of color between him and other servants is the cause of our separation.”  Lincoln found other employment for Johnson as a messenger for the United States Treasury Department.  Johnson however continued to work mornings as the President’s valet and barber.

On November 18^th 1863 Johnson traveled by train with Lincoln to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery.  The President contracted smallpox and while tending to Lincoln, Johnson also came down with disease.  The President recovered, but Johnson died on January 28^th 1864 in Washington, DC.

Lincoln paid for Johnson’s funeral.  Interestingly it is unknown to a certainty where Johnson is buried.  There are two places that claim his remains, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Columbian Harmony Cemetery.

Recommended reading on this subject can be found at Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson

I Have Served Her Forty Years

William Conway the United States Quartermaster at the Pensacola Navy Yard refused on January 12^th 1861 to lower the United States flag when the fort was take over.

William Conway was born about 1802 in Camden, Maine.

When a militia force from Florida and Alabama numbering about 600, took control of the Pensacola Navy Yard [sometimes called the Warrington Navy Yard] on January 12^th 1861 Confederate Lieutenant Frederick B Kinshaw ordered Conway to strike the National flag.  Conway replied, "I have served under that flag for forty years, and I won't do it."  He was placed under arrest and put in irons.  After being released Conway was commended by the Union Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles.  He was also presented with a gold medal, made in his honor from the city of San Francisco, California.

Conway lived out the rest of his life in Brooklyn, New York, dying at the Brooklyn Navy Yard November 30^th 1865.  His place of burial is unknown, but there is a monument to his honor in his home town of Camden, Maine, a granite boulder with a plaque.  It is located on Elm and School Street, and was dedicated August 30^th 1906.  One of the speakers at the dedication was Union General Joshua L Chamberlain who said, "Now aloft on every topmost pinnacle runs for this token the reverenced, redeemed old flag; and the authority, the dignity, the majesty of the United States of America voices in the thunder of her guns of powder what she accounts the man who, alone, amidst the threatening, the fearing, the forsaking, the surrendering, stood for her honor.”

A Solid Ironclad

The USS Weehawken was commissioned January 18^th 1863 under the command of Captain John Rodgers.

The USS Weehawken was an enlarged version of the USS Monitor, a Passaic class ironclad.  She was launched by the Zeno Secor & Company of Jersey City, New Jersey on November 5^th 1862.  Accompanied by the USS Iroquois bound for duty as part of the South Atlantic Blocking Squadron they left New York January 18^th 1863.  They encountered high winds and heavy seas off the coast of New Jersey, but the Weehawken was better designed then her archetype the Monitor, and her commander Captain John Rodgers put her safely into Norfolk on February 1^st 1863.

On April 7^th 1863 the Weehawken led the first assault against Confederate installations in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor.  During the failed action the Weehawken took 53 direct hits and a torpedo.  She did not suffer any real damage.  Her next action was again the CSS Atlanta in Wassaw Sound, Georgia.  With just five shots the crew of the Weehawken put the Atlanta out of action, and got Captain Rodgers a commendation from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and a promotion to Commodore.

The Marine and Navy Came First

President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill on December 21st 1861 that created the Navy and Marine Medal of Honor.

The United States' oldest continuously awarded military decoration is the Navy and Marine Corps’ Medal of Honor. It was created by Union Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles as an award for enlisted men. Senate Bill Number 82 was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on December 21st 1861. The highest of military decoration, was designed by artist Christian Schuller. It shows the Goddess Minerva with the shield of the Republic, which refered to the split in the Nation; with thirty-eight stars, the number of states in the Union when Civil War began. The medal was to be given to “such petty officers, seamen, landsmen, and Marines as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry and other seamanlike qualities during the present war.” The Union Army would get its Medal of Honor on July 12th 1862.