Lt Col (CSA) James Barrett Johnson

Lt. Col. James B. Johnson was from a very Politically connected family in Arkansas, his father was a Federal Judge (Benjamin Johnson), his brother (Robert Ward Johnson) was a Senator from Arkansas and his Brother-In-Law (Ambrose Hundley Sevier) was also a Senator from Arkamsas. When the Civil Wat broke out Lt Col James B. Johnson was an active partticipant from the State of Arkansas and was killed in Battle near Murfreesboro, Tennessee on Febuary 24th, 1862.

h/o Mary Watkins Cocke.

Birth: 6th of eight know children in Pulaski county, Arkansas.

A member of so called The Family, who controlled most of Arkansas' politics from territorial days till Civil War and so benefitting.

Census: 1850, age 22 Little Rock, Pulaski county, Arkansas with widowed mother & five siblings.

Census: 1860, age 32 Little Rock, Pulaski county, Arkansas with widowed mother listed following and John Pope before, ~ with wife, two kids, and the Newton brothers, Robert C & Thomas W. Worth of $200,000 real estate and $100,000 personal.

Following by Bryan Howerton, 22 APR 2008 on 'Arkansas in the Civil War Board', to wit:

"Capt. James Barnett Johnson's "Little Rock Grays", organized at Little Rock (naturally) on June 24, 1861. They marched to Memphis, thence to Pocahontas, Arkansas, where they became Co. A of Marmaduke's 1st Battalion Arkansas Infantry (later increased to Marmaduke's 18th Regiment Arkansas Infantry, subsequently redesignated as the 3rd Regiment Confederate Infantry). From all accounts, a crack company, composed of some of Little Rock's finest citizens.

"Capt. James Barnett Johnson was elected lieutenant-colonel of Marmaduke's regiment in November 1861, and died in service on February 23, 1862. He is interred in Mount Holly Cemetery at Little Rock."

above resulting from inquiry of a newspaper article, to wit:

I have an article in the Louisville (KY) Journal of July 16, 1861 where a traveler on the steamboat "Little Rock" mentions a company of Arkansas troops and their unique flag. Their captain is listed as Jim Johnson and his command was supposedly on the way to join with Gen. Gideon Pillow's troops in west Tennessee.

"Here is how the flag was described by the correspondent:

"...was a flag with a crimson ground, fringed with golden bordering. On one side was a cross of eleven stars (shows a drawing of a Latin/Christian cross) over which was worked the well-known motto, 'In Hoc Signo Vinces." On the opposite side was a ebautiful wreath enclosing a crown in which are set eleven stars."

NOTE: Supposedly the flag had Knights of the Golden Circle connections based on what Capt. Johnson told the writer. Johnson stated that his wife made the flag and then it was sent off to be embroidered.

Death: killed near Murfreesboro, Rutherford county, Tennessee while in service.

NOTE: Wife Mary (1834KY-1903MD) remarried December 1865 to Major Nicholas Snowden Hill (1839MD-1912NJ) and lived in Maryland birthing two more children, raising them along with, possibly daughter of 1st marriage, Irene. It was daughter Irene who, years later, had the monument installed for her father at Mount Holly cemetery in Little Rock, with misinformation about his army rank, which had been, Lieutenant-Colonel, NOT Major as on the stone. Also, his wife's 1900 Federal census states she had three children all living, which is in error, she may have meant three living of five documented children, because her daughter Maude, 1st born, died before 1860, buried in Mount Holly and her son James Watkins Johnson, 2nd born, is reported to have died in 1893.

Father: Judge Benjamin Johnson b: 22 JUL 1784 Scott county, Kentucky. Mother: Matilda Williams b: 17 OCT 1793 Scott county, Kentucky.

Marriage: Mary Watkins Cocke b: 3 MAY 1834 Kentucky (niece of Governor John Pope) Married: 15 JUN 1852 Pulaski, county, Arkansas.

Known Children

 Maude Johnson b: about 1853 in Little Rock, Pulaski county, Arkansas.

James Watkins Johnson b: 3 Feb 1857 in Little Rock, Pulaski county, Arkansas.
Irene Johnson b: 28 Aug 1859 or 1860 in Little Rock, Pulaski county, Arkansas.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 14 2019, 20:07:15 UTC