Joseph Burton Johnson, soldier, planter, and early Freestone County settler, was born on April 7, 1816, in Clinch County, Georgia. He later moved to Leon County, Florida Territory, where he met and married Patience Ponder. They had six children, two of whom died in infancy. He fought in the Indian wars of Georgia and Florida, and was appointed captain on March 2, 1837, and major on August 25, 1846, by the governor of Florida. He served as a major of the regiment of cavalry of the Second Florida Brigade during the Mexican War.qv In 1848 Johnson moved his family to Texas, where he settled in Tyler County and later near Bryan before moving to Freestone County. By 1860 he had substantial agricultural property and owned twenty-eight slaves, fourteen under the age of twelve. At the beginning of the Civil Warqv Johnson organized ten companies of state troops and was elected their regimental commander. On November 2, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Freestone County First Regiment, a part of the Nineteenth Brigade of Texas State Troops. On August 1, 1863, he was commissioned brigadier general of the Nineteenth Brigade. During the war he was stationed in Galveston but does not appear to have seen any combat. After the war he returned to Fairfield. He served as a county commissioner, gave land for the Grange hall and for an African-American cemetery. He was interested in education and sent both daughters to college. In 1873 he was chosen first master of the Texas State Grange. Johnson died on January 18, 1874.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865, National Archives, Washington. Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978). The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Allan C. Ashcraft
Period Funeral Service In October For Brig. Gen. Burton Johnson, CSA
By John Carr
___________________________________________________________
FAIRFIELD, Texas - Period funeral services for Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Burton Johnson will be held on the weekend of Oct. 26 and 27 in Fairfield. Hosts for the event are the Johnson-Sayers-Nettles Camp 1012, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), and Co. A, 12th Texas Infantry Regiment.
The reburial project came about after Ruth Hunter, Johnson's great-granddaughter, approached Camp 1012 to investigate the possibility of moving three graves to Fairfield City Cemetery. Camp 1012 bears three names, the first, "Johnson," in memory of the forgotten Brigadier General of the 19th Brigade, Texas State Troops.
After 127 years at rest on a remote hill in Freestone County the general, his wife Patience and son Joseph Jr. were disinterred under the eye of family members, a forensic anthropology scholar, a dentist with post-graduate studies in forensics, a funeral director, SCV and UDC members and Confederate reenactors from the 12th Texas Infantry Regiment and the Val Verde Artillery Battery plus several history buffs.
The planned reburial is the result of a piece of oral history passed down through the generations that states that Gen. Johnson's dying wish was to be buried in the Fairfield City Cemetery rather than the remote location of the family plot.
Because he was predeceased by his wife in 1870 and the family did not wish to disturb her grave, he was buried in 1874 in the Johnson Cemetery some seven miles north of Fairfield, in the middle of what is now a hayfield owned by a non-relative. His son was killed when thrown from a horse a few months later and was buried beside his parents.
After being contacted by Mrs. Hunter last summer, commander John Carr and camp members immediately accepted the responsibility and began planning what will be the premier event for the SCV this year.
By last fall, the camp had begun removal of the undergrowth at the cemetery plot and asked for the assistance of the 12th Texas Infantry in following military protocol for exhumation and reburial of the Johnson family. On Dec. 9, final preparations were completed for the removal of the remains and on Feb. 3 the graves were exhumed.
The original tombstones are being refurbished, and the ornate iron fence surrounding the plot will be repaired, painted and reset around the new gravesite. On Oct. 27 General Johnson will finally be granted his last request.
At noon on Friday the 26th, the general's remains will be placed in state at the Moody-Bradley House in Fairfield. The house is a period home built in 1860, and was visited by the general on many occasions. He will lie in state under 24-hour honor guard until the funeral services begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Prior to the funeral visitors may enter the home and pay their respects to the general and his descendants, many of whom will be attending.
Services will begin with eulogies to be spoken at the Moody-Bradley Home by members of the clergy, the Masons, the Texas State Grange, the family and the hosts. At approximately 10:45, a period procession will form and proceed 1.3 miles through the City of Fairfield, directly to the Fairfield City Cemetery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865, National Archives, Washington. Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978). The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Allan C. Ashcraft
Period Funeral Service In October For Brig. Gen. Burton Johnson, CSA
By John Carr
___________________________________________________________
FAIRFIELD, Texas - Period funeral services for Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Burton Johnson will be held on the weekend of Oct. 26 and 27 in Fairfield. Hosts for the event are the Johnson-Sayers-Nettles Camp 1012, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), and Co. A, 12th Texas Infantry Regiment.
The reburial project came about after Ruth Hunter, Johnson's great-granddaughter, approached Camp 1012 to investigate the possibility of moving three graves to Fairfield City Cemetery. Camp 1012 bears three names, the first, "Johnson," in memory of the forgotten Brigadier General of the 19th Brigade, Texas State Troops.
After 127 years at rest on a remote hill in Freestone County the general, his wife Patience and son Joseph Jr. were disinterred under the eye of family members, a forensic anthropology scholar, a dentist with post-graduate studies in forensics, a funeral director, SCV and UDC members and Confederate reenactors from the 12th Texas Infantry Regiment and the Val Verde Artillery Battery plus several history buffs.
The planned reburial is the result of a piece of oral history passed down through the generations that states that Gen. Johnson's dying wish was to be buried in the Fairfield City Cemetery rather than the remote location of the family plot.
Because he was predeceased by his wife in 1870 and the family did not wish to disturb her grave, he was buried in 1874 in the Johnson Cemetery some seven miles north of Fairfield, in the middle of what is now a hayfield owned by a non-relative. His son was killed when thrown from a horse a few months later and was buried beside his parents.
After being contacted by Mrs. Hunter last summer, commander John Carr and camp members immediately accepted the responsibility and began planning what will be the premier event for the SCV this year.
By last fall, the camp had begun removal of the undergrowth at the cemetery plot and asked for the assistance of the 12th Texas Infantry in following military protocol for exhumation and reburial of the Johnson family. On Dec. 9, final preparations were completed for the removal of the remains and on Feb. 3 the graves were exhumed.
The original tombstones are being refurbished, and the ornate iron fence surrounding the plot will be repaired, painted and reset around the new gravesite. On Oct. 27 General Johnson will finally be granted his last request.
At noon on Friday the 26th, the general's remains will be placed in state at the Moody-Bradley House in Fairfield. The house is a period home built in 1860, and was visited by the general on many occasions. He will lie in state under 24-hour honor guard until the funeral services begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Prior to the funeral visitors may enter the home and pay their respects to the general and his descendants, many of whom will be attending.
Services will begin with eulogies to be spoken at the Moody-Bradley Home by members of the clergy, the Masons, the Texas State Grange, the family and the hosts. At approximately 10:45, a period procession will form and proceed 1.3 miles through the City of Fairfield, directly to the Fairfield City Cemetery.
Joseph Burton Johnson, soldier, planter, and early Freestone County settler, was born on April 7, 1816, in Clinch County, Georgia. He later moved to Leon County, Florida Territory, where he met and married Patience Ponder. They had six children, two of whom died in infancy. He fought in the Indian wars of Georgia and Florida, and was appointed captain on March 2, 1837, and major on August 25, 1846, by the governor of Florida. He served as a major of the regiment of cavalry of the Second Florida Brigade during the Mexican War.qv In 1848 Johnson moved his family to Texas, where he settled in Tyler County and later near Bryan before moving to Freestone County. By 1860 he had substantial agricultural property and owned twenty-eight slaves, fourteen under the age of twelve. At the beginning of the Civil Warqv Johnson organized ten companies of state troops and was elected their regimental commander. On November 2, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Freestone County First Regiment, a part of the Nineteenth Brigade of Texas State Troops. On August 1, 1863, he was commissioned brigadier general of the Nineteenth Brigade. During the war he was stationed in Galveston but does not appear to have seen any combat. After the war he returned to Fairfield. He served as a county commissioner, gave land for the Grange hall and for an African-American cemetery. He was interested in education and sent both daughters to college. In 1873 he was chosen first master of the Texas State Grange. Johnson died on January 18, 1874.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865, National Archives, Washington. Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978). The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Allan C. Ashcraft
Period Funeral Service In October For Brig. Gen. Burton Johnson, CSA
By John Carr
___________________________________________________________
FAIRFIELD, Texas - Period funeral services for Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Burton Johnson will be held on the weekend of Oct. 26 and 27 in Fairfield. Hosts for the event are the Johnson-Sayers-Nettles Camp 1012, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), and Co. A, 12th Texas Infantry Regiment.
The reburial project came about after Ruth Hunter, Johnson's great-granddaughter, approached Camp 1012 to investigate the possibility of moving three graves to Fairfield City Cemetery. Camp 1012 bears three names, the first, "Johnson," in memory of the forgotten Brigadier General of the 19th Brigade, Texas State Troops.
After 127 years at rest on a remote hill in Freestone County the general, his wife Patience and son Joseph Jr. were disinterred under the eye of family members, a forensic anthropology scholar, a dentist with post-graduate studies in forensics, a funeral director, SCV and UDC members and Confederate reenactors from the 12th Texas Infantry Regiment and the Val Verde Artillery Battery plus several history buffs.
The planned reburial is the result of a piece of oral history passed down through the generations that states that Gen. Johnson's dying wish was to be buried in the Fairfield City Cemetery rather than the remote location of the family plot.
Because he was predeceased by his wife in 1870 and the family did not wish to disturb her grave, he was buried in 1874 in the Johnson Cemetery some seven miles north of Fairfield, in the middle of what is now a hayfield owned by a non-relative. His son was killed when thrown from a horse a few months later and was buried beside his parents.
After being contacted by Mrs. Hunter last summer, commander John Carr and camp members immediately accepted the responsibility and began planning what will be the premier event for the SCV this year.
By last fall, the camp had begun removal of the undergrowth at the cemetery plot and asked for the assistance of the 12th Texas Infantry in following military protocol for exhumation and reburial of the Johnson family. On Dec. 9, final preparations were completed for the removal of the remains and on Feb. 3 the graves were exhumed.
The original tombstones are being refurbished, and the ornate iron fence surrounding the plot will be repaired, painted and reset around the new gravesite. On Oct. 27 General Johnson will finally be granted his last request.
At noon on Friday the 26th, the general's remains will be placed in state at the Moody-Bradley House in Fairfield. The house is a period home built in 1860, and was visited by the general on many occasions. He will lie in state under 24-hour honor guard until the funeral services begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Prior to the funeral visitors may enter the home and pay their respects to the general and his descendants, many of whom will be attending.
Services will begin with eulogies to be spoken at the Moody-Bradley Home by members of the clergy, the Masons, the Texas State Grange, the family and the hosts. At approximately 10:45, a period procession will form and proceed 1.3 miles through the City of Fairfield, directly to the Fairfield City Cemetery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865, National Archives, Washington. Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978). The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Allan C. Ashcraft
Period Funeral Service In October For Brig. Gen. Burton Johnson, CSA
By John Carr
___________________________________________________________
FAIRFIELD, Texas - Period funeral services for Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Burton Johnson will be held on the weekend of Oct. 26 and 27 in Fairfield. Hosts for the event are the Johnson-Sayers-Nettles Camp 1012, Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), and Co. A, 12th Texas Infantry Regiment.
The reburial project came about after Ruth Hunter, Johnson's great-granddaughter, approached Camp 1012 to investigate the possibility of moving three graves to Fairfield City Cemetery. Camp 1012 bears three names, the first, "Johnson," in memory of the forgotten Brigadier General of the 19th Brigade, Texas State Troops.
After 127 years at rest on a remote hill in Freestone County the general, his wife Patience and son Joseph Jr. were disinterred under the eye of family members, a forensic anthropology scholar, a dentist with post-graduate studies in forensics, a funeral director, SCV and UDC members and Confederate reenactors from the 12th Texas Infantry Regiment and the Val Verde Artillery Battery plus several history buffs.
The planned reburial is the result of a piece of oral history passed down through the generations that states that Gen. Johnson's dying wish was to be buried in the Fairfield City Cemetery rather than the remote location of the family plot.
Because he was predeceased by his wife in 1870 and the family did not wish to disturb her grave, he was buried in 1874 in the Johnson Cemetery some seven miles north of Fairfield, in the middle of what is now a hayfield owned by a non-relative. His son was killed when thrown from a horse a few months later and was buried beside his parents.
After being contacted by Mrs. Hunter last summer, commander John Carr and camp members immediately accepted the responsibility and began planning what will be the premier event for the SCV this year.
By last fall, the camp had begun removal of the undergrowth at the cemetery plot and asked for the assistance of the 12th Texas Infantry in following military protocol for exhumation and reburial of the Johnson family. On Dec. 9, final preparations were completed for the removal of the remains and on Feb. 3 the graves were exhumed.
The original tombstones are being refurbished, and the ornate iron fence surrounding the plot will be repaired, painted and reset around the new gravesite. On Oct. 27 General Johnson will finally be granted his last request.
At noon on Friday the 26th, the general's remains will be placed in state at the Moody-Bradley House in Fairfield. The house is a period home built in 1860, and was visited by the general on many occasions. He will lie in state under 24-hour honor guard until the funeral services begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Prior to the funeral visitors may enter the home and pay their respects to the general and his descendants, many of whom will be attending.
Services will begin with eulogies to be spoken at the Moody-Bradley Home by members of the clergy, the Masons, the Texas State Grange, the family and the hosts. At approximately 10:45, a period procession will form and proceed 1.3 miles through the City of Fairfield, directly to the Fairfield City Cemetery.
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