Profile - Andrew Johnson, Accidental Soldier, Accidental President

In many ways the life of Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was an iconic American success story; born into poverty, with only a rudimentary education, and for a time an indentured servant, he leveraged his innate talents to rise to the highest offices in the nation.  Yet his presidency was a troubled and contentious one.

President Johnson’s family migrated from England to Virginia in the 1700s.  Although they initially prospered, and acquired considerable land and some distinction in their community, the president’s grandfather made a series of disastrous financial decisions and they lost nearly everything during the American Revolution.  The future president was born in North Carolina, where the family had relocated.  Although quite poor, his father, Jacob Johnson, had served as a captain of militia at Raleigh, for several years.  But Jacob died when Andrew was only three, and the boy grew up in extreme poverty.  He never attended a day of school.  His older brother was indentured to a tailor, which required to serve his master for several years in return for training and room and board.  In 1820 Andrew himself was also indentured to the same tailor.  In 1824, the two boys escaped from semi-servitude.  Despite a reward posted for their recapture, they made their way to Tennessee, where Andrew set up as a tailor.  He prospered, and married; tradition has it that he was taught to read and write by his wife. 

The young man became politically active.  As the years passed Johnson became very influential in Tennessee politics, and was elected to a succession of increasingly important positions, rising to governor (1853-1857) after which he was elected to the Senate.  During the "Secession Crisis" that began in late 1860, Senator Johnson proved a staunch Unionist, and was the only southern senator to stick by the Republic; some historians believe that had he been governor of Tennessee at the time, the state would not have seceded.  During the early part of the Civil War, Johnson remained in the Senate and proved to be one of the most ardent “War Democrats.”  On March 4, 1862, President Lincoln appointed Johnson a brigadier general of volunteers; although he had probably been enrolled on paper in the Tennessee state militia, it seems probable that Johnson actually had no military experience of any sort.  Lincoln then made Johnson military governor of Tennessee, which was by then almost entirely under Union control.

Johnson was aggressive in asserting federal authority in Tennessee, removing office holders suspected of disloyalty, taking control of the railroads, and penalizing newspapers and clergymen who openly opposed the Union.

There was considerable unrest in the state, which was plagued by pro-Confederate guerrillas.  Authorized to raise a home guard of nearly 25,000 men for local security, he found recruiting difficult, due partially to the fact that many of the able-bodied men in the state were already in uniform, mostly in Confederate service. 

Johnson never served in combat.  He did, however, demonstrate considerable courage.  On several occasions Confederate raids or offensives approached Nashville.  Had Johnson been captured, he would probably have be hanged.  Nevertheless, he consistently refused to leave the city.  During one particularly dangerous period Johnson announced, “I am no military man, but anyone who talks of surrender I will shoot.”

In June 1864 Lincoln selected Johnson to be his running mate for the coming elections.  Johnson did not campaign for office, preferring to remain at his post on active duty as military governor of Tennessee.  Shortly before his inauguration as vice-president, he resigned from the army.  Johnson became vice-president on March 4, 1861.  He succeeded to the Presidency upon Lincoln’s death on April 15, 1865, just a few days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee and his army on August 9^th. 

Johnson presided over the closing weeks of the Civil War, as the last Confederate forces surrendered or, more often, merely went home. 

Militarily, Johnson’s administration was concerned with several problems.   The occupation of the South had to be taken in hand, and there was, for a time, the possibility of war with France over Napoleon III’s intervention in Mexico, which was dealt with by a show of force on the Rio Grande.  Then too, as the westward movement grew, war with the Plains Indian became increasingly likely.  Despite these demands for military forces, military strength fell steadily during Johnson’s years in office, from slightly over a million troops to just under 200,000 by mid-November of that year, to about 27,000 troops in March of 1869; during the same period the Navy fell from nearly 60,000 men and some 600 ships to about 10,000 sailors and fewer than 100 ships.

Johnson’s presidency was not successful, due largely to his stand on Reconstruction.  The President did little to help secure the rights of the freedmen as white racist regimes came to power in the former Confederate States.  This set up a clash with Congress, dominated by the so-called "Radical Republicans," those dedicated to asserting the rights of the freedmen, along with a harsher line toward former Confederates.  This culminated in Johnson’s impeachment, which failed by one vote.  Johnson was not re-nominated for the presidency in 1868, and retired to private life.

During the Civil War Johnson’s son Charles served as a surgeon in a Unionist Tennessee infantry regiment, and died as a result of an accidental fall from a horse in 1863.  The president’s younger son, Robert, also served as a volunteer, helping to organize the Unionist 3^rd Tennessee Cavalry, of which he became colonel.  Although the president had several grandchildren, none of them appears to have served.