JOHNSON
JOHNSON
tury War Series," both in the magazine and in the
revised book edition of four volumes:" Battles
and Leaders of the Civil War " (1883-89), and he
induced General Grant to write his memoirs,
half of which appeared in that series. He was
actively connected
with the internation-
al copyright move-
ment from 1883, and
was from that year
a member continu-
ously of the execu-
tive committee of
five, of the American
(Authors') copyright
league; was for some
years its treasurer
and became in 1889
its secretary, in that
capacity devoting
his time and efforts
to the passage of
the copyright bill, which became a law, March
4. 1891. For his services in this cause he re-
ceived the honorary degree of A.M. from Yale
in 1891, the cross of the Legion of Honor from the
French government, 1891, and that of the Crown
of Italy in 1895. He originated, and with John
Muir set on foot, the movement resulting in the
creation of the Yosemite National park and
devoted himself to securing a better supervision
of the Yosemite valley, in recognition of which
he was elected an honorary member of the Sierra
club and appointed one of the trustees of Red-
wood forest of six hundred acres, for public uses,
in Sonoma county, CaL After 1889 he actively
aided in establishing the policy of making exten-
sive reservations of the national forests. He
was elected a member of the American Institute
of Arts and Letters; of the Century association;
of the Authors and Players clubs of New York; of
the Civil Service Reform association, and of the
Free Art league. He received the honorary
degree of Ph.D. from Earlham college in 1886.
He is the author of: The Winter Hour and Other
Poems (1892); Songs of Liberty and Other Poems
(1897), and editorial and critical articles in TJie
Century. His hymn. Praise to Tliee, O God of
Freedom, was sung to Haydn's music at the
dedication of the Washington Arch, New York
city.
JOHNSON, Robert Ward, senator, was born in Scott county, Ky., July 22, 1814; son of Judge Benjamin Johnson, 1784-1849, and grandson of Robert Johnson, pioneer, 1779. He was educated at the neighboring school in Scott county and in 1821 removed with his father to Arkansas. He attended the Indian academy near Frankfort, Ky.; was graduated from St. Joseph's college.
Bardstown, Ky., in 1833, and from Yale, liL.B., in
1835; was admitted to the bar in 1835, and prac-
tised his profession at Little Rock, Ark., 1835-47.
He was prosecuting attorney for the Little Rock
circuit, 1840-42, and attorney-general of the state,
ex officio. He wias defeated for Democratic rep-
resentative in the state legislature by a few votes
in 1840, and by one vote in 1842, and was elected
a representative in the 30th, 31st and 32d con-
gresses, 1847-53, declining further election. He
was appointed U.S. senator by Governor Conway
to fill the unexpired term of Dr. Solon Borland,
who resigned his seat in 1853 to become U.S.
minister to Nicaragua. When the legislature
convened he was unanimously elected, not only
to fill the unexpired term, but to a full terra
ending March 4, 1861. He was a States' riglits
Democrat and sustained the position advanced
by John C. Calhoun in opposition to Henry Clay.
He declined re-election in 1861 and was elected a
delegate to the provisional Confederate govern-
ment at Montgomery, Ala., and in November,
1862, to the Confederate States senate, where he
served until that government closed, when he fled
to Texas with the intention of joining a proposed
colony of ex-Confederates in Mexico. On his way
he met Gen. Gordon Granger, who persuaded him
to remain in the United States, as allex-Confed-
derates had been promised protection in their
property rights by President Johnson, and he re-
turned to his estate in Jefferson county. Ark.,
which, however, after two years' struggle, went to
his creditors and he again took up the practice of
law in Washington, D.C., in partnership with
Gen. Albert Pike. In 1877 his political disabili-
ties w^re removed and he was a candidate for
l/.S. senator, but was defeated by J. D. Walker.
He died at Little Rock, Ark., July 26, 1879.
JOHNSON, Rossiter, editor and author, was born in Rochester, N.Y., Jan. 27, 1840; son of Reuben and Almira (Alexander) Johnson; grand- son of William Johnson and of James and Esther (Dewey) Alexander, and a descendant of Wil- liam Johnson, of Chester, England, and of James Alexander, of Dublin, Ireland. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was- graduated at the University of Rochester in 1863 and joined the staff of the Rochester Z)e7??ocraf (a Republican journal). He was assistant to the editor-in-chief, Robert Carter, 1864-68. He married in 1869 Helen, daughter of Asahel C. Kendrick, and re- moved to Concord, N.H., where he was editor of the Statesman, 1869-72. He then went to New York city and was one of the revisers of the "American Cyclopaedia," being associate editor, 1873-77. He made a tour of Europe in 1877, and on his return edited the " Life of Admiral Farra- gut ■' (1879). He was associated with Sydney Howard Gay in the preparation of the last two
