The Family of Col. Benjamin Lewis Blackford

I wrote about him a lot in my Running the Blockade blog back in November and December 2013.  I am having to go back to that time and redo my entries as I was unable to use paragraphs for seven months.  I was redoing an entry on him (he was not impressed with the Wilmington, N.C., area when posted there during the war.

So I looked him up on Find-A-Grave.  He was there, but there was no information about him, but I did find some history about him in 29 September 2010, Virginia Memory Out of the Box "A Surveyor's View of Wartime Virginia."

He was born in 1835 in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to William Matthews Blackford (1801-1864) and Mary Berkeley  Minor Blackford (1802-1898) who was an anti-slavery activist.  At age ten, Lewis and his family moved to Lynchburg, Va..

When the war began, Lewis and his four brothers joined the Confederate Army, despite their mother's strong pro-Union sympathies.  Lewis enlisted in Co. G, 11th Virginia in April 1861, but left in May to join the Confederate Engineering Corps and spent the war making maps in Virginia and North Carolina.

Lewis had the reputation in his family of being a little too easy-going.  Although two wartime romances ended badly for him (one of them was in Wilmington, N.C.), nether seemed to keep him down for long.

--Old Secesh

Major John Johnson, Obituary-- Part 1

From Confederate Vets.com.  From the Confederate Veteran magazine of the United Confederate Veterans.

REV. JOHN JOHNSON D.D.

Tribute by Gen. Cornelius Irvine  Walker, Charleston, S.C.

The most obstinate , prolonged and gallant defense of the whole war was that of Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C. Harbor. There the first Confederate flag was planted in victory, and there almost the last was lowered in disaster.

For two years the vast resources of the United States, its navies and its armies, were in vain expended against the fortress.  Shot and shell from the most powerful armaments of the day were thundered against its ramparts; but it never yielded to a front attack, and was abandoned only when Sherman flanked the Confederates out of Charleston.

The heroic men who so gallantly held the fortress won an imperishable glory.

The man who, by his skill, patience, untiring energy, and superb courage, made possible the prolonged holding of the fort was its chief engineer, Major John Johnson.  His genius converted the crumbling ruins  of Fort Sumter into an impregnable stronghold.

So preeminent and  and well-known were these services that  all unite in yielding him credit.

--Old Secesh

Major John Johnson-- Part 5: Fifteen Months Under Fire

John Johnson was posted to Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863,  in time to witness the U.S. Navy attack on that place and then served for 15 months as engineer-in-charge of the fort's severest bombardment.  Applying his expertise and constant attention to detail, he oversaw daily repairs to damage and reinforcement efforts to sustain the fort throughout the devastating  rain of shellfire  from Union guns.

On July 28, 1864, he received his second and most serious of two wounds which left him a cripple for the rest of his life.

General Beauregard said to Major John Johnson was due  the masterly defense of Fort Sumter:

"It did not end in triumph, but it has left behind a setting of glory as of the western skies, a blazonry of heroism where gold and purple serve to tell of valor  and endurance, and the crimson hue is emblem of self-sacrifice in a cause  believed to be just."

--From the concluding sentence of Major John Johnson's book "The Defense of Charleston Harbor, Including Fort Sumter and Adjacent Islands 1863-1865."

--Old Secesh

Major John Johnson, CSA-- Part 4: Engineering and Divinity

Born in Charleston on December 25, 1829, he received his academic  education in engineering and pursued that for ten years where he was employed in surveys, railroad construction and water-works.  In 1853, under the patronage of the state, he prepared and published a large map of South Carolina.  He continued his academic studies at sessions offered at the University of Virginia 1858-1860.

In addition, he decided to enter the ministry  of the Protestant Episcopal Church and began  preparation at Camden, South Carolina,  under the direction of Bishop Thomas F. Davis until the war broke out.

He entered the engineering corps of the Confederate Army in August 1862 at age 33 with the rank of Lieutenant of Engineers, then Captain in 1863 and Major in 1864.  He was initially engaged in the construction of defenses at several towns (including Wilmington).

--Old Secesh

Major John Johnson of Fort Sumter-- Part 3: Also Saw Service at Wilmington

From the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie NPS.

Joined Confederate Army in 1862 and rose through ranks from lieutenant, captain to major in the Corps of Engineers.  Saw service at Savannah, Wilmington (another Fort Fisher-Wilmington person) and especially noted for his time in Charleston and at Fort Sumter.

He was twice wounded at Fort Sumter  where he served as engineer in charge for the 15th months of the severest Union bombardment of that place.

Survived the war and authored "The Defense of Charleston Harbor, Including  Fort Sumter and Adjacent Islands 1863-1865."  It was published in 1890 and is still considered the one of the best historical and technically detailed accounts of that bombardment.

--Old Secesh

Major John Johnson, Fort Sumter Defender of Charleston-- Part 2: Of Engineers and the Church

The Rev. John Johnson, rector emeritus of St. Philips Episcopal Church in Charleston, Confederate Major of Engineers in charge at Fort Sumter,  and author of "The Defense of Fort Sumter" and other historical works, died last night at the age of 78.

He studied civil engineering, to which for ten years he devoted his energies in railroad constructing and other large engineering work throughout South Carolina.  In 1853, he published the largest map of this state ever undertaken.

In 1860, he studied for the ministry at the Camden University in South Carolina, but at the outbreak of the war, he entered the engineering  corps of the Southern army  with the rank of Lieutenant of Engineers and rose rapidly through the ranks to major of Engineers.

He was mostly engaged  on the fortifications of several towns and was at Fort Sumter for fifteen months of its bombardment.  During this time, he was wounded twice by shells which left him crippled for life.

After the war, he was paroled as senior officer in the engineers and resumed his his ministerial studies, being ordained in 1866.   In 1872, he was appointed rector of St.Philips.

--Old Secesh

Major John Johnson, Fort Sumter Defender of Charleston-- Part 1

In the last post, I mentioned four young ladies who dedicated the Confederate defenders of Charleston statue in 1932.  One of them was Alicia Rhett, who was in the movie "Gone With the Wind" and whose name inspired that of the Rhett Butler character in that movie.

Unfortunately, the site I went to for the statue did not list the names of the four young ladies but I will do some research on their ancestors who were among the defenders.

The granddaughter of this man was one of the four young ladies.  He was listed as a Confederate engineer and author of a book on the defense of Charleston.

From the Find-A-Grave site.

REV. JOHN JOHNSON

BIRTH:  December 25, 1829  Charleston, S.C.

DEATH:  April 7, 1907  Charleston, S.C.

BURIAL:  St. Philip's Episcopal  Church Cemetery,  Charleston, S.C.

Alicia Rhett and her father Edmund Moore Rhett and mother Isobell Murdoch Rhett are buried there as well.  Also, John C. Calhoun is buried there.

--Old Secesh

Confederate Defenders of Charleston-- Part 4: The Four Young Ladies

The monument was unveiled by four young ladies, all descendants of members of the Confederate Defenders of Fort Sumter:

**  The granddaughter of Colonel Alfred Rhett, the first commanding officer of Fort Sumter.  (Alicia Rhett)

**  The granddaughter of Captain Thomas A. Hueguenin,  the last Confederate commander of Fort Sumter

**  The grandniece of Major Stephen Elliott, the second in command under Colonel Rhett

**  The granddaughter of Major John Johnson, a member of the Confederate Engineers and author of "The Defense of Charleston."

Two ushers placed on the monument the last Confederate flag that flew over Fort Sumter.

"The young ladies," the News & Courier reported, "then placed on the base of the monument  two wreaths of red and white carnations."

--Old Secesh

McHenry County Civil War Round Table Discussion Group Meets Saturday, Dec. 21

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) Discussion Group will meet this Saturday, Dec. 21, at Panera Bread at 6000 Northwest Highway (US-14) in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

This month's topic will be the The Engineering Corps of the Union and Confederacy.

It meeting lasts from 10 AM and noon.

All are welcome.

Come See It Built.  --Old Secesh

Simon L. Sommers-- Part 4 War Service and Return to Virginia

Simon Sommers became an Assistant Engineer in the Confederate Corps of Engineers, receiving his commission in 1864 after serving two years in the Corps in the defense of Petersburg and Lynchburg.

He returned to Arlington County in the early 20th century and died there on November 13, 1913.  He was buried with the other Southerners in the Confederate Section of Arlington National Cemetery.

His wife Margaret died January 29, 1923, and is buried alongside him.

--Old Secesh