Charles Akers Johnson, 1840-1893 [RG1652.AM]

NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG1652.AM:  Charles Akers Johnson, 1840-1893

Papers:  1867-1909, mostly 1876-1893

Camp Robinson, Neb.:  Officer

Size:  0.25 cu.ft.; 1 box

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Charles Akers Johnson was born in Jamestown, Pennsylvania on June 4, 1840. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, he was residing in Wisconsin. According to his military record, he enlisted in the Volunteer Army as a Private in 1861, serving for four months in the 1st Wisconsin Infantry. In 1862 he volunteered again as a Private and was promoted through the different grades to the rank of 1st Sergeant in the 13th Wisconsin Battery, Light Artillery. Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the 51st Wisconsin Infantry in 1865, he was mustered out with the disbanding of the Volunteer army in May of that year. In August 1867 he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant and in 1876, a 1st Lieutenant, in the 14th Infantry, U.S. Army. He participated in a variety of Indian scouting and other activities throughout the mid to far-west during his career. From 1876 to 1879 he was assigned to the Red Cloud Agency and Camp Robinson, Nebraska. As one of the officer-agents at the Red Cloud Agency in 1877, he was responsible for gathering a large section of the census that comprises the Crazy Horse Surrender Ledger. During his later years of service he was assigned to the Vancouver Barracks, Washington Territory, where he served until 1892 when he was promoted to Captain and placed on the retired list for “disabilities incurred in the line of duty.” Johnson died at his home in Washington, D.C. on December 22, 1893, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Angeline Hankins Johnson, “Angie,” was the daughter of John and Susan Hankins of the town of Hankins in Sullivan County, New York. She married Charles Johnson on July 8, 1873, and was stationed with him at numerous U.S. Army posts throughout the West. She died of an apparent stroke on February 1, 1903 in Syracuse, New York, and is buried at the side of her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection relates primarily to the military career of Charles A. Johnson, but also, through the letters of Angie Johnson, provides valuable information about several important incidents which took place in Nebraska during the Indian Wars of the late 1870s, including her eyewitness account of the death of Crazy Horse. The materials include military documents, letters, stock certificates, portrait photographs, clippings, obituaries, and burial information, and have been arranged in two series: 1) Charles A. Johnson, 1840-1893, and 2) Angeline Hankins Johnson, 1838-1903.

Angie Johnson’s original letter describing the death of Crazy Horse is in the Indian Museum of North America, Crazy Horse, South Dakota.

Note:  For additional information, see: “Camp Robinson Letters of Angeline Johnson, 1876-1879,” Nebraska History, Summer 1996 Vol. 77, No. 2, pp. 89-95.

DESCRIPTION

Series 1 – Charles A. Johnson, 1840-1893

Box 1

Items

• • Military commission certificates, 1867, 1876
    
    Military record
    
    Obituary, memorial program, burial [photo]
    
    Stock certificates

Series 2 – Angeline Hankins Johnson, 1838-1903

• • Letters [with transcripts], 1876, 1877, 1879 [note: Letter describing the death of Crazy Horse is a transcript of the original now in South Dakota]
    
    Pension certificate, 1893
    
    Obituaries, 1903 [photos]

ADDED ENTRIES:

Crazy Horse, ca. 1842-1877

Indians of North America — Nebraska

Indians of North America — Wars

Johnson, Angeline Hankins, 1838-1903

Johnson, Charles Akers, 1840-1893

05-18-2007   Revised TMM/tmm