Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/477

Rh military college in the University of Nashville, and chancellor of that institution.

JOHNSON, Cave, postmaster - general, b. in Robertson county, Tenn., 11 Jan., 1793; d. in Clarksville, Tenn., 23 Nov., 1866. He was ad- mitted to the bar, and practised law in Clarksville until 1820, when he became circuit judge. He served in congress in 1829-'37, having been chosen as a Democrat, and again from 1829 till his ap- pointment as postmaster-general under President Polk in 1845. At the close of this administration he retired to private life, and was president of the Bank of Tennessee in 1850-9. Age prevented his taking an active part in public affairs during the civil war, and his serving in the state senate in 1863, to which he was elected as a Unionist.

JOHNSON, Chapman, lawyer, b. in Louisa countv, Va.. 12 March, 1779: d. in Richmond, Va., 12 July, 1849. He was graduated at William and Mary in 1802, studied law under St. George Tucker, and, establishing himself in Staunton, Va., became eminent as a lawyer and orator. During the war of 1812 he was captain of a volunteer company, and he afterward served as aide to Gen. James Breckinridge. Prom 1815 till 1831 he served in the state senate, and he was a member of the Vir- ginia convention of 1829-'30 as champion of the White Basis party. In 1824 he removed to Rich- mond in order to attend to his practice, which had become one of the most extensive in the state.

JOHNSON, Daniel, English buccaneer, b. in Bristol, England, in 1629 ; d. in Panama in 1675. He served for several years as a sailor in a mer- chant-ship which was captured by the Spanish in 1654, and was transported to Santo Domingo, re- maining a slave there till 1657. when he escaped to " e French island of Tortugas. He swore to re- enge himself for the cruel treatment he had re- ceived at the hands of the Spaniards, and he kept his word so well that he was named by the Spanish "Johnson the Terror." He enlisted in 1657 under the buccaneer Moyse van Vin, and soon was raised to the rank of a chief. Van Vin made him his lieutenant in 1659 ; but they had difficulties about booty, and fought a duel, in which Van Vin was dangerously wounded. Johnson then joined Pierre le Picard, and together they accompanied Sir Henry Morgan in 1661 in his expedition to Mara- caibo and Panama. In 1663 he pillaged and ran- sacked the Bay of Honduras, and burned the city of Puerto Cabello, securing booty worth $1,500,000. In the following year, with a brig carrying 24 guns, he attacked a ship that the Spanish authorities of Guatemala sent every year to Spain loaded with gold. Although she was a vessel of 900 tons, carry- ing 56 guns, with a complement of 400 men, she surrendered to Johnson after a battle of one hour. This capture made Johnson famous, and the Span- iards offered a reward of $25,000 for his head. In 1666 he associated with other adventurers, and ransacked and pillaged the coast of Venezuela. On returning to Tortugas the vessel of Johnson foun- dered at sea near the western coast of Cuba, and he escaped with a few companions in an open boat. The governor of Havana, being informed of his mis- fortune, sent a brig carrying 15 guns to capture him, but Johnson attacked the vessel, and after a hard-fought battle took possession of her. As his crew was too small to guard 200 Spanish prisoners, he murdered them with his own hand and sent their heads to the governor. At last he was sur- rounded by four men-of-war that had been spe- cially detailed for his pursuit, and he fell a prisoner, after receiving 17 wounds. He was brought to Panama and put in charge of physicians, and when they had restored him to health he was hanged in the public square of the city.

JOHNSON, David, jurist, b. in Louisa county, Va., 3 Oct., 1782 ; d. in Limestone Springs, S. C, 7 Jan., 1855. His father removed with his family to Chester district, S. C, in 1789. David studied law, and settled in Union Court-House. He was a member of the legislature in 1812, circuit judge in 1815-'24, was elevated to the court of appeals in 1824, and became chancellor in 1835. In 1847 he was elected governor of South Carolina. Although Judge Johnson conceded the right of secession, he opposed it in debate and public speeches, as inju- rious to the interests of the country.

JOHNSON, David, artist, b. in New York city, 10 May, 1827. He was educated in the public schools, and received a few lessons in the beginning of his career from John F. Crosby, but since that time has pursued his work without "a master, spend- ing his professional life in New York. His style is carefully finished, rich in color, and indicates a faithful study of American scenery. In 1860 he was elected an associate, and in 1862 a member, of the National academy. He was one of the founders of the Artists' fund society, and has exhibited at the academy " Echo Lake " (1867) ; " On the Wallkill River" (1869); "New Berlin, N. Y." (1870) ; " View of Barrvtown, N. Y." (1871) : " Lake George " (1874) : " Near Noroton, Conn." (1876) ; " Greenwood Lake " (1877) ; " Morning at Harbor Islands " (1878) ; and " Dollar Island " (1880). He exhibited at the Centennial of 1876 " Scenery on the Housatonic," which was also shown at the Paris salon in 1877: "Old Man of the Mountain," and " A Brook Study." which received one of the first awards. Among his recent paintings are " View of Pompton, N. J." (1882) ; " Oak Grove," and " Oaks on the Genesee " (1883) : " Pasturage " (1884) ; " Sun- set" (1885): and "Landscape and Cattle" (1887).

JOHNSON, Eastman, artist, b. in Lovell, Me., 29 July, 1824. Adopting drawing as a profession at eighteen, he settled first in Augusta, Me., working almost wholly on portraits in black and white and in pastel. In 1845 he removed with his parents to Washington, D. C., where he drew portraits of many distinguished men, including Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams, and while in Boston in 1846-'9 he made portraits of Longfellow and his family, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Sumner. He went to Düsseldorf in 1849, studied one year at the Royal academy, one with Leutze, and four at the Hague, painting there his first important pictures in oil, &ldquo;The Savoyard&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Card Players,&rdquo; and afterward established himself in Paris, but returned to the United States in 1856. He was in Washington, D. C., and on the northern shores of Lake Superior among the Indian tribes in 1856-'7, returning to the former place in 1858, and painting the &ldquo;Old Kentucky Home,&rdquo; which established his reputation as an artist. In the autumn of this year he opened a studio in New York, where he has since resided. He was elected an academician in 1860, and has contributed since that time to each of the annual exhibitions of the National academy. His genre compositions, suggested by American scenes, have been highly popular, appreciated alike by artists and the public, and many of them have been engraved. He excels as a portrait-painter, and is particularly happy in the delineation of American domestic and negro character. Among his pictures are &ldquo;The Old Kentucky Home,&rdquo; &ldquo;Sunday Morning,&rdquo; &ldquo;Prisoners of State,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Barefoot Boy,&rdquo; &ldquo;Dropping Off,&rdquo; &ldquo;Fiddling his Way,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Pension Agent,&rdquo; &ldquo;Milton Dictating to his Daughters,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Old Stage-Coach,&rdquo; &ldquo;Husking at