Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/734

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

well county, and there bei^an the practice of his profession.

-Mr. Johnston was married in 1841 to Xicketti Buchanan Floyd, a daughter of John Movd, g-overnor of Virginia, 1 830-1834, and a sister of John Buchanan Floyd, gov- ernor of \^irginia, 1849- 1852. In the year 1845 ^^^- Johnston was elected common- w^ealth's attorney. .\t the election of 1847 he was a candidate for the state senate and was elected over Mr. Isaac Leftwich, who received only twenty-six votes in Tazewell county. He served two years in this ca- ])acity and was not a candidate for re-elec- tion. The celebrated Hunter-Smith election for United States senator occurred during his term and Mr. Johnston was one of the nineteen Democrats who sided with and voted for R. M. T. Hunter. In 185 1 Mr. Johnston headed a successful effort to se- cure the establishment of a bank at Taze- well Court House. This was the first insti- tution of its kind in Southwest Virginia. Mr. Johnston served for many years as its president and attorney.

In 1859 Mr. Johnston moved to Abing- don. He soon became very prominent in his profession and extended his practice into the adjoining counties of Smythe and Wythe. In 1861 the war interrupted the business of the courts. Throughout the struggle Mr. Johnston served the Confed- eracy as receiver for the southwestern dis- trict of Virginia. In his administration he showed such good sense, tempered with so much discretion and mercy, that he made friends where many others would have only created enemies.

In 1867 Mr. Johnston was made a circuit judge by order of the general assembly. The way in which he became eligible was very singular. During the year 1867, Cap- tain O'Xeil was in charge of the Freed- man's Bureau in Abingdon. One day a negro was taken sick on the streets of the town. ^Ir. Johnston had him carried to his premises and provided medical attention for him. This tenderness to one who had no claim whatever upon the kindness of Mr. Johnston excited the astonishment and aroused the admiration of the Irish captain who understood the facts of the case. O'Neil at once wrote to his representative in Con- gress, Hon. \\'illiam D. Kelly, and Mr. Kelly moved that the political disabilities of ]\Ir. lohnston might be removed without

petition. The reading of the captain's letter caused the motion to be carried and it fol- low^ed that Air. Johnston was one of the few .men in the state who, being unable to take the "iron-clad" oath, could still hold office. It was soon after this that General Stoneman selected him as a judge. The nomination was very acceptable to the people and he was acting as a judge in 1869 when Virginia was readmitted into the Union. When the general assembly met in October, 1869, there were two senators to be elected, one for a full term of six years and one for a short term of tw^o years. John F. Lewis, of Rockingham, was elected for the full term and Mr. Johnston for the short term. He was twice re-elected and in all of these elections he never lost a vote in his own section of the state. He uniformly received every vote west of Lynchburg.

Shortly after his election to the senate, Mr. Johnston took a prominent part in the efifort to restore compensation to the Lees for the loss of Arlington. In the senate he soon gained the respect of both sides. A contemporary says of him, "he rarely claimed the floor to speak, but when he did he was heard attentively. He spoke to the point, clearly and persuasively, and he was able to be of vast service in defending our cause."' He was generally on important committees, and in the days of Democratic ascendancy was chairman of several.

During Mr. Johnston's third term the state debt question was agitated in the Vir- ginia legislature. A party grew up under the leadership of General William Mahone, calling themselves "Re-adjusters," their ob- ject being to reduce the apparent amount of the state debt as to principal and to fund it at a lower rate of interest. In 1879 Mr. Johnston w^as active in the campaign against the new party. He advocated the debt pay- ing side of the question and insisted that the state was bound by law and morals to pay the debt in full or settle at a lower rate of interest on terms acceptable to the credi- tors. His pamphlets on this subject excited a great deal of interest both in this country and in England, where the bonds of the state were largely held. The Re-adjusters, however, appealed to sectional prejudice and largely to the negro vote. In this way they carried the state and elected General Mahone to the senate in the place of Colo- nel Withers, the Democratic colleague of