page_title: William Henry Johnson (valet)
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: William Henry Johnson (valet) / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: abrahamlincolns118linc_0 (find matches) Title: Abraham Lincoln's 1861 inauguration Year: 1861 (1860s) Authors: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Publisher: Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection Digitizing Sponsor: Friends of The Lincoln Collection of Indiana, Inc. View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: Lincoln woke&gt;up in Indianapolis on His Birthdate. On Feb. 12th Lincoln departed&gt;Indianapolis at 11:00 AM and arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio shortly after&gt;three P.M. , &gt; In Indiana Lincoln stopped at the following: &gt;Locomotives) &gt; 7 &gt; 8 &gt; 9 State Line, Indiana Lafayette Thorntown Lebanon Zionsville Indianapolis (Track Guage difference &amp; Had Lunch)(Changed Locomotives) (Night Stayed) (Changed ShelbyvilleGreensburgMorris &gt; 10. Lawrenceburg &gt;Cincinnati.) &gt; &gt;There are NO Site Markers &gt;Morris. (Track Guage difference inexisting at:: Thorntown, Greensburg, and &gt;((I have seem to have located one in Indianapolis. &gt; As of yet have no responses from Lafayette or Shelbyville, so &gt;unknown if any Site Markers exist at said locations.)) &gt; &gt;Hopefully this is of assistance. &gt; &gt;Sincerely, &gt;A1 Wolf, cpcu, clu ( f i Sprin^ic.lol Ij Indianapolis &gt;a DetroilQ^ Roche5i«rluffab / Albany S / r Columbus^ VMarnsbu Z./- /- j^Vhshintftenr-, L. r^r Text Appearing After Image: -^ ■^ Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: William Henry Johnson was a free African American and the personal valet of Abraham Lincoln. Having first worked for Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, Johnson accompanied the President-Elect to Washington, D.C. for his first inauguration. He was the only person from Lincoln's Illinois entourage to travel all the way to Washington with Lincoln to elude potential assassins of the Baltimore Plot.
  Once there, he was employed in various jobs, part-time as President's valet and barber, and as a messenger for the Treasury Department at $600 per year. He traveled with Lincoln in November 1863 to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. While traveling, Lincoln experienced symptoms of the onset of smallpox. At that time, an epidemic was spreading through Washington, D.C. and Lincoln's son Tad Lincoln had smallpox. Johnson tended to Lincoln and became quite ill by January 12, 1864, when he was admitted to a hospital. Johnson died within the next couple of weeks.
context_section_description: Abraham Lincoln employed Johnson as a valet and driver in Springfield, Illinois during the time of the 1860 United States presidential election. The Lincolns hosted an event for the Republican Presidential Nomination Notification Committee on May 19, 1860 at their house in Springfield, Illinois. Johnson announced people as they entered the house and directed them to the parlour to meet Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. Either before or while working for Lincoln, he was also a bootblack and barber. 
  Lincoln brought Johnson with him to the White House for his first inauguration. During the train trip, Johnson was observed by reporters to be attentive with untiring vigilance and acted as if he was an unofficial bodyguard. Lincoln said that Johnson was a worthy man of integrity and faithfulness. To evade an assassination attempt (called the Baltimore Plot, Lincoln left the train he was expected to arrive on in Washington. He boarded another train that took him  directly from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Washington, skipping a stop in Baltimore. Johnson was the only person from the Illinois entourage to take the secret train route with Lincoln. There were detectives that were engaged for security protection that traveled with Lincoln and Johnson.
  Johnson worked for Lincoln as a barber, valet, handyman, messenger, and bodyguard. The president said of him, "although not exactly the most prominent, [he] is yet the most useful member of the presidential party." Lincoln trusted him to convey messages, and at times significant sums of money.
  He was shunned and treated miserably by other White House servants, because they were not welcoming of newcomers, did not want a change in the established pecking order among staff, and disliked that he was a particularly dark-skinned African-American. Until that point, all servants of the White House were light-skinned. It was clear within the first week that an employment change was needed for Johnson. Lincoln first wrote to the Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, but a suitable position was not found. In the meantime, Johnson continued his position, running errands some days that would take him out of the mansion for part or all of the day. To calm the discord, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase gave him a job in November 1861, first as a laborer, and soon after as a messenger. 
  If Lincoln needed Johnson's assistance for errands or tasks, he would send a message to his supervisor, Samuel Yorke At Lee, at the Treasury. Before working at the Treasury each workday morning, Johnson went to the White House and shaved and dressed Lincoln, which provided extra income. 
  I think Lincoln's constant interest in William Johnson shows us, even more than do some of his greatest public deeds and much heralded acts, the great heart of this man. He had induced Johnson to leave Springfield and accompany him to Washington on a most perilous journey and thereafter never ceased to be interested in him, but continued to assist him in every manner possible.
  — John E. Washington, They Knew Lincoln
  Besides both men having felt free to ask favors of one another, it is assumed that Johnson was treated equitably as any other man. Frederick Douglass, the black abolitionist, said of Lincoln, "He was the first great man that I talked with in the United States freely, who in no single instance reminded me of the difference between himself and myself, of the difference of color…" When he referred to him in letters, though, Lincoln called Johnson a "colored boy".
  In 1862, Johnson accompanied Lincoln to the Antietam Battlefield after the battle and the Confederate Army had left the area. He went with Lincoln on other trips.
caption: The train that transported Lincoln to Washington for his 1861 inauguration
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