The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-22
r.o1a n, Nm YJeyk Herald.

have been apprlZed OF the meiihcboIy event 81
the death of the Hon. Richard M. Johnson; a
man distinguished among oursmost prominent
men for bis military and civil Services. Hesdied
at his residence in Scott county, Kentucky, at
nine O'Clock yesterday morning, in the sixty-ffth
year of his age.
His life was marked by prominent association
with great events. The battle of the Thames,
i'm Canada in 1913, connects him with the mill
tary heroes of our country, whom the people
have delighted to honor. In that year, on the
18th of August Commodore Perry with his fleet,
arrived off Sandusky Bay and shortly efterward
his celebrated action was fought, which so glori-
ously resulted in the capture of the whole enemys
fleet, Harrison, meanwhile, collected together
his troops, and while Colonel Johnson marched
for his station by way of the river Raisin, the
General embarked on the goth of September,
with two Brigades, for Bass Island. E
On the 9th, the army again embarked, and
made descent upon the Canada shore. Sur
rounded by his gallant troops, General Harrison
now proudly stood upon the ruined breastworks
of Maiden from which destruction had been
poured upon the frontier, and whence the fire
BRAND and tomahawk of the Indian had gone
forth in the work of desoation. In his dispatches
10 the War Department, Harrison thus writes:
81 will pursue the enemy Tomorrow although
there is little probability of overtaking him, as he
has upward of one Thousand horses, and We have
not one in the army" He proceeded, according
ly, on the following day to Sandwich, but Proc
tor had fed "At q convention Of the general
officers, Harrison informed theni," says M'Affee,
"that there were but two ways of accomplishing
their object; one Of which was to follow him
up the strait by land, other, to embark and sail
down Lake Erie to long Point, then march has
tily across, by land, twelve miles to the road,
H. Co., ala
animously preferred, and consequently adopted
The army rapidly advanced in pursuit of the
enemy up the Thames to the M0ravian towns
On the 9th of October the enemy were over
taken; Proctor's position was flanked on the
left by the Thames, and his right by swamp,
which was occupied by horde of Indians un-
der the celebrated Tecuniseh. General Harri-
son, on this occasion, adopted a movement
which, while it insured an easy victory, evinced
a high degree of military skill and promptitude
of character-one division of his infantry ex-
tending in a double line from the river to the
swamp, opposite to Proctors troops, and the
other placed at right angles to the first facing
the swamp, with the view of preventing the In
dams from turning his left flank, and getting in
to the rear. Observing the enemv's troops to be
in open order, that is, with intervals OF three or
four between the files, which can never success
fully resist charge of cavalry, Harrison in
stantly ordered Colonel Johnsons mounted
regiment, which occupied the 'front.' to dash
through the enemy's line in column. This COM
mand was brilliantly executed, and the attempt
was triumphant for the British Were at once
thrown into confusion, and our men wisely TAX
ing advantage of their disorder, by attacking
their broken line in the rear, they were com
PEELED to surrender their arms, and thus splen-
did and almost bloodless victory was virtuously
achieved, rather by the cOnsummate skill OF the
general, than by the energies of his troops.
After the war, Col Johnson was honored by
his constituents in Kentucky with seat in Con-
gress for many years; and during the Admins
tration of General Jackson, his celebrated Sun
day Mail Report, against the suspension of the
Sunday mails, gave him an immense political
reputation throughout the country
On the 20th of May, 1885, the Jackson Demo-
cratic convention met at Baltimore, for the nomi-
nation of candidate to succeed Gen. Jackson
as President, also Vice President of the United
States. About six hundred delegates were in
attendance; and as all were selected as friends
of Mr. Van Buren,, he received the unanimous
vote of the convention for President. Colonel
Richard M. Johnson, Of Kentucky, was nomi-
mated for Vice President. These nominations,
it was we'll understood, received the express ap-
prODaUiOU OI JdchSoil, duu bttC
of the administration was, of course, exercised
in favor of the election of these candidates.
The result of the vote by the electoral colleges
was ITO for Mr. Van Buren,, including Mchi-
gan go, which was informal, and 1874 for all
other candidates There was no choice OF Vice
President by the people, in consequence of the
State of Virginia refusing to vote for Colonel
Johnson. He received LAT electoral votes, in
GLIDING Michigan, and there were l47 for all
other candidates Colonel Johnson was, there
upon, elected by the Senate agreeably to the
Constitution. So. ... ..t,
As President of the Senate, the writer Of this
notice is enabled to bear testimony to the dig
nity and impartiaity with which Colonel John
son presided over the deliberations of that august
body; and it may not be amiss here to state,
that our personal acquaintance with the deceased,
enables us further to say, that as man he was
esteemed and respected for his amiable and
generous character and never failed in his friend
ships from his simplicity of manners, his frank
ness of heart, and his open and confding dispo-
sition. He was ever the communicative and
humorous companion, and dwet with particular
pleasure upon the brilliant victory the Thames;
but always in all circumstances, though po-
litical opponent, insisting upon the honors due
to Gen. Harrison and his companions in arms.
In 1910, when, as the Democratic candidate
for Vice President, on the same ticket with Mr..
Van Buren,, he stood in opposition to General
Harrison, the Wing candidate, Colonel Johnson
never forgot the chivalry Of the true soldier
He "stumped" the States of Kentucky and
Ohio in that campaign; bat so far from detract-
ing from the merits of Harrison, he rather aided
in his election by voluntary vindieation of his
bravery and generalship In that bloody battle Of
the Thames, on every occasion in which it was
brought into question,
At his retirement in Kentucky for consider
able period of the latter portion of his life, Col
Johnson, under provisions by Congress, had
under his charge Choctaw academy, for the
education of the youths of that tribe. AT the
last Congress, the institution having gone into
decay from the impracticable character of the
children Of the woods, In the ways of civilized
life, bill of ten thousand dollars indemnity was
passed to meet all liabilities Of the Government
due to Col Johnson; and it is one of the curl
osities of the Galphin claim, that the friends of
the Coloners bill were drawn into its support,
in order to get It out of the way, so as to reach
the bill of the Colonel before the session ex-