page_title: John W. Johnston
section_title: Arlington Memorial controversy
hierarchical_section_title: John W. Johnston / Political issues / Arlington Memorial controversy
context_page_description: John Warfield Johnston was an American lawyer and politician from Abingdon, Virginia. He served in the Virginia State Senate, and represented Virginia in the United States Senate when the state was readmitted after the American Civil War. He was a United States Senator for 13 years. In national politics, he was a Democrat.
  Johnston had been ineligible to serve in Congress because of the Fourteenth Amendment, which forbade anyone who had sworn allegiance to the United States and subsequently sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War from holding public office. However, his restrictions were removed at the suggestion of the Freedmen's Bureau when he aided a sick and dying former slave after the War. He was the first person who had sided with the Confederacy to serve in the United States Senate.
  Several issues marked Johnston's senatorial career. He was caught in the middle during the debate over the Arlington Memorial. The initial proposal to relocate the dead was distasteful to Johnston, yet the ensuing debate caused him to want to defend the memory of Robert E. Lee; the need to stay quiet for the sake of the Democratic Party, however, proved decisive.
context_section_description: On December 13, 1870, Thomas C. McCreery (D) of Kentucky introduced a resolution regarding the Arlington House, the former home of the Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, that brought down a firestorm of objections. Arlington House had been captured by Union forces during the Civil War and its grounds were used as a cemetery for 16,000 soldiers by the end of the war. The resolution called for an investigation to establish its ownership and the possibility of returning it to Mrs. Robert E. Lee. In addition, McCreery proposed the government fix up the premises, return any Washington relics discovered, and determine whether a suitable location nearby existed to relocate the dead. Johnston described the excitement caused as the most pronounced he would see in his thirteen years in the Senate. It put him in "the most painful and embarrassing position of my life". and he was vehemently opposed:
  There was something very abhorent to me in the idea of making a job of digging up and carting away the remains of thousands of people—especially as they were gallant men who had died on the field of battle. Not only was the substance of the resolution displeasing but its tone was equally so. It seemed to say: "Here, whitewash these fences, scour these floors, fix up this house and grounds, dig up these bones, and hand the premises over to the owners.
  However, in the course of the speeches opposing the resolution, Johnston felt Lee's memory had been attacked and he felt duty bound to defend him. The Democratic Party, knowing his views and that of his state, approached him and asked him to keep silent for the sake of the party and the relief of Virginia. Johnston correctly predicted that he would be attacked at home. He was up for re-election, and the opposing candidates used his position against him. A delegation from the Virginia General Assembly travelled to Washington to talk with the Democrats and assess the situation and were satisfied by the reports they received.
  Later, Johnston made a speech on behalf of Mrs. Lee and her Memorial proposal. His first attempt to speak was objected to and he was denied permission. Near the end of the session, when an unrelated bill was under discussion, Johnston made a motion related to it and then used the opportunity, which was allowed to Senators, to make his speech; this caused "great indignation and impatience on the floor". The Lee family and their advisors desired that the "true facts about the sale of Arlington and the nature of her claim to the property, should be placed before the country" so that, if found in her favor, she could receive compensation and then donate the property to the government. Eventually the Supreme Court of the United States did find in the family's favor in 1882.
caption: Arlington House from a pre-1861 sketch, published in 1875.
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