Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Bradley T. Johnson Papers, Accession 5594, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

The collection is on loan from Mrs. Bradley T. Johnson, 510 17th Street, Charlottesville, Virginia. It was placed in the Library on 21 May 1957.

Funding Note

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical Sketch of Bradley T. Johnson

Bradley T. Johnson (1829-1903) was born in Frederick, Maryland , son of Charles Worthington Johnson and Eleanor Murdock (Tyler) Johnson , grandson of Colonel Baker Tyler Johnson of the Continental Army. He took a B.A. at Princeton (1849), studied law and was admitted to the bar in Frederick in 1851. On June 25, 1851 he married Jane Claudia Saunders of North Carolina . Johnson served as Maryland State's Attorney, Chairman of the Maryland State Democratic Committee, and delegate to both National Conventions of 1860. He was instrumental in the formation of " The Maryland Line , " a regiment of Marylanders who chose to fight for the South, and was elected their Colonel in 1862. On June 28, 1864, he was commissioned brigadier general, partly on the strength of a long standing recommendation from General T. J. Jackson . In the last days of the war he commanded cavalry under Wade Hampton and Jubal Early . After the war, Johnson practiced law in Richmond and served in the Virginia Senate (1875-1879). From 1879 to 1890 he practiced in Baltimore . He died in Amelia, Virginia , in 1903. Among his published works are a life of Washington (1894) and A Memoir of the Life and Public Service of Joseph E. Johnston.

Scope and Content

The papers of Bradley T. Johnson consist of ca. 4000 items covering the years 1676 to 1937, and are primarily the personal correspondence of the members of three families: Johnson , Rutherfoord and Saunders . By far the greatest number of letters and documents concern the affairs of the Johnson family and Bradley T. Johnson during the period 1840-1880. The collection includes a great number of letters to Bradley T. Johnson from his mother, Eleanor Murdock (Tyler) Johnson , and his wife, Jane Claudia (Saunders) Johnson . Items of particular interest include: copies of letters from George Washington to Thomas Johnson relative to Thomas Johnson 's appointment to the United States Supreme Court and letters to General Bradley T. Johnson from Jubal A. Early , Joseph E. Johnston , Thomas J. Jackson , Jefferson Davis , Wade Hampton , J. S. Mosby , W. H. Fitzhugh Lee , Henry Adams and Theodore Roosevelt .

In addition to correspondence, the collection contains unsigned speeches and essays dealing with contemporary (antebellum) political issues and elections as well as newspaper clippings, deeds, documents and memorabila. In particular, there is a substantial number of items pertaining to Bradley T. Johnson 's formation of the First Maryland Regiment , C. S. A., " The Maryland Line , " and its affairs during the Civil War and afterwards as a veterans' organization. There are a number of letters written by John C. Rutherfoord and Bradley T. Johnson 's son, B. Saunders Johnson , to their respective families while the two were students at the University of Virginia , the former before and the latter after the Civil War.

Organization

Boxes 1 through 4 contain correspondence filed chronologically. The next three boxes contain speeches, essays, financial and Civil War papers. The last box contains empty envelopes.