President Andrew Johnson Military appointment for Civil War Hero for Sale

President Andrew Johnson Military appointment for Civil War Hero For Sale

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President Andrew Johnson Military appointment for Civil War Hero:
$380.00

Andrew Johnson(December 29, 1808– July 31, 1875) was the 17thpresident of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency following theassassination of Abraham Lincoln, as he wasvice presidentat that time. Johnson was aDemocratwho ran withAbraham Lincolnon theNational Union Partyticket, coming to office as theCivil Warconcluded. He favored quick restoration of theseceded states to the Unionwithout protection for thenewly freed peoplewho were formerlyenslaved. This led to conflict with theRepublican-dominated Congress, culminating inhis impeachmentby the House of Representatives in 1868. He wasacquitted in the Senateby one vote.

Johnson was born into poverty and never attended school. He was apprenticed as a tailor and worked in several frontier towns before settling inGreeneville, Tennessee, serving as an alderman and mayor before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. After briefly serving in theTennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857. During his congressional service, he sought passage of theHomestead Billwhich was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862. Southern slave states seceded to form theConfederate States of America, including Tennessee, but Johnson remained firmly with the Union. He was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his state's secession. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as Military Governor of Tennessee after most of it had been retaken. In 1864, Johnson was a logical choice as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign, and became vice president after a victorious election in1864.

Johnson implemented his own form ofPresidential Reconstruction, a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to reform their civil governments. Southern states returned many of their old leaders and passedBlack Codesto deprive the freedmen of many civil liberties, but Congressional Republicans refused to seat legislators from those states and advanced legislation to overrule the Southern actions. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congressional Republicans overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency.[b]Johnson opposed theFourteenth Amendmentwhich gave citizenship to former slaves. In 1866, he went on anunprecedented national tourpromoting his executive policies, seeking to break Republican opposition.[5]As the conflict grew between the branches of government, Congress passed theTenure of Office Actrestricting Johnson's ability to fire Cabinet officials. He persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of WarEdwin Stanton, but ended up being impeached by the House of Representatives and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate. He did not winthe 1868 Democratic presidential nominationand left office the following year.

Johnson returned to Tennessee after his presidency and gained some vindication when he was elected to the Senate in 1875, making him the only president to afterwards serve in the Senate. He died five months into his term. Johnson's strong opposition to federally guaranteed rights for black Americans is widely criticized. Historianshave consistently ranked himone of the worst presidents in American history.

John Eagn Before Antietam

A member of the West Point Class of 1862, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 1st US Artillery on 17 June 1862 and joined his battery on the Peninsula Campaign.

On the Campaign

He commanded a section of his Battery on the Maryland Campaign. He was honored by brevet to First Lieutenant for Antietam.

The rest of the War

He was in action at Fredericksburg and at Gettysburg, where he was given his second brevet, to Captain (3 July 1863). He was promoted to First Lieutenant on 19 May 1864, and commanded Battery K in that year. He got his 3rd brevet, to Major, for service at Cold Harbor, VA (1 June 1864). He was captured in action at Reams' Station, VA on 29 June and held as a prisoner to 8 December 1864. He was back in action with the Battery at Petersburg to 2 April 1865.

After the War

He continued in Regular Army service as an instructor at West Point from May 1865 to 6 February 1869, having been promoted to Captain, 11th US Infantry on 28 July 1866. He transferred to the 23rd Infantry on 1 September 1869. He transferred to the 4th US Artillery on 1 January 1871. He was on garrison duty at the Presidio and on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA to June 1878. He had been under arrest, on trial, and under sentence of a Court Martial from August 1876 to January 1877 (charges unknown). The sentence of the court was mitigated by the President to suspension from rank and command, and 1/2 pay for a year.He was on the Bannock Campaign (to Sep 78) and in garrisons at Ft. Canby, WA, Ft. Point, CA, Madison Barracks, NY, Ft Warren, MA, Ft. Adams, RI, and Ft. Trumbull, CT into 1889. He was appointed Major, First US Artillery on 15 January 1889 and was again on garrison duty at the Presidio and Ft. Canby, which he commanded to May 1890. He served lastly at Forts Hamilton and Wadsworth, NY. He lived in New York City after retiring from active service on 1 September 1896.

References & notes

Basic military data found in Heitman1, and Cullum2. His photograph from the 1862 West PointClass Album,onlinefrom the USMA Library. His death from theUS Army Registerfor 1907.

Birth

Date not known in VT