"Captain Abraham Robinson Johnston my second son was born at Upper Piqua, Miami County, Ohio
May 23, 1815. Educated at the Miami University under the tuition of the venerable Doctor Bishop. Appointed
to the Military academy West Point, March 22, 1830 and joined that institution on the 1st of the following
June. Made captain of the 1st U.S. Dragoons June 30, 1846. Aide to General Kearney. Killed in battle with the
enemy when gallantly leading on the advance at San Pasqual in California on the 6th December 1846. He was
a man of fine talents, an adept at sketching and drawing, a ripe schollar (sic), an accomplished soldier and
Gentleman. By habit and education he belonged to the government. Most richly has he paid with his life’s
blood the debt which he owed it. A nobler spirit never ascended up from the battlefield."
John Johnston to Henry Howe, Piqua OH, May 30, 1847
"In conclusion I will take the liberty of saying that I knew your lamented son...intimately. As a man or a soldier
he was everything that could make a parent feel proud of having such a son. He was remarkable for the
strictness of his morals, for his contempt of everything that savored of dishonor or meanness, and whilst
devoted and scrupulous in the performance of his military duty, sought and found leisure to indulge his strong
tastes for matters of science and literature."
Col. C. Wharton, dated Fort Leavenworth Aug. 2, 1847
May 23, 1815. Educated at the Miami University under the tuition of the venerable Doctor Bishop. Appointed
to the Military academy West Point, March 22, 1830 and joined that institution on the 1st of the following
June. Made captain of the 1st U.S. Dragoons June 30, 1846. Aide to General Kearney. Killed in battle with the
enemy when gallantly leading on the advance at San Pasqual in California on the 6th December 1846. He was
a man of fine talents, an adept at sketching and drawing, a ripe schollar (sic), an accomplished soldier and
Gentleman. By habit and education he belonged to the government. Most richly has he paid with his life’s
blood the debt which he owed it. A nobler spirit never ascended up from the battlefield."
John Johnston to Henry Howe, Piqua OH, May 30, 1847
"In conclusion I will take the liberty of saying that I knew your lamented son...intimately. As a man or a soldier
he was everything that could make a parent feel proud of having such a son. He was remarkable for the
strictness of his morals, for his contempt of everything that savored of dishonor or meanness, and whilst
devoted and scrupulous in the performance of his military duty, sought and found leisure to indulge his strong
tastes for matters of science and literature."
Col. C. Wharton, dated Fort Leavenworth Aug. 2, 1847
| A note from Marla: For those of you who know me, you know I have a small personal obsession by the name of Abraham Robinson Johnston. I took my job in Robinson's boyhood home in Piqua, OH 7 years ago this February. At the time I was hired to learn about, and communicate to the public, the life of John Johnston, Federal Indian Agent 1775 -1861. In the course of reading John Johnston's correspondence, available through the collections of the Cincinnati Historical Society, the Paul Laurence Dunbar Special Collections, the Ohio Historical Society, and other institutions, I 'met' the other members of his family, including his son, Robinson. Born Abraham Robinson Johnston in 1815, he was the second son of John and Rachel Johnston of Upper Piqua, OH. His elder brother Stephen had been born in 1803, and between the two boys were five girls, four of which survived. Robinson, as the family called him, was a very privileged young man. He was tutored by a well-known and respected doctor at Oxford, OH and then went on to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His father, as he put it in his own letters, placed all his 'felicitations' in this talented and well-liked son. Unfortunately, Robinson died at the age of 31on a California battlefield far away from his home, near an Indian mission or village called San Pasqual. In this writer's humble opinion, it was a pointless battle indicative of a war that should not have been fought; one motivated by greed and a president's desire to make a reality of his personal vision of a country that went from 'sea to shining sea'. As so often happens, the young men on the ground are the ones who pay the price of old men's dreams of grandeur. This is the first of a series of pages I intend to devote to telling Robinson's story from his birth at Upper Piqua, OH to his death in California, and beyond. There is a mystery concerning this young man's final resting place and we will explore that here as well. So join me and come to know Robinson, or Abraham, or John, or Duke, or Rob - depending on who you would have asked 160 odd years ago. Robinson had many nicknames, which tells us something about him. He apparently loved to laugh, for he was known as a 'jovial six footer'. He was also, apparently, a bit of a klutz. His friend Major Thomas Swords remarked to him in a letter that - 'your usual ill luck has attended you.' He shot himself through the foot, lost some of his toes, and broke his thigh bone at one point while ice skating. I hope by the time you finish these pages you will feel you know him. New information will continue to be added as time permits. There is no portrait definitely identified as Robinson, but we do have one image that just might be him. It is a crayon portrait done in 1833. On the lower left-hand side of the image are the words 'AR Johnston 1833'. As Robinson was an artist, this may simply be a drawing he did. However, when you compare the features of the young blond man in the portrait with Robinson's elder sister, Elizabeth, it becomes clear that this may be a self-portrait. The name is written on it in such a way that it suggests AR Johnston is the subject. Now, on to the Robinson I know.... Part Two: Boyhood and home |
Elizabeth Johnston Jones
| Possible image of Abraham Robinson Johnston, age app. 18 Image courtesy of Kenneth Woodward, Ramona CA |