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A Civil War veteran finally remembered
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
November 11, 2004

This photograph was taken at a reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic Veterans. Henry Johnson is seated at the far left, with the cane. Beside him is Col. "Fighting" Joe Hooker. In the far right rear is Albert Woolson, who eventually was the very last surviving Union soldier. (Photographer unknown, courtesy Barbara Johnson)

A Civil War story finally ended in Duluth Thursday. For the first time, Henry Johnson's grave has a marker -- courtesy of the federal government. Johnson is a Civil War veteran, who died on this day, 76 years ago. A great-granddaughter recently found his unmarked grave should have a government provided headstone. Now, with help from the U.S. Veterans Administration, for first time, Johnson's grave is properly marked.

Duluth, Minn. — Henry Johnson was 90 when he died on Armistice Day, 1928, the same day he was supposed to help dedicate Duluth's new City Hall. Even then, he was one of Minnesota's last surviving veterans of the Civil War. Great-granddaughter Barb Johnson has a faded black-and-white picture of old men in uniform lined up for a long-ago photograph.

	Barbara Johnson

"That's the Grand Army of the Republic reunion, and it took place in Pennsylvania when some of these veterans were older, as you can see in the picture," says Johnson. "This one is my grandfather, Henry Theodore Johnson. This is Colonel Olcott. This is Colonel Hooker. And this is Albert Woolson."

Johnson enlisted in 1864, serving out the final months of the Civil War in Georgia.

But when he died more than 60 years after the war's end, Johnson's memory was almost forgotten. His grave was never marked. When great-granddaughter Barb Johnson found out he was eligible for a gravestone, she contacted Richard Blakesley, the veterans service office in St. Louis County.

"I've done many, many of these headstone applications over the years," says Blakesley. "I've been at it for about 30 years. And when we talked about it I said, 'You know, I've never done one for a Civil War Veteran. Let's give it a try!'"

	The new marker

Blakesley admits it's a mystery why the grave was never marked. But he learned that Johnson was head of a local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War veterans organization. Blakesley says it was Johnson who would have made sure other veterans' graves were marked.

"And we think that when he passed away, the unfortunate thing that happened was that he probably kind of fell through the cracks, because I don't know that there were many of them left," says Blakesley. "And they probably didn't know what he did, and they probably didn't realize that he had an unmarked grave."

Blakesley says his tombstone request apparently caught the attention of the some high-ranking VA officials.

"That headstone got here probably within a month," Blakesley says. "And the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs never works that fast."

It also caught the attention of 8th District Congressman Jim Oberstar, who delivered keynote remarks in a brief, wind-whipped ceremony Thursday.

	Henry Johnson's obituary

"Our first president, George Washington said, 'The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation,'" says Oberstar.

Two of Henry Johnson's grandchildren were there. both of them are in their 90s now. Local veterans groups turned out in uniform -- providing a color guard and Taps. Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson paid his respects, as did dozens of others. It was more than Barb Johnson ever expected.

"It's been a long time coming," Johnson says. "I really didn't imagine that it would become so much hoopla, and yet, in a way I guess I can see why it did."

Henry Johnson's memory may have faded in the shadow of his friend and fellow Civil War veteran, Albert Woolson, who died in Duluth in 1956 at the age of 109. By that time, Woolson had become the very last surviving Civil War soldier from the Union Army. It was Woolson who found Johnson dead, on this day, 76 years ago.

Woolson is remembered with a monument in Gettysburg National Cemetery. Now, his friend, Henry Johnson, is remembered as well.

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