DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker out of Burnet County, so every word of it is on the record. Some men leave a mark on a place. Adam R.
Johnson left a mark on just about everything he touched — and he did most of it blind. Let's start at the beginning. Born in Kentucky in 1834.
Came to Burnet County, Texas, in 1854 — and Texas, it turns out, had plenty of work for a man like him. Overland Mail stage driver. Surveyor.
Noted frontier Indian fighter. Burnet County was his home, and he was building a life. Then 1861 arrived, and Johnson joined the Confederate Army.
He rode with General Nathan B. Forrest as a cavalry scout from 1861 into 1862 — learning, watching, moving fast and quiet through dangerous country. By 1862, he was commanding Partisan Rangers, running daring exploits behind enemy lines in the Kentucky area, all the way through 1864.
Now here is where the story takes a turn that no fiction writer would dare submit. Adam Johnson took Newburgh, Indiana — an actual town, across the Ohio River, inside Union territory — with twelve men. Twelve.
And you want to know what passed for artillery that day? Stovepipe. A stovepipe arranged to look like a cannon.
The town surrendered. The marker does not editorialize on that fact, and honestly, it doesn't need to. In June of 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general.
But the war had more to say. At Buffington's Island, Federal forces closed a trap around his command. Johnson escaped by swimming the Ohio River, some of his men making it out alongside him.
The river let him go. The war did not. August 1864.
A gunshot wound. Both eyes. Captured.
Totally blind for the rest of his life. He was exchanged in the spring of 1865. The war ended.
Most men in his condition might have considered that the closing chapter. Adam Johnson considered it the beginning of a different one. Back in Texas, totally blind, he got to work.
He founded the Texas Mining Improvement Company. He contracted for Overland Mail service — the same kind of rough work he'd done before the war, now running it from the other side of a desk he couldn't see. He promoted the development of water power on the Colorado River.
And he founded the town of Marble Falls. A whole town. But there is one more scene this marker wants you to know about, and it is something.
In 1874, Texas was caught up in what history calls the Coke-Davis Controversy — a bloodless struggle marking the end of Governor Davis's radical reconstruction rule. The question of who held the governor's office hung in the air, and so did the possibility of violence. Adam Johnson, blind, armed with his old army six-shooter, went to the Capitol, found the stairs, and posted himself at the top.
His intention, if the Davis forces moved from the basement, was to fire down into them. He was prepared to do it. But Coke gained the governor's office without armed conflict.
The gun stayed holstered. Adam R. Johnson was born in 1834 and died in 1922.
The State of Texas erected this memorial in 1963 to honor him and all Texans who served the Confederacy. But the man himself — the stage driver, the ranger, the general who took a town with a stovepipe, the blind founder of a city, the old soldier standing at the top of the Capitol stairs — that story belongs to Burnet County, and it doesn't need any embellishment at all.
What the marker says
Home County of Texas Confederate Joined C. S. Army 1861. Cavalry scout with Gen. Nathan B. Forest 1861-62. Commanded Partisan Rangers 1862-64 executing daring exploits behind enemy lines in Kentucky area. Took Newburgh, Indiana with 12 men and stovepipe "cannon". Promoted brigadier general June 1864. Escaped from Federal trap on Buffington's Island by swimming Ohio River with some of command. Blinded by gunshot wound and captured August 1864. Exchanged spring 1865. A memorial to Texas who served the Confederacy; erected by the State of Texas 1963. (1834-1922) Born Kentucky. Came to Burnet County, Texas, 1854. Overland Mail stage driver, surveyor, noted frontier Indian fighter. Although totally blind for life as result of war wounds he became prominent postwar Texas citizen. Founded Texas Mining Improvement Company, contracted for Overland Mail service, promoted development of water power on Colorado River. Founded the town of Marble Falls. During the bloodless Coke-Davis Controversy of 1874 marking the end of Davis' radical reconstruction rule Johnson went to the Capitol and posted himself atop the stairs with his old army six-shooter to fire down into the basement at the Davis forces if necessary, but Coke gained the governor's office without armed conflict.