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CSA Senator Robert W. Johnson from Arkansas Writes

JOHNSON, Robert Ward (1814-1879) was an Arkansas political leader who represented the state in both chambers of the U.S. Congress and as a congressman and senator in the Confederate Congress. Johnson was one of the richest men in the Confederate Congress. He strongly supported the administration of President Jefferson Davis, served on the powerful Military Affairs Committee, and chaired the Committee on Indian Affairs. He never attended the final Confederate Congressional session which met between November 1864 and March 1865. By that time, Senator Johnson realized that the Confederacy was lost.^tWar-date Autograph Letter Signed, "R.W. Johnson" 3p. quarto, January 8, 1864, Richmond, Virginia, addressed to Governor Thomas Reynolds of Missouri, who has docketed the verso, and it reads in part: "...At our parting last Oct. you expressed much anxiety to be kept well informed in all material points on our public affairs, and some desire that I would write to you often &c &c. I wish I could say I had yet -recd a letter from you, but no so. I wrote you some time ago, & will now write again. The Provl. Govt of Ky has appt. Hon W.E. Sims, C.S. Senator form that State, & his credentials have been presented & filed in Senate. No difficulty is anticipated. There is now expressed a good deal of interest among Senators as to your action. Congress will probably be assembled immediately after the 18th Feb/64. It is important that the states we claim should show full front in the Senate - the sanctuary of State sovereignty & individuality. It is now rumored that you will decline possibly to appoint a Senator. The disloyal in some states will rejoice, as much as the faithful will lament to see this apparent crumbling away of the Confed. edifice. But above all must it cripple Mo. & Ark - La. & Texas if our delegation is to lose one eighth in number & as much great proportion in political force, by your failure to appoint Genl. Clarke, should this rumor be true. I have much to say & but little time, & much or all of it perhaps will occur to you without any suggestion. Next year is to determine the fate of Mo. & perhaps of Ark. Give us help Govr. If not satisfied yourself of your constitutional rights, allow to the T[rans] M[ississippi] Dept. the benefit of all doubts & I hope you will think it well to send one credentials that in last resort at least they may be presented at the proper time. The Senate is the Judge of the qualifications of its own members. Leave it to them. I beg to assure you of success. This is one of the vacancies contemplated in the constitution...." More. VG.

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