Sergeant William Johnson is Hanged for Desertion and an Attempt to Outrage the Person of a Young Lady at the New-Kent Courthouse; Petersburg, Virginia, June 20, 1864

On June 20, 1864, William Johnson, a black Sergeant in the Union Army, was hanged by the neck for desertion and insulting a white woman in Petersburg, Virginia. The gallows were erected in plain view of Confederate soldiers who were preparing to defend Richmond from a Union invasion. The distance from the gallows, along with the white wrap placed on Johnson’s head prevented Confederate troops from knowing his true identity. Thinking the Union was hanging a Confederate spy to “serve as an example,” the Confederate unit unleashed a bombardment of artillery shells, wounding several Union soldiers and killing Sgt. Maj. G.F. Polley, the Union unit’s commander. After the bombardment, a Union Private carried a flag of truce to the center of the battlefield and announced that the man being hanged was not a Confederate spy, but the black deserter, Johnson. As Richmond burned, black soldiers from the Confederate army were marched past the rotting corpse of William Johnson as a method to dissuade them from deserting their Units and fleeing to the North.

J.A.P.

I. They Call Him a Negro. A Man

This will end up an advantage for the Confederates,but not a Union soul paid attention.They are stationed along the front lines,Petersburg, Virginia.Dustbowl. Rickety gallows. Temporary.

He was a sergeant. Co. E, Seventh Connecticut Volunteersand his letters number twenty-eight.

“I am optimistic. There doesn’t seem to be any doubtas to the final outcome of the pending engagement.”

He discussed the health of the troops.The store of the army.

Gave business advice.Love for his daughters.

He was the suggestion of a fighting man, penin hand, the mighty weapon. His single resolve:Tell the story. Tell the story.

July 27, 1862: “Red pepper is one of the best things in this climatethat a man can use as it tends to keep off fever.”

He will not write of his own misfortunes.Not of specific deaths he caused or witnessed.Not the Diarrhea Blue Pills,musket backfires,or bayonet charges.

He is but a man. They called him a negro. A man.

II. The execution left something to be desired.

And yet there he hangsfor the world and Richmond to see.

While on the run from the Connecticut Volunteers,he disgraced a woman.A white woman.At least that’s what they said.

Quite a bleak view, being a negroin Virginia,no matter your coat color.The real coat color is underneath.

The Union doesn’t believe in volunteering,and so they strung him up,gave his neck a tug,but no prayer, no reassurancethat his body would reach his family.No promise that his daughters would touchhis face again.

He was no southern spy.Just a negro.A coward, company-deserting,raping negro.

Or so they said.

III. A Confederate Soldier Witnesses the Hanging

They’re stringin’ up a spyalong their front lines. Allnine of them catching shadebeneath a dogwood whilehe swings. They’re making

an example of him.

So much for habeas corpus.So much for the gloryof the Union.

This war can’t be brotheragainst brother. A brotherwould never hang his kin.And although that face

is at a distance, covered, theircompany is militant,not willing to have a heartand carry him in chains a bit.

IV. A Case of Mistaken Identity

In the south they know what the gallows do.They know what the gallows mean.

And so while the Union company erectsthe wooden structure in brazen view

of Confederate lines, a Confederate captainis offended. Know of Richmond’s falling.

Orders an artillery bombardment. Madethe Union company their target audience.

Assumed the gallows were for a spy. Showedlittle restraint. True valor. They were southern

gentlemen. Better to throw artillery at the Unionthan let it fall out of Confederate hands.

Better to lob clods of dirt at a trainthan remain silent. Let the North hang

what the South assumed was a southern man.And so one artillery shell strikes Sgt. Maj. G.F. Polley,

Union leader, barking orders. Tore him to pieces,set the very earth around him ablaze,

stained the gallows red. So a tattered

blue cloth that was his jacket sticks

to the boot of a private marching, front-line-boundwith a flag of truce, waving with a proclamation

that this man was no southern man—this was onlya negro, hanged for desertion and insulting a white woman.

And so the ‘feds ceased fire. Set camp. Set chairs.Grounded muskets. Spit snuff. Saw him hanged.

They hail: “what a sight!” Yankees hanginga negro. But this was a bad example.

V. The Confederate Company Marches Their Slave-Soldiers Past Johnson’s Body

They’re a Southern regiment, a battalion of menof color, and men of no color. Marching by.So for the Union this hanging

was altogether unsatisfactory. The rebels, who squabbledand drove home the problem of desertion, used this.

The punishment.

“Those darkies love to flee, sure as they’re born.”

And when the lines broke and the Unionturned to Richmond, William Johnson was leftto rot in the June sun. Wind howling.A pendulum of Northern resolve, feet barely

dangling above the ground.

The ‘feds marched their black slave-soldierspast the gallows, past the pendulumas Richmond burned.

“Yankees hang all their ‘contrabands.’”

And so for weeks the nocturnal escapesof black soldiers, grown so common,ceased.

VI. He Anticipated Victory

His final letter mentioneda bombardment of Charleston,like a thousand Fourth of Julyseach day and night.

His final letter anticipated victory,him home, daughters in his arms.

But when he was hanged, the creakof splintered wood kept the tempoof a hundred black rebel soldiers.

They made an example of him,but it was not the example for which they planned.

Over the horizon, Richmond burned,but he hung, his own burnfrom the rope. Choking.And his own burn from the rebel negros’ eyes.

Bibliography

“1864: William Johnson, A Bad Example.” Executed Today.com. 20 May 2010.

“Petersburg, Virginia (vicinity). Hanged body of William Johnson, a Negro soldier.” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. American Memory, 1864. 20 May 2010.

“Petersburg, Va., vicinity. The execution of William Johnson, Jordan's farm.” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. American Memory, 1864. 22 May 2010.

“The Fall of Richmond, Virginia.” Civil War Preservation Trust. <http://www.civilwar.org>. 22 May 2010.

“William H. Johnson Civil War Letters.” University of South Carolina Library. <http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/1995/whjohn95.html> 20 May 2010.