Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/291

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Johnson displayed signal bravery, and had two horses shot under him. Lord Cornwal- lis thus writes of him : "Johnson, although a wrong-headed blockhead, is axiored for his defence at New Ross, and considered as the saviour of the south." General Johnson received a baronetcy in 1818, and died i8th March 1835, aged about 87, being succeeded in the baronetcy by his son, a distinguished Peninsular officer, who survived until 27th June i860. 37- 54 87 249

Johnson, James, M.D., a distinguished physician, was born at Ballinderry, County of Cork, in 1777. Having taken out his degree, he entered the navy, served on the Walcheren expedition, in 18 12 was ap- pointed surgeon to the North Sea fleet, in 1 8 14 surgeon to the Duke of Clarence, and, upon the Duke's accession to the throne, Surgeon-extraordinary to his Majesty. He enjoyed a large practice in London, being especially consulted by persons whose health had suffered from residence in hot climates. Besides editing the Medico- Chirurgical Revieio, his treatises on Influ- ence of Tropical Climates, Economy of Health, and Indigestion have enjoyed con- siderable reputation. He died at Brighton 9th October 1845. The Annual Register, in recording his death, remarks: "The doctor was a lively as well as philosophical writer, and his books of travels are an amusing melange of gossiping anecdote, shrewd observation, and professional dis- sertation." '* 39

Johnson, Sir WiUiam, Bart., Gene- ral, one of the early settlers of New York State, was born in the County of Down in 1 715, the younger son of a gentleman of good family. In 1 738 he went to America to manage the property of his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, established himself in the Mohawk Valley, about twenty-four miles from Schenectady, New York, and embarked in trade with the Indians, whom he always treated with perfect honesty and justice. Drake says that, " by acquainting himself with their language, and accommodating himself to their manners and dress, by his easy, dig- nified, and affable manner, he won their confidence, acquired over them an influ- ence greater than was ever possessed by any other white man, and was adopted by the Mohawks as one of their tribe, and chosen sachem." During the French war of 1 743-'48 he acted as sole superin- tendent of the Indians. In 1750 he was returned a member of the Provincial Coun- cil. We are told that three years after- wards he severed his connexion with In- dian affairs ; yet in 1 754 we find him atten- ding a grand council with them, and in 1 755

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Braddock made him sole superintendent of the Six Nations. The same year he acted as Commander-in-chief of the expedition against Crown Point. On 8th September 1755 Johnson defeated Baron Dieskau at Lake George, was wounded in the hip, and received the thanks of Pai-liament, £5,000, and a baronetcy. In 1756 George II. confided to him a permanent care over the Indians, with a salary of £600. He was engaged with his Indians in the abortive attempts to relieve Oswego and Fort Wil- liam Henry, and was present at the repulse of Abercrombie at Ticonderoga in 1758. Second in Prideaux's expedition against Fort Niagara in 1759, he took the supreme command upon that leader's death. He continued the siege with vigour, cut to pieces the French army sent to its relief, and compelled the garrison to surrender at discretion. With his Indian allies, he took part in Amherst's expedition of 1 760, which ended in the surrender of Canada to the British. For his services he received a tract of 100,000 acres north of the Mohawk — long kBOwn as Kingsland, or the " Eoyal Grant." There he fostered agriculture, lived in baronial style, and exercised the most unbounded hospitality. By his wife, who died young, he had a son, John, knighted in 1765, and two daughters, who married military officers ; and by a sister of the great Mohawk sachem Brant, with whom he lived happily the rest of his life, he had eight children. Sir William was the author of a paper on The Customs, Manners, and Language of the Indians, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1772. He died near Johnstown, Fulton County, New York, 1 ith July 1 774, aged about 59. 37- Johnstone, Charles, author of Chry- sal or the Adventures of a Guinea, was bom at Carrigogunnel, County of Lime- rick, about 17 19. He was called to the Bar, but deafness prevented him from practising otherwise than as a chamber counsel. His Chrysal attracted much at- tention at the time, revealing as it did the secret springs of some current politics, and exposing the profligacy of several men of rank. Amongst other works he wrote the Reverie. In 1 782 he sailed for India, where he became the proprietor of a news- paper, and having acquired considerable property, died in Calcutta about 1800. 37 349

Johnstone, John Henry, actor and vocalist, was born in 1 750, in Tipperary, where his father was a farmer. When eighteen years of age he enlisted in a dragoon regiment, where his abilities at- tracted the attention of the colonel, who bought him out and placed him in a 267