[1][5] Charles and his brother Robert also managed their father's business affairs and real estate when Andrew Johnson was away from Tennessee.

[7] But that same year, he also visited Charleston, South Carolina, for the 1860 Democratic National Convention and had "gotten on a spree" that had troubled the family,[1] meaning that he had been drunk for the duration to the point that his brother had a hard time even getting him out of the city.

[8] In January 1861, as the nation was collapsing into civil war, Andrew Johnson's son Robert reported that Charles had gone on another "spree.

[1] According to the National Park Service, at some point early in the war Charles Johnson took the Confederate oath of allegiance, "apparently in an unsuccessful attempt to preserve family property.

[15][16] Another account said he was on duty at camp in the suburbs of Nashville when the horse he was riding "became restive" and then reared and fell on top of him, which caused the fatal injuries, and that he lingered for a "few hours.

He had gone but a short distance when the high-mettled creature reared upon his hind feet suddenly; the young man was thrown backward, and falling upon the frozen earth was instantly killed.

"[17]An account published in 1891 stated, "Of the three bright, promising sons born to [Andrew Johnson] all died victims of the same enemy that carried the illustrious father away—the bottle.

"[18] According to Paul Bergeron, a University of Tennessee historian and the last of three major editors of The Papers of Andrew Johnson, "Charles...had been cursed for many years with a serious drinking problem.