Francis White Johnson (October 3, 1799 – April 8, 1884) was a leader of the Texian Army from December 1835 through February 1836, during the Texas Revolution.

During the early part of the Texas Revolution, Johnson served as the adjutant and inspector general of the Texian Army.

Instead, he lived in various places in Illinois and Missouri, supporting himself by teaching, serving as constable, or working in a lead mine.

When another empresario, Haden Edwards, showed signs of revolting against the Mexican government, Austin asked Johnson and two other men to try to prevent a disturbance.

He joined a group of citizens protesting military commander Juan Davis Bradburn's arrest of William Barret Travis and Patrick Jack.

[4] After negotiation with Mexican officers, Johnson agreed to release his prisoners and withdraw from the town; Travis and Jack would then be freed.

In this document, they declared themselves federalists who supported rebellious Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

[10] Shortly after the conflict was resolved, Johnson was elected to the Convention of 1832 as a delegate from San Felipe de Austin, and became the chairman of the Central Standing Committee.

In the summer of 1835, Mexican general Martin Perfecto de Cos issued warrants for the arrest of Johnson and five other men, all accused of land speculation or attacking Anahuac.

This, combined with news that Cos was leading a large military force to Texas, convinced many colonists to embrace the idea of revolt.

[11] When the Texas Revolution began in October 1835, Johnson was named the adjutant and inspector general of the volunteer forces, which were led by Austin.

[14] This news boosted the spirits of the Texians, and Ben Milam challenged the men to join him in an assault on the town.

[16] Early on the morning of December 5, Colonel James C. Neill created a distraction by ordering the artillery to fire on the walls of the Alamo Mission.

[17] For the rest of the day, Johnson and his men worked to fortify the Veramendi home, digging trenches and creating earthworks around the yard.

The Mexican soldiers were set free on the condition that they return to Mexico within six days and not take up arms against the Texians again.

[22] With Cos's departure, there was no longer an organized garrison of Mexican troops in Texas,[23] and many of the Texians believed that the war was over.

[25] During this time, the provisional government had created a new regular branch of the Texian Army and placed Sam Houston in charge.

[26] In the relative quiet after the Mexican garrison left, Dr. James Grant began advocating an attack on Matamoros.

The clothing sent here by the aid and patriotic exertions of the honorable Council, was taken from us by arbitrary measures of Johnson and Grant, taken from men who endured all the hardships of winter and who were not even sufficiently clad for summer, many of them having but one blanket and one shirt, and what was intended for them given away to men some of whom had not been in the army more than four days, and many not exceeding two weeks.

"[28]The Texan provisional governor, Henry Smith, strongly opposed the Matamoros expedition and loudly proclaimed that anyone who supported it was a traitor or an idiot.

[29] On January 10, Johnson issued a call to form a Federal Volunteer Army of Texas which would march on Matamoros.

Once there, he gave a speech and pointedly asked how this small group of men planned to take a city of 12,000 people.

Later that day, Houston received official word that he had been fired and that the council had now placed James Fannin in charge of the army.

Others decided to follow the "new" leader of the Texian Army and joined Fannin at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad.

While Grant was gone, Mexican General Jose de Urrea led a surprise attack on San Patricio in the early hours of the morning of February 27.

[33] The war ended in April, after Texians defeated General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto.

For the next several years, he wandered the United States, digging for buried treasure or precious metals and trying to sell lands in Texas.

For the remainder of his life, Johnson lived as a virtual recluse and spent most of his time researching Texas history.

[1] In 1912, historian Eugene C. Barker collected Johnson's manuscripts and edited them into a book, A History of Texas and Texans.