A lawyer-turned-farmer from Scott County, Kentucky, Johnson, a supporter of slavery who owned 26 slaves, favored secession as a means of preventing the Civil War, believing the Union and Confederacy would be forces of equal strength, each too wary to attack the other.

[1] As political sentiment in the Commonwealth took a decidedly Union turn following the elections of 1861, Johnson was instrumental in organizing a sovereignty convention in Russellville, Kentucky, with the intent of "severing forever our connection with the Federal Government.

Despite his meager political experience—having previously served only three years in the Kentucky House of Representatives—Johnson labored vehemently to ensure the success of the shadow government.

[8] In August 1845, Johnson headed the Committee of Sixty that seized abolitionist Cassius M. Clay's printing press and shipped it to Cincinnati, Ohio.

[9] Although he supported John C. Breckinridge for president in 1860, he did not feel that Abraham Lincoln's election justified secession, since Republicans controlled neither Congress nor the Supreme Court.

[9] Instead, he began to advocate that Kentucky join the Confederacy, believing that the Union and Confederate nations would be too evenly matched to consider war and would negotiate a free trade agreement that would benefit both.

[10] The delegates elected Richard Hawes as chair, called for a restoration of Kentucky's neutrality in the war, and condemned the Federal government for its "invasion.

[9][11] From Virginia, Johnson traveled through Tennessee to Bowling Green where, despite his age (49) and a crippled arm, he volunteered as an aid to General Simon B.

[9] Though Davis had some reservation about the circumvention of the elected General Assembly in forming the Confederate government, he concluded that Johnson's request had merit.

[15] It was Johnson's practice to avoid interference with military decisions, however he supported Morgan's request for two light artillery pieces that became hallmarks of his command.

It is unclear how much military influence Johnson wielded in his position as governor, though he enjoyed a cordial relationship with most of the Confederate generals.

[16] When General Albert Sydney Johnston was forced to withdraw his troops from Bowling Green in February 1862, the Confederate state government moved with his army to Tennessee.

[5] After his horse was killed out from under him, Johnson fought on foot with Company E of the Fourth Kentucky Infantry Regiment, and insisted on being sworn in as a private.

[9] Friends in the Union army, including General John M. Harlan, packed Johnson's body in salt and shipped it to Louisville, then on to Georgetown for burial.