[1] He has painted many portraits of well-known people, specifically one of Franklin Pierce and one of Andrew Jackson in 1863.

[6][7] Johnston toured with this panorama to Louisville and Philadelphia and would deliver speeches on biblical topics along with its showing.

[7] Johnston moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1856 and worked as both a portrait artist and a photographic colorist.

[9] In 1858 he was selected to take a "scenic excursion" over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company's newly opened Baltimore-to-Wheeling track which formed the basis for many of his later landscapes.

[7] However, he wound up in military prison, supposedly because of practical joking, left for Europe upon his release and created a panorama of his trip upon his return.