Follett Johnson

Follett Johnson was born on April 20, 1843, in Brasher, St. Lawrence County, New York. He grew up in northern New York during a period when the United States was moving steadily toward the political and sectional crisis that would eventually become the American Civil War. When the conflict began, Johnson entered Union military service and became associated with the 60th New York Infantry, a volunteer infantry regiment raised largely in northern New York. His military record places him in Company H, and during the period in which he performed the act that would define his military legacy, he held the rank of Corporal in the United States Army. The 60th New York Infantry was organized at Ogdensburg in 1861 and developed an extensive combat record during the Civil War. Its service carried the regiment through several major campaigns and battlefields. During the earlier years of the war the regiment served in operations connected with the Shenandoah Valley and later fought at Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. It was subsequently transferred westward, where it participated in fighting around Chattanooga, including the operations associated with Lookout Mountain and Ringgold. By 1864 the regiment had become part of the Army of the Cumberland and entered the Atlanta Campaign, one of the major Union offensives of the final phase of the war. Johnson's defining action occurred during that campaign at New Hope Church, Georgia, on May 27, 1864. The fighting around New Hope Church developed as Union and Confederate armies maneuvered through difficult terrain during Major General William T. Sherman's advance toward Atlanta. Dense woodland, limited visibility and strongly defended Confederate positions made the fighting particularly dangerous for infantrymen. Sharpshooters presented an additional threat because they could target exposed Union soldiers and officers from concealed positions. During the action, a Confederate sharpshooter was firing effectively against the Union position. Johnson, then serving as a Corporal in Company H of the 60th New York Infantry, deliberately exposed himself to the enemy marksman's fire. His purpose was not simply to return fire or advance against the position. By making himself visible, Johnson drew the sharpshooter's attention and fire toward himself. This created the opportunity his comrade needed to identify and shoot the Confederate sharpshooter. The action required Johnson to knowingly place himself in immediate danger. Instead of remaining under whatever protection the terrain provided, he became the target. A trained or experienced sharpshooter represented a serious battlefield danger, and Johnson could not know whether the next shot would strike him. His conduct therefore represented a deliberate act of personal risk undertaken to help another soldier eliminate a threat to his comrades. This act became the basis for Johnson's Medal of Honor. His official recognition identifies him as Corporal Follett Johnson, Company H, 60th New York Infantry, United States Army, and records the action at New Hope Church on May 27, 1864. His rank at the heroic action was Corporal, and Corporal is also the highest rank that can presently be supported for his profile from the authoritative Medal of Honor record. There is no verified evidence requiring a later higher rank to replace it in the database. Johnson did not receive the Medal of Honor immediately after the battle. His deed occurred in 1864, but the decoration was not issued to him until April 6, 1892, almost twenty-eight years later. This long interval is important when representing his award historically. Many Civil War acts of gallantry were formally recognized years or even decades after the events themselves as wartime records, recommendations and veterans' cases were reviewed. The Medal of Honor had its origins during the Civil War. Congress authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862, establishing a national decoration through which extraordinary military conduct by soldiers could be recognized. Johnson's act therefore occurred during the earliest period of the decoration's existence, although his own medal was not presented until 1892. He received the award during his lifetime and was not a posthumous recipient. For the project database, Johnson's Medal of Honor is represented as Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1892. The date range identifies the appropriate historical Army Medal of Honor period applicable to the medal when it was issued, while 1892 records Johnson's actual year of award. It does not change the date of his heroic action, which remains May 27, 1864. No additional star, clasp, bar, oak leaf cluster or other device has been verified for Johnson's Medal of Honor, so the decoration should remain plain. Although Johnson unquestionably performed Civil War service, a separate Civil War Campaign Medal has not been added to his verified medal record. The later campaign medal recognized qualifying Civil War service, but qualifying service by itself is not sufficient under the project's evidence standard. Recipient-specific evidence must demonstrate that the individual was actually entitled to or issued the medal. No sufficiently strong individual evidence has been established for Johnson, so the Civil War Campaign Medal remains outside his published ribbon rack rather than being added by assumption. Johnson's military service continued as part of a regiment with an important combat history. The 60th New York Infantry participated in the Atlanta Campaign after New Hope Church and later took part in Sherman's operations through Georgia and the Carolinas. The regiment eventually reached the final phase of the war and returned north after the collapse of the Confederacy. Johnson's personal Medal of Honor recognition, however, remains specifically tied to the single extraordinary infantry action at New Hope Church rather than to the regiment's broader list of campaigns. After the Civil War, Johnson returned to civilian life in northern New York. Local historical records associate his postwar years with farming and later with Massena. He married Hannah Wait on January 4, 1871, and the couple had a son, Horace Follett Johnson. By the 1890s Johnson and his family were living in the Massena area, where he continued agricultural work and also served his community as a deputy sheriff. His postwar life therefore extended beyond his identity as a veteran and Medal of Honor recipient and included both family life and local public responsibility. The presentation of the Medal of Honor on April 6, 1892 brought national recognition to an act Johnson had performed as a young Union infantryman nearly three decades earlier. By that time the Civil War had passed into national memory, and surviving veterans were increasingly being recognized for individual acts whose significance had endured long after the fighting ended. Johnson's award permanently connected his name with the 60th New York Infantry and the Battle of New Hope Church. Follett Johnson died on March 9, 1909, in Massena, New York. He was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Massena. He had survived the Civil War by more than four decades and lived long enough to receive the nation's highest military decoration personally. His grave and his Medal of Honor record preserve the memory of a northern New York soldier whose most celebrated act lasted only a brief moment on the battlefield but carried consequences that were remembered for the rest of his life. Johnson's military legacy is fundamentally that of an infantry soldier engaged in ground combat. He was not recognized for senior command, strategic planning or a long list of decorations. His distinction came from an individual decision under enemy fire. Faced with a dangerous Confederate sharpshooter, he intentionally made himself the target so that another Union soldier could engage the enemy marksman. That willingness to expose himself for the protection and effectiveness of his comrades became the defining act of his service. His verified award record therefore remains deliberately concise: Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army — 1892, with no verified device or clasp. His historical branch is the United States Army, his verified rank is Corporal, his unit is Company H, 60th New York Infantry, and his combat specialty is appropriately classified as Infantry. Follett Johnson is remembered as a Civil War Union soldier and Medal of Honor recipient whose courage at New Hope Church on May 27, 1864 demonstrated the personal risk and battlefield responsibility carried by ordinary infantrymen during some of the most difficult fighting of the American Civil War.