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Half plate sized photograph tintype of Georgia Confederate Officer Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson, 19th Ga. Infantry, killed in action at Mechanicsville, Virginia, 1862, together with his posthumous Southern Cross of Honor. Johnson is pictured three quarter length, standing, with one hand holding his hat atop a table, and gripping his sword in the other. Embossed gilt metal mat with oval opening, in an embossed leather partial union case. Sight: 4 1/2 in. H x 3 1/2 in. W. Frame: 6 in. H x 4 3/4 in. W. The Southern Cross is engraved with Johnson’s name and unit and measures 2 in. x 1 1/3 in. Also included with this lot is Johnson’s copy of the book “The Life of William Penn,” 1836, by M.L. Weems, in which Thomas Coke Johnson’s name, likely his signature, appears four times. (Note: Johnson’s mother was Ann Frances Penn, daughter of Francis Taliaferro Penn). Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson was born 1835 in Oglethorpe County, GA and by the 1840 census was living with his father John Hutchins Johnson, mother, and four brothers in Coweta, GA (his mother died in 1845 after giving birth to his fifth brother). Thomas, or T.C. as he was known, attended the Emory and Georgia Military Institute. He married Ella J. Wiggins in 1856 in Griffin, GA and they had two sons (Thomas Coke Johnson Jr. and Lee Clifford Johnson) before Thomas enlisted in the Confederate Army. He is believed to have been killed in the Battle of Beaver Dam Creek at Mechanicsville, VA on the first day of the famed Seven Days War and this photograph descended in his family.
PROVENANCE: Living Estate of Sally Johnson Harlan. Note: a photograph of Lt. Col. Johnson along with members of his family in 1862 is also for sale in this auction (lot 537) along with plantation journal from his family (lot 538), a portrait of his father (lot 1116, Day 2 of this auction) and other items.
CONDITION: Union case is worn with left half missing, but the image itself is in excellent condition; some specks trapped under the glass. Image has not been examined out of frame.
