Sergeant William Johnson is Hanged for Desertion and an Attempt to Outrage the Person of

a Young Lady at the New-Kent Courthouse; Petersburg, Virginia, June 20, 1864

On June 20, 1864, William Johnson, a black Sergeant in the Union Army, was hanged by
the neck for desertion and insulting a white woman in Petersburg, Virginia. The gallows
were erected in plain view of Confederate soldiers who were preparing to defend
Richmond from a Union invasion. The distance from the gallows, along with the white
wrap placed on Johnson’s head prevented Confederate troops from knowing his true
identity. Thinking the Union was hanging a Confederate spy to “serve as an example,”
the Confederate unit unleashed a bombardment of artillery shells, wounding several
Union soldiers and killing Sgt. Maj. G.F. Polley, the Union unit’s commander. After the
bombardment, a Union Private carried a flag of truce to the center of the battlefield and
announced that the man being hanged was not a Confederate spy, but the black deserter,
Johnson. As Richmond burned, black soldiers from the Confederate army were marched
past the rotting corpse of William Johnson as a method to dissuade them from deserting
their Units and fleeing to the North.
J.A.P.

I. They Call Him a Negro. A Man

This will end up an advantage for the Confederates,

but not a Union soul paid attention.
They are stationed along the front lines,
Petersburg, Virginia.
Dustbowl. Rickety gallows. Temporary.

He was a sergeant. Co. E, Seventh Connecticut Volunteers

and his letters number twenty-eight.

“I am optimistic. There doesn’t seem to be any doubt

as to the final outcome of the pending engagement.”

He discussed the health of the troops.

The store of the army.
Gave business advice.
Love for his daughters.

He was the suggestion of a fighting man, pen

in hand, the mighty weapon. His single resolve:
Tell the story. Tell the story.

July 27, 1862: “Red pepper is one of the best things in this climate
that a man can use as it tends to keep off fever.”

He will not write of his own misfortunes.

Not of specific deaths he caused or witnessed.
Not the Diarrhea Blue Pills,
musket backfires,
or bayonet charges.
He is but a man. They called him a negro. A man.

II. The execution left something to be desired.

And yet there he hangs

for the world and Richmond to see.

While on the run from the Connecticut Volunteers,

he disgraced a woman.
A white woman.
At least that’s what they said.

Quite a bleak view, being a negro

in Virginia,
no matter your coat color.
The real coat color is underneath.

The Union doesn’t believe in volunteering,

and so they strung him up,
gave his neck a tug,
but no prayer, no reassurance
that his body would reach his family.
No promise that his daughters would touch
his face again.

He was no southern spy.

Just a negro.
A coward, company-deserting,
raping negro.

Or so they said.

III. A Confederate Soldier Witnesses the Hanging

They’re stringin’ up a spy

along their front lines. All
nine of them catching shade
beneath a dogwood while
he swings. They’re making

an example of him.
So much for habeas corpus.
So much for the glory
of the Union.

This war can’t be brother

against brother. A brother
would never hang his kin.
And although that face

is at a distance, covered, their

company is militant,
not willing to have a heart
and carry him in chains a bit.

IV. A Case of Mistaken Identity

In the south they know what the gallows do.

They know what the gallows mean.

And so while the Union company erects

the wooden structure in brazen view

of Confederate lines, a Confederate captain

is offended. Know of Richmond’s falling.

Orders an artillery bombardment. Made

the Union company their target audience.

Assumed the gallows were for a spy. Showed

little restraint. True valor. They were southern

gentlemen. Better to throw artillery at the Union

than let it fall out of Confederate hands.

Better to lob clods of dirt at a train

than remain silent. Let the North hang

what the South assumed was a southern man.

And so one artillery shell strikes Sgt. Maj. G.F. Polley,

Union leader, barking orders. Tore him to pieces,

set the very earth around him ablaze,

stained the gallows red. So a tattered

blue cloth that was his jacket sticks

to the boot of a private marching, front-line-bound

with a flag of truce, waving with a proclamation

that this man was no southern man—this was only

a negro, hanged for desertion and insulting a white woman.

And so the ‘feds ceased fire. Set camp. Set chairs.

Grounded muskets. Spit snuff. Saw him hanged.

They hail: “what a sight!” Yankees hanging

a negro. But this was a bad example.

V. The Confederate Company Marches Their Slave-Soldiers Past Johnson’s Body

They’re a Southern regiment, a battalion of men

of color, and men of no color. Marching by.
So for the Union this hanging

was altogether unsatisfactory. The rebels, who squabbled

and drove home the problem of desertion, used this.

The punishment.

“Those darkies love to flee, sure as they’re born.”

And when the lines broke and the Union

turned to Richmond, William Johnson was left
to rot in the June sun. Wind howling.
A pendulum of Northern resolve, feet barely

dangling above the ground.

The ‘feds marched their black slave-soldiers

past the gallows, past the pendulum
as Richmond burned.

“Yankees hang all their ‘contrabands.’”

And so for weeks the nocturnal escapes

of black soldiers, grown so common,
ceased.
VI. He Anticipated Victory

His final letter mentioned

a bombardment of Charleston,
like a thousand Fourth of Julys
each day and night.

His final letter anticipated victory,

him home, daughters in his arms.

But when he was hanged, the creak

of splintered wood kept the tempo
of a hundred black rebel soldiers.

They made an example of him,

but it was not the example for which they planned.

Over the horizon, Richmond burned,

but he hung, his own burn
from the rope.
Choking.
And his own burn from the rebel negros’ eyes.
 Bibliography

“1864: William Johnson, A Bad Example.” Executed Today.com. 20 May 2010.

“Petersburg, Virginia (vicinity). Hanged body of William Johnson, a Negro soldier.” Library
of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. American Memory, 1864. 20 May 2010.

“Petersburg, Va., vicinity. The execution of William Johnson, Jordan's farm.” Library of
Congress Prints and Photographs Division. American Memory, 1864. 22 May 2010.

“The Fall of Richmond, Virginia.” Civil War Preservation Trust. <http://www.civilwar.org>.

22 May 2010.

“William H. Johnson Civil War Letters.” University of South Carolina Library.

<http://www.sc.edu/library/socar/uscs/1995/whjohn95.html> 20 May 2010.