Johnston

Andrew Johnston was from a well known Richmond, Virginia, family and was educated in the best schools of his day, graduating from the University of Virginia. He arrived in Quincy in 1837. He served as one of the first editors of the Quincy Whig newspaper and was instrumental in establishing Quincy’s first library. He was an accomplished lawyer and partner of Archibald Williams, a local lawyer. Johnston was an active member of the community and served as city treasurer and city attorney. He was known as “a man highly educated not only in law but in all departments of literature.”

Johnston became acquainted with Lincoln, then a member of the Illinois legislature and a fellow Whig, when Johnston served as assistant clerk of the House of Representatives. In 1839 Lincoln voted for Johnston as the Whig Party candidate for clerk of the General Assembly. Lincoln and Johnston later became more closely associated through the medium of poetry.

Quincy Friends

Andrew Johnston

George Pickett’s passion to enter West Point brought him to Quincy, because of the extremely competitive nature of receiving appointments in Virginia. He enlisted his Uncle Andrew Johnston for Johnston’s two political connections. Johnston had professional ties with Lincoln, and he was an active contributor to John Todd Stuart’s electoral victories. In 1841 Johnston wrote Stuart to remind him of Pickett’s desire for nomination. Although there is no record of the response, Stuart apparently had no other candidate in mind and Pickett was admitted to West Point. One might infer that Lincoln had some influence in the appointment of the man who is remembered for Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg.

Johnston received several letters from Lincoln from 1846 to 1847. “Friend Johnston,” as Lincoln regularly addressed him, had acted as a literary advisor for others. In April 1846 Lincoln wrote to Johnston and shared with him a poem, inspired by his visit in 1844 to Perry County, Indiana, the home of his boyhood. Johnston obtained permission from Lincoln to publish “My Childhood Home I See Again,” which appeared May 5,1847, in the Quincy Whig. Lincoln again sent Johnston a sample of his poetry on February 25, 1847. “The Bear Hunt” was later published in the Richmond Evening News.

Johnston left Quincy in the early 1850s and returned to Richmond, Virginia.
– Ann Busse

City of Quincy Lincoln Bicentennial Commission 706 Maine Quincy, Illinois 62301