James S. Johnson's great-
grandfather, George Washington, was born in Virginia in 1840 and given as a wedding gift by slave-master, Daniel Jones Sr., to his daughter, Margaret A. Jones, who along with her husband migrated to Platte County, Missouri. When Margaret's husband died, she married Jesse Miller in 1848. By law, George Washington then became the property of Margarent's new husband. In Winter/Spring of 1862 George Washington escaped by way of Parkville, Missouri, across the Missouri River, into the abolitionist township of Quindaro. There he found temporary sanctuary from slave bounty-hunters. He made his way to Leavenworth, and in August 1862 enlisted in the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Regiment under the command of Colonel James M. Williams.

In October 1862, George Washington distinguished himself when the First Kansas Colored drove off 500 confederate troops near Butler, Missouri. This was the first time in the war that black troops had been in combat! Again at the battle of Cabin Creek, George Washington's Volunteer Regiment would become the first action in which white and colored troops were combined in a battle against confederate forces. They also fought at the battle of Honey Springs. The Regiment fought their way across Arkansas and Oklahoma seeing more combat than any other black regiment in the Civil War. After they were nearly decimated in the battle of Poison Springs, the battle cry for black soldiers in the West became "Remember Poison Springs!" The First Kansas Colored was officially mustered out in October of 1865.

George Washington married Arminda Simpson in 1868 and settled in Bloomington/Clinton area of Douglas County, Kansas where they had 7 children. Washington died in 1931. George Washington is pictured above with his family.

Johnson, James S. III. "The Life and Times of George Washington: Slave, Soldier, Famer." in             Richard Sheridan, Editor and Compiler. Freedom's Crucible: The Underground Railroad             in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, 1854-1865: A Reader. 1998 (Lawrence,             Division of Continuing Education, University of Kansas).

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