Johnston, Abraham R.

Born: 1815-05-23 Miami County, Ohio

Died: 1846-12-06 California

Abraham R. Johnston was an American army officer. He spent his early life at the family home in Piqua, Ohio. In July 1830, Johnston, aged fifteen, received appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, graduating in July 1835 twenty-eighth in a class of fifty-six cadets. The War Department assigned Johnston to the First U.S. Dragoons with the rank of brevet second lieutenant. In March 1836, he received promotion to second lieutenant, and he rose to the rank of first lieutenant in June 1837. From 1837 to 1839, he served as acting commissary at Fort Leavenworth. From 1840 to 1846, he engaged in frontier duty at various posts in the Iowa Territory. At the commencement of the Mexican War, Johnston was again serving at Fort Leavenworth. On June 16, 1846, Stephen W. Kearny appointed him regimental adjutant of the First Dragoons. On June 30, the War Department promoted Johnston to captain. In August 1846, Kearny appointed him his aide-de-camp, and Johnston served in that capacity until his death in battle at San Pasqual, California.

George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, 3rd ed. (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1891), 1:611-12; Arthur Woodward, "Lances at San Pasqual," California Historical Society Quarterly 26 (March 1947), 57; Gravestone, Johnston Cemetery, Piqua, OH.