General Adam R. Johnson

Before the stovepipe raid, Johnson was among the few of the Fort Donelson garrison who escaped capture. The wound that blinded him came on August 21, 1864, in a predawn attack on a federal camp at Grubbs Crossroads in Caldwell County, Kentucky, when his own men shot him by accident. He was held at Fort Warren until the war ended. When he died in 1922 his funeral was held in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol, and he was buried in the State Cemetery. His 1904 memoir is counted among the Texas Basic Books.

What the plaque says

General Adam R. Johnson Home County of Texas Confederate Joined C. S. Army 1861. Cavalry scout with Gen. Nathan B. Forest 1861-62. Commanded Partisan Rangers 1862-64 executing daring exploits behind enemy lines in Kentucky area. Took Newburgh, Indiana with 12 men and stovepipe "cannon". Promoted brigadier general June 1864. Escaped from Federal trap on Buffington's Island by swimming Ohio River with some of command. Blinded by gunshot wound and captured August 1864. Exchanged spring 1865. A memorial to Texas who served the Confederacy; erected by the State of Texas 1963. (1834-1922) Born Kentucky. Came to Burnet County, Texas, 1854. Overland Mail stage driver, surveyor, noted frontier Indian fighter. Although totally blind for life as result of war wounds he became prominent postwar Texas citizen. Founded Texas Mining Improvement Company, contracted for Overland Mail service, promoted development of water power on Colorado River. Founded the town of Marble Falls. During the bloodless Coke-Davis Controversy of 1874 marking the end of Davis' radical reconstruction rule Johnson went to the Capitol and posted himself atop the stairs with his old army six-shooter to fire down into the basement at the Davis forces if necessary, but Coke gained the governor's office without armed conflict. (1963)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Inks Lake State Park — 8.5 mi
  A state park on a constant-level lake of the Colorado, between Buchanan and Inks dams, with pink granite and gneiss at the water and CCC work along Park Road 4.
• Longhorn Cavern State Park — 8.9 mi
  A cave carved by an underground river in the Hill Country, cleared of mud by hand in the 1930s and reached down 52 stone steps on a guided tour.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 9.6 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.
• Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge: Doeskin Ranch — 13 mi
  A free federal refuge north of Lake Travis kept for two songbirds that need old juniper and oak, with trails at the Doeskin Ranch unit near Bertram.

More markers nearby

• Burnet County — steps away
• The Badger Building — steps away
• The Burnet Bulletin — steps away
• Red Brick School — 0.3 mi