Robert Daniel Johnston was a North Carolinian attorney at the start of the Civil War and an officer in his state’s militia. He was appointed Captain of the 23rd North Carolina State Troops and in April of 1862 he was already advanced to lieutenant colonel.
By 1863 he had been wounded in three separate battles, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness, and was promoted to Brigadier General. By the time Grant laid siege at Petersburg, Johnston was on a detachment tasked with capturing deserters.
After the war, he returned to his legal practice for a time then moved to Alabama where he became a banker. Passing February 1 in 1919, Johnston was buried at Stonewall Confederate Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia.
He is one of four Confederate generals and more than 3,000 soldiers of the Confederacy buried in the military graveyard located within the grounds of the much larger Mount Hebron Cemetery.
Also to note, he is the father of Gordon Johnston.
