Johnston, Henry Phelps, 1842-1923

Henry Phelps Johnston was born in Turkey and received a B.A. from Yale College in 1862. During the Civil War he served with the 15th Connecticut Volunteers and the Signal Corps. From 1879 to 1916 he taught history at the College of the City of New York. Johnston died in Middletown, Connecticut on February 28, 1923.

Henry Phelps Johnston was born in Turkey and received a B.A. from Yale College in 1862. During the Civil War he served with the 15th Connecticut Volunteers and the Signal Corps. From 1879 to 1916 he taught history at the College of the City of New York. Johnston died in Middletown, Connecticut, on February 28, 1923.

Henry Phelps Johnston, B.A. 1862.

Born April 19, 1842, in Trebizond, Turkey.

Died February 28, 1923, in Middletown, Conn.

Henry Phelps Johnston was born April 19, 1842, at Trebizond, Turkey, where his parents were stationed as missionaries of the American Board. His father, the Rev. Thomas Pinckney Johnston, was the son of William Smiley and Mary Hall Johnston, and a descendant of Robert Johnston, who lived in Iredell County, N.C. After coming to this country from Scotland. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina with the degree of B.A. In 1828. His wife was Marianne Cassandra Howe, daughter of Curtis Howe and Sibble Phelps. She traced her ancestry to John Howe, who came to Swanton, Vt., from London in 1650. The Rev. Thomas Buckingham, who was one of the founders of Yale, was another ancestor of Henry P. Johnston.

The latter received his prepatory training at the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, where his mother then resided. In his Sophomore year at Yale he was awarded a second prize in English composition and a second prize for excellence in declamation. He was the first president of Brothers in Unity in his Senior year.

In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 15th Connecticut Volunteers. He was made an Orderly Sergeant shortly afterwards and was subsequently promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant. He served throughout the Civil War, mainly in Virginia and North Carolina. He was in the battle fo Fredericksburg in 1862 and at the siege of Suffolk in 1863, and took part in Dix's expedition toward Richmond. He was in the battle near Kingston, N.C., in 1865, after which he marched north with Sherman's Army. During the last year of the war he was transferred to the Signal Corps. At the time when he was given his discharge in July, 1865, he was on the staff of Major General William B. Hazen. He attended the Yale School of Law from 1865 to 1867 and then went to New York City, where he practiced independently for a short time after his admission to the bar. Until 1868 he also taught at a school at Washington Heights, New York City. He was then engaged in newspaper work for some years, being connected at various times with the New York sun, the Times, and the Christian Union (now the Outlook), and holding the position of assistant editor fo the New York Observer during 1878-79. During this period he also devoted much time to the study of American history, which led to original investigations and the writing of a number of monographs on historical subjects. In December, 1897, he became instructor in history at the College of the City of New York, with which institution he was actively connected until 1916. He was made head of the department of history in 1883, and held that position until September 1, 1916, when he became professor emeritus. Through his efforts a large and valuable collection of manuscripts, maps, relics, etc., was acquired for the History Museum of the college, of which he was curator from 1902 to 1916. In 1912 a portrait of him was presented to the College by its alumni. Yale conferred the honorary degree of M.A. Upton Professor Johnston in 1889. His monographs on American history include: The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn, Observations on Judge Jones' Loyalist History of the American Revolution, The Yorktown Campaign, Yale in the Revolution, Connecticut in the Revolution, Correspondence and Published Papers of John Jay, The Battle of Harlet Heights, September 16, 1776, The Origin and Development of Popular Government in America, The Storming of Stony Point on the Hudson, and Nathan Hale, 1776 . This last work first appeared in 1901; in 1914 a revised and enlarged edition was published by the Yale University Press. Professor Johnston was associate editor of the Magazine of American History in 1882. He had lectured frequently and delivered many addresses on historical subjects. He was a member of the New York and Connecticut Historical societies and of the Worcester Antiquarian Society.

He died at the Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn., February 28, 1923, from pneumonia. Interment was in Hadlyme, where he had been living since 1917.

He was married October 26, 1871, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Elizabeth Kirtland, daughter of Joseph and Maria (Selden) Holmes, who survives him with three of their four sons, Henry Selden, '96, John Holmes, '99 S., and Donald Kent, '03. Their eldest son, Thomas Pinckney, died in childhood. Professor Johnston was a brother of William C. Johnston, '60, and an uncle of James Walker, '94 S., and Curtis H. Walker, '99.

- Yale University Obituary Record, No.22, 1923, pp. 627-29