Robert Ward Johnson (July 22, 1814 – July 26, 1879) was an American planter and lawyer who served as the senior Confederate States senator for Arkansas, a seat that he was elected to in 1861. He previously served as a delegate from Arkansas to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862.
Early life and education
thumb|left|upright|Portrait of Robert Ward Johnson in his younger years
Robert Ward Johnson was born on July 22, 1814, in Scott County, Kentucky, to Benjamin and Matilda ( Williams) Johnson. His father had three brothers who were elected as U.S. Congressmen and the family was politically prominent in the state. His grandfather had acquired thousands of acres of land in the area at the end of the eighteenth century. The family were slaveholders. His siblings included a sister Juliette. His paternal uncles were Richard Johnson, a United States Representative and Senator, and vice president of the United States under Martin Van Buren; and his brothers James Johnson and John Telemachus Johnson, older and younger, respectively, who were each elected as U.S. Representatives from Kentucky.
In 1821 when Johnson was seven, his parents moved the family to Arkansas Territory, where his father had been appointed as Superior Judge.
At times, 200–300 boys attended the academy. The Choctaw students were at the school in the period prior to the Indian Removal in the 1830s of the "Five Civilized Tribes", but they were under pressure in the Southeast from encroaching settlers. His uncle kept the school going into the late 1830s, after some peoples had been forcibly relocated to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.