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 November 11, 2025 Kentucky Historical Society George W. Johnson Papers KYR-0003-092-0083 Folder 3

Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky Silas F. Miller (Galt House. "Captain") N00008204 1822-01-20 1902-02-02 Categories: People

Louisville, Kentucky, steamboat captain, merchant, and hotel keeper. Louisville, Kentucky, native. Married to Margaret Telon Miller. Father of Lillie Miller, Mary Miller, and Jennie Miller. Steamboat captain on the Ohio River and Mississippi River between Louisville, Kentucky, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Owned the Robert J. Ward in partnership with Phillip King and George King. Merchant in Louisville in 1858. Proprietor of the Galt House hotel in Louisville from the 1859 to 1864. Proprietor of the Burnet House in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1865.

Relationships Economic: Willa Viley Johnson (Scott Co, KY farmer & soldier (CSA) Son of G W Johnson and Ann E Viley Johnson) Economic: The Galt House

Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville, Ward 3, p. 691. Ninth Manuscript Census of the United States (1870), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville, Ward 6, p. 586B. "End Comes. Capt. Silas Miller Dies After Three Weeks' Illness," Louisville Courier-Journal, (Louisville, Kentucky), February 3, 1902, p. 1. "Ferguson, Mary Johnson," Kentucky Death Certificates, 1911-1965, Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics, KDLA, Frankfort, KY, File 697. Louisville City Directory & Business Mirror for 1858-9," (Louisville, 1858), 123. "Wanted to Hire," _Louisville Daily Journal, (Louisville, Kentucky), December 23, 1859, p. 2. Williams' Cincinnati Directory, 1865 (Cincinnati: Williams & Co., 1865), 292. George Washington Johnson (Provisional Governor of Kentucky) N001002 1811-05-27 1862-04-08 Categories: People

First governor of the provisional Confederate government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Georgetown, Kentucky, native. Son of William Johnson and Betsy Payne Johnson. Married to Ann Viley Johnson on August 20, 1833. Father of Eliza Woolfolk Johnson, Willa Viley Johnson, Madison Conyers Johnson, Martha Lydia Johnson, Junius Ward Johnson, Warren Viley Johnson, Henry Viley Johnson, and Euclid Lane Johnson. Educated at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Practiced law in Georgetown, Kentucky. Planter in Scott County, Kentucky, and Helena, Arkansas. Member of the Democratic Party. Member of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from Scott County from 1838 to 1840. Owned fourteen enslaved persons in Scott County in 1850. Owned twenty-six enslaved persons in Scott County in 1860. Member of the Southern Rights Party. First provisional Confederate governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from November 20, 1861, to April 8, 1862. Served as an aide to Confederate General John C. Breckinridge. Served in the 4th Kentucky Infantry Regiment (C.S.A.) as a private from April 6, 1862 to April 8, 1862. Died on April 8, 1862 from wounds sustained at the Battle of Shiloh.

Relationships Social: William P. Adcock (Trimble County, Kentucky, farmer)

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Scott County, p. 612. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Scott County, District No. 1, pp. 228A-B. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky: Confederate Kentucky Volunteers War 1861-65, vol. 1 (Frankfort: Legislature of Kentucky, 1915), 168-69. Lowell H. Harrison, "Johnson, George, W." in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, John E. Kleber, ed. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 473. Lowell H. Harrison, “George W. Johnson (1861-1862)” in Lowell H. Harrison, Ed., Kentucky’s Governors (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004), 82-84. Jon L. Wakelyn, Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1971, 255. Willa Viley Johnson (Scott Co, KY farmer & soldier (CSA) Son of G W Johnson and Ann E Viley Johnson) N00008203 1837-03-04 1913-05-05 Categories: People

Scott County, Kentucky, farmer and soldier. Scott County native. Son of George Washington Johnson and Ann Eliza Viley Johnson. Married to Lilly Tilford Johnson in 1860. Resident of Scott County in 1850. Served in the First Kentucky Brigade (C.S.A.) as aide-de-camp to General John C. Breckinridge in April 1862. Served under General George Crosby and General Frank Armstrong until 1865. Promoted to Major in May 1865.

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Scott County, District No. 2, p. 452A. "Maj. W. V. Johnson," Confederate Veteran, vol. XXII (July 1914), 329. Find A Grave, "Maj. Willa Viley Johnson (1837-1913)," Memorial #84679458, http://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84679458/willa-viley-johnson (accessed January 2 2018). [unknown] Smith (Possible Louisville, KY, resident) N00008266 Categories: People

Appears in an a November 1860 letter between Silas F. Miller and George W. Johnson from Louisville, Kentucky.

KYR-0003-092-0083. John Cabell Breckinridge (Senator, former U.S. Vice President, & Confederate General) N001789 1821-01-16 1875-05-17 Categories: People

Kentucky attorney, soldier, and politician. Attended Pisgah Academy and graduated from Centre College in 1838. Attended Princeton University and studied law at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Admitted to the bar in 1838. Practiced law in Lexington. Married to Mary Cyrene Burch Breckinridge. Father of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, Clifton Rodes Breckinridge, Frances Breckinridge Steele, John Milton Breckinridge, John Witherspoon Breckinridge, and Mary Desha Breckinridge Maltby. Served in the 3rd Kentucky Infantry as a major during the Mexican War. Member of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1849. Democratic party member from the Eighth Congressional District of Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855. Vice president of the United States under James Buchanan from 1856 to 1860. Ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States as a Southern Democrat in 1860. Democratic party member of the United States Senate from March 1861 to December 1861. Expelled from the Senate in December 1861. Served in the Confederate Army as a brigadier general and major general from 1861 to 1865. Secretary of war for the Confederate States of America from January 1865 to April 1865. Fled to Cuba after the war and took up residence in Europe.

Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Fayette County, 4th Ward City of Lexington, p. 108. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, s.v. “Breckinridge, John Cabell,” (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000789) (accessed January 10, 2017). Charles Lanman, Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States (Washington: J. M. Morrison, 1887), 55-56. James C. Kotter, The Breckinridges of Kentucky 1760-1981 (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1986), 95-136. “John C. Breckinridge,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.), May 18, 1875. “Breckinridge, John Cabell,” The Kentucky Encyclopedia, ed. John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 117-118. Find A Grave, “John Cabell Breckinridge (1821-1875)," Memorial #132, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132/john-cabell-breckinridge (accessed January 10, 2017). Louisville, Kentucky P00000337 Categories: Places

Seat of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Located on the Ohio River.

38.2527, -85.7585 "Louisville, Kentucky," USGS: Earth Explorer, accessed June 12, 2019, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. Robert M. Rennick, Kentucky Place Names (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1987), 179. Georgetown, Kentucky P001838 Categories: Places

Seat of Scott County, Kentucky.

38.2098, -84.5588 “Georgetown,” in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, ed. John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), p. 371. "Georgetown, Kentucky," USGS: Earth Explorer, accessed August 23, 2019, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. Kentucky P001800 Categories: Places

State in the upper south of the United States. Capital at Frankfort. Located on the Ohio River.

38.2009, -84.8733 "Frankfort, Kentucky," USGS: Earth Explorer, accessed June 14, 2019, https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. The Kentucky Encyclopedia, ed. John E. Kleber (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992). The Galt House O00002784 1834 Categories: Organizations

Hotel located in Louisville, Kentucky. First Galt House building destroyed by fire on January 11, 1865.

George H. Yater, "Galt House" in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, John E. Kleber, ed. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 363. Kay Gill, "Galt House" in The Encyclopedia of Louisville, John E. Kleber, ed. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 327-328. Farmers' Bank of Kentucky at Georgetown O001021 Categories: Organizations

Located at Georgetown, Kentucky. President(s): James F. Robinson. Cashier(s): Fabricius C. McCalla.

J. Smith Homans, ed., The Bankers Magazine and Statistical Register, vol. 10 (New York: J. Smith Homans, 1860), 995. J. Smith Homans, ed., The Bankers Magazine and Statistical Register, vol. 13 (July 1863), 29. Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky 1860-11-12 Correspondence English Version 2 of page "1": Changes to page transcript. Version 1 of page "2": Changes to page transcript. Version 1 of page "1": Changes to page transcript. Version 0 of page "2": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile. Version 0 of page "1": Empty transcript -- probably initial upload of page facsimile.
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GALT HOUSE. Cor. Main & Second Sts., ENLARGED 1859.

LOUISVILLE, KY. SILAS F. MILLER & CO. LESSEES.

Louisville Novr 12'/60 Geo W Johnson Esqr Georgetown Dear Sir

I hold the stakes in a bet between W V Johnson & Smith of $500 each on Breckinridge carrying Ky W V Johnson betting on Breckenridge, Smith the reverse, W V Johnson put up your certified check on Farmers Bank at Georgetown payable to his order, and he has not endorsed it to me you will do me the favour to either remit me another check for like amount and I will remit you the one I now hold, or you can instruct the officers of the Bank, to pay the certified one with my endorsement. Your attention to this will much

oblige Your Friend, Silas F Miller

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Silas F Miller Novr 1860