In the late 1850s, Johnson settled with his brother Jesse Thomas Johnson, better known as Tom Johnson, in a one-room log cabin on 320 acres that became headquarters for the largest cattle driving operation in seven counties. Sam enlisted in Company B, 26th Texas Cavalry Regiment on September 18, 1861, and served until the end of the
American Civil War on the coast of Texas and in Louisiana. Johnson participated in the
Battle of Galveston and the
Red River Campaign in Louisiana. After the war, he married Eliza Bunton of Caldwell County on December 11, 1867. In the fall of 1892, Johnson was the
Populist nominee for
Blanco and
Gillespie counties to the
Texas House of Representatives. He died in Texas of pneumonia in early 1915. ==Notes==