After Mary Lincoln became the most discussed first lady, her successor became one of the most reclusive first ladies in American history. Eliza Johnson was an invalid during her four years in the White House, leading a newspaper at the time to describe her as “almost a myth.”
Each month, I’ll detail the life of the first lady and their legacy. Then I’ll share what I learned while studying them, along with ways you can travel in their footsteps through historical sites and museums. I’ll also share books, podcasts, TV shows, and websites where you can learn even more about that first lady. Read all of the way through the blog post or click on the links below to go straight to those sections.
Life
Childhood
Eliza Johnson was born on October 4, 1810 near Greeneville, Tennessee and was the only child of John and Sarah McCardle. John was a shoemaker who died young. Her mother was left penniless, so it was up to Eliza to help make ends meet by sewing quilts and sandals. Eliza loved reading and learning but had to make do when her education at the local girls’ academy ended after eighth grade.
In 1826, Eliza laid eyes on a newcomer to town and said, “There goes the man I am going to marry.” She was right. Andrew Johnson ended up in Greeneville after a hard childhood that left him running away from his apprenticeship to find a job as a tailor outside of his native North Carolina. He was accompanied by his mother and stepfather as he settled in bucolic Greeneville, falling in love with the fragile, blue-eyed brunette who loved to read newspapers and poetry.
Marriage
Just a year later Eliza and Andrew were married on May 17, 1827, and their ceremony was conducted by none other than a cousin of Abraham Lincoln’s father! Eliza was sixteen and Anderw was nineteen, making Eliza the youngest married first lady. While they built a life together in Andrew’s tailor’s shop, she tried to help her uneducated yet smart husband by reading to him and possibly teaching him how to write.
Over the next eight years, Eliza and Andew would have four children, Charles, Robert, Martha, and Mary. They eventually had five with the addition of Andew Jr. (called Frank) in 1852. Eliza took care of all of the family and business finances and also used her sewing skills at the shop. The shop grew in prosperity, allowing Andrew and Eliza to purchase more properties – and slaves. Unfortunately Eliza’s health faltered as she was consumptive (tuberculosis); this illness would follow her for her entire life.
The tailor shop became a place known for its political debates, so Eliza encouraged Andrew to join a debate society at the local college where he excelled. He caught the attention of the local Greeneville politicians and soon was drawn into politics, becoming mayor, state representative, and congressman over the next twenty years. While he was out politicking, Eliza kept the house and business running with the assistance of their enslaved workers. Andrew was a typical Jacksonian Democrat – devoted to the working man – and was not at all religious, even opposing prayers in the legislature. I wonder what his Methodist wife thought about that! He was pugnacious and stubborn – both in politics and in life.
The Johnsons ensured their children had the best educational opportunities. Martha attended school in Washington City at the Georgetown Female Seminary while Andrew was in Congress. She was also cared for by fellow Tennessean, First Lady Sarah Polk. The older boys, Charles and Robert, attended college with Charles becoming the editor of his father’s newspaper while Robert became a lawyer.
As Andrew moved up the ranks in the political world, Eliza ran the household which included a new home in town and a 350 acre farm with two flour mills. Andrew was often gone for months at a time which must have been hard for the frail Eliza. She had the assistance of her children, her live-in mother-in-law, and the enslaved to help her run the properties.
Andrew became Tennessee’s governor in 1853, but the family didn’t go to Nashville. Eliza and the children, including the now-married Mary, stayed in Greeneville, and they didn’t see Andrew from the fall of 1853 through late spring 1854. In 1855 Andrew didn’t even come home for Christmas because of his gubernatorial duties, even though Martha was getting married, and he didn’t meet Mary’s first child until the baby was almost one year old.
He ran for US senator in 1856 and didn’t spend much time at home before leaving alone for Washington, DC. Eliza only visited him once in Washington in 1860 but came back when hostilities between the North and South came to a head. Andrew was left as the only senator from a seceding state who remained in Washington as a Unionist.
Civil War
Eliza was in a precarious position with the breakout of war. She lived in eastern Tennessee which was decidedly pro-Unionist but still had elements of Confederate sympathies. In 1862 Andrew was made the military governor of Tennessee by President Lincoln. He wouldn’t go back to Nashville without a military escort, but Eliza and his family were left unprotected against Confederate outlaws who forced them to leave their home and flee to Nashville. Eliza was very sick but had to cope with sleeping in the cold as she was running for her life.
The infamous Confederate, Nathan Bedford Forrest, captured them and wouldn’t let her through the lines, but the Confederate governor ordered him to do so. They arrived bedraggled in Nashville, and Andrew wept when she got there. Eliza’s ordeal with the Confederate Army made her the most prominent woman mentioned in the Confederate Army war records. The Johnson family home fell into Confederate hands, and you can still see graffiti such as “Andrew Johnson the Old Traitor” from soldiers carved in the walls of their Greeneville home.
In December of 1862, Eliza became so sick that Mary took her to Indiana while Frank was in a Louisville school and Andrew remained in Nashville. Eliza’s family didn’t escape the horrific suffering brought on by war – Mary’s husband was a Union soldier who died in 1864 and Charles, ho was serving as an assistant surgeon in the Union Army, was killed by a fall in 1863. Robert served as a Union soldier but became a raging alcoholic, which disturbed Eliza who sought help for him.
Andrew Johnson freed his slaves on August 8, 1863, and this date is still celebrated as Tennessee Emancipation Day. The enslaved workers stayed with the Johnsons and were paid for their services.
In 1864, Johnson was named as President Lincoln’s vice presidential candidate, replacing Hannibal Hamlin who served during Lincoln’s first term. He went to Washington City and was seemingly drunk at his swearing-in (a few drinks of whiskey made worse since he was recovering from typhoid fever). Eliza remained in Tennessee as the war came to an end.
White House Years
Eliza didn’t come to Washington City until months after Johnson’s swearing-in as president upon President Lincoln’s assassination. The plot to kill Lincoln had also included a plan to assassinate Johnson, so Eliza was very worried. Her daughter wrote to Andrew that “Mother is just deranged that you, in fact, are going to be assassinated.”
When Eliza and family (including both daughters and five grandchildren) arrived at the White House, she set up her room across from the president’s office. Over the next four years, she rarely left that room, but the whole house revolved around her. The young grandchildren adored both of their grandparents and visited with her every day. However, staff could hear her coughing and weeping as she remained an invalid for the entire four years. Her only known statement to the press was, “My dears, I am an invalid.”
Her daughter, Martha Johnson Patterson (husband was a senator), served as the official presidential hostess, stepping into the first lady role on most social occasions. With the White House in mourning after Lincoln’s death, the first social event wasn’t held until New Year’s Day in 1866. That gave Martha eight months to get the White House in shape as it was battered and dirty after the chaos of the Lincoln services. She scrubbed it from top to bottom, ridding it of lice and mold, and used the $30,000 appropriated by Congress to purchase timeless furnishings.
Martha was the first hostess to hang the portraits of the past presidents, and this still remains a White House tradition to this day. She installed two jersey cows on the lawn and made sure they provided milk and butter to the White House. She told the press that “We are plain people from Tennessee called here for a little time by the nation’s calamity and I hope too much will not be expected of us.” After the ostentatious Mary Lincoln, Martha was a breath of fresh air.
The White House hosted an Easter egg roll for the Johnson grandchildren during these years so Eliza could view their play from her room. The White House also hosted the first queen to visit Washington City, Queen Emma of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). She gave Eliza gifts which still can be seen at the Johnson home in Greeneville. One of the few times Eliza came downstairs included a children’s ball held on President Johnson’s 60th birthday on December 20, 1868.
The social business continued as usual through Andrew’s political ups and downs, even during his impeachment trial, which must have been difficult for Eliza. When a bodyguard rushed to tell her he was acquitted, she exclaimed, “I knew he’d be acquitted; I knew it.”
Andrew consulted Eliza on everything as she would read the newspapers and discuss important issues with him. She enjoyed making clippings of newspapers and created scrapbooks with them. She was a great calming influence on President Johnson which was needed during these tumultuous years of Reconstruction.
With Andrew not returning for a second term, Eliza and family left Washington City in mid-March of 1869 to go back to their home in Greeneville. They took some White House gifts with them including an original “Christmas Carol” given by Dickens during his American tour and a porcelain bonbon box which had held fifty pounds of chocolate!
Later Years
The post-White House years were not kind to Eliza. She remained feeble and sickly while also having to deal with the death of Robert in 1869 from suicide and Mary’s marital troubles. Andrew was restless being back in Greeneville, so it wasn’t long before he was out politicking again, eventually being elected senator. He was gone much of the time while she stayed with her daughters. She had an invalid’s chair to help her into bed and always had a spitoon nearby for her persistent cough.
Andrew came to visit her at Mary’s home in Elizabethtown in 1875 when he suffered a stroke and died. Eliza was too sick to attend his funeral. Just six months later, her body would give out, and Eliza Johnson died at Mary’s home on January 15, 1876. She was buried with Andrew in Greeneville.
The Tennessean newspaper said at the time, “If Mrs. Johnson had been as well able to act as the adviser and guide of her husband during the last part of her life as she was during the first part of it, he might have been saved from some of the errors into which he fell. But from first to last, she was to him a wife whom he always loved…who assisted him in entering and aided him in pursuing the paths that led to eminence, who bore her sufferings in patience and resignation, and who lived a life that will make her remembered among American women.” Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case, and Eliza Johnson is a first lady lost to history.
Legacy
Eliza is one of the least known first ladies and resembles other 19th century first ladies who didn’t serve as White House hostesses. She ranks up there with Abigail Fillmore and Jane Pierce as a “ghost” in the White House. One potential biographer of Eliza gave up after years of work because she thought Eliza was just impossible to know. There are no papers and letters left from Eliza, making her a “myth.” Our only glimpses into her life are from her children’s letters and her descendants’ memories.
After the press denigrated Mary Lincoln so viciously, Eliza must have been thankful to have a reason to stay behind the scenes, especially with her husband’s political woes. It’s hard to imagine the press treating her kindly as they lambasted her husband, but it seems like they did. When the Johnsons left Washington City, the papers said they had been gracious entertainers all thanks to Martha’s quiet charm.
Her relationship with Andrew is the most surprising part of her legacy. She seems to have helped make him into the leader he became, but then he pretty much abandoned her for politics. Much like Letitia Tyler, Eliza was a casualty to his political ambition. There were also several rumors about Andrew’s unfaithfulness and his potential children with his enslaved maid. It’s hard to know what is the truth, but it is a fact that he spent many years away from Eliza over their marriage.
Her legacy on slavery is unknown as we don’t know her true feelings. She used slave labor but seems to have supported her husband’s conversion to emancipation although he was not in favor of giving freed slaves the vote. From letters by her children, it seems she had a good relationship with the enslaved, and they did remain with the Johnsons after their freedom.
Her legacy is much the same as her life – quiet and reserved with no real facts.
My Time with Eliza
After the total immersion I had with Mary Lincoln last month, this month’s study was completely different. I could find little to nothing written about Eliza, even in biographies about Andrew Johnson. Most of the nonfiction books about him center on the impeachment scandal, so Eliza is mostly absent.
I did enjoy a great historical mystery that included Eliza (see below), but other than that, she was much like a “myth” to me as well. I don’t feel like I got to know the true Eliza. And I don’t think there is a way for anyone to do so!
Travels with Eliza
Tennessee
Greeneville, TN
Eliza spent most of her life in Greeneville, and it’s the best place to visit to learn more about her life. There is even a mural that includes their meet-cute on a town building!
This includes several sites spread over blocks of downtown Greenville. Start at the visitor center/museum which includes his former tailor shop and then tour the Johnson early home and homestead. End your tour at the cemetery at Andrew and Eliza’s tomb. Watch the CSPAN show below to see these sites!
- President Andrew Johnson’s library, Tusculum College
Just minutes away from the Greenville sites is the Johnson Presidential Library at Tusculum College’s Old College building. There is a historical marker which tells of his connection to the college.
Tennessee State Museum, Nashville
There are several artifacts from Eliza’s life here including her marriage license and a brooch containing her hair.
To Learn More
Books to Read:
There are several books about Andrew Johnson focused on his impeachment, but those tend to not mention Eliza. Here are the best books I read to get to know her.
Links are Amazon affiliate links. Be sure to see my Bookshop.org list for all of the books related to my Booking It Through History: First Ladies project.
Nonfiction:
Andrew Johnson: A Biography by Hans L. Trefousse
This is probably the best biography of Andrew and has many references to Eliza.
Fiction:
The Murder of Andrew Johnson (The John Hay Mysteries Book 3) by Burt Solomon
I really enjoyed this historical mystery that questions the cause of Andrew’s death. It is a fascinating way to learn about the people in Eliza’s life and even includes a brief interview with her! I loved all of the details of postbellum Washington, DC as well.
Podcasts
No real podcasts about Eliza but I recommend Presidential to learn more about Andrew Johnson’s impeachment.
TV Shows/Movies
C-SPAN First Ladies Influence & Image – watch this to see the Greeneville historic sites!
Tennessee Johnson – I don’t know anything about this movie but I’m sure it’s quite dated since it was made in 1942!
Websites
Tennessee State Museum article
White House Historical Association
- Ornament: The 2001 Christmas ornament depicts President Johnson taking a Christmas carriage ride with his daughter, Martha, and children.
Eliza Johnson isn’t remembered as a first lady who made a big impact. Her lasting contribution may have been to be the one person who enabled her husband to reach for the presidency, but her own legacy is lost to history.
