Career
Born in 1824 in Norway, Johnson immigrated to the United States and was living in New York when he joined the Navy in 1857. He served during the Civil War as a seaman on the United States Ship Metacomet. At the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, he was among the crew of a small boat sent from Metacomet to rescue survivors of the United States Ship Tecumseh, which had been sunk by a naval mine (then known as a "torpedo").
Despite intense fire, the boat crew was able to pull ten Tecumseh men from the water.
He braved the enemy fire which was said by the admiral to be "one of the most galling" he had ever seen, and aided in rescuing from death 10 of the crew of the Tecumseh, thereby eliciting the admiration of both friend and foe.
