Andrew Johnson
and his Slaves
Background History
• Andrew Johnson may have owned as
many as eight slaves.
• Each slave performed domestic duties.
• He never sold any of his slaves.
Dolly and Sam
• Dolly and Sam, halfsister and brother,
were purchased at a
slave auction in
Greeneville,
Tennessee in 1842.
• Dolly was about 14
years old and Sam
was 12.
Legend or Fact??
• It has been told that Dolly asked Andrew
Johnson to buy her. She looked around
the crowd of buyers and spotted Mr.
Johnson. She decided she liked his looks
so she went up to him and asked if he
wouldn’t buy her.
Dolly and Sam
• After Johnson
purchased Dolly and
Sam, Dolly eventually
had three children:
Liz, Florence, and
William.
Sam
• Sam was known as Johnson’s favorite,
probably because of his confident and
independent nature.
• According to Martha Johnson, “Old Sam
boast that he was my father’s servant, but
the fact is, my father was Sam’s servant.”
Sam
• Sam was allowed to choose jobs around
town, like chopping wood and keep part of
the money.
• Sam was close to Johnson until his death
and was one of the few persons that knew
where Johnson wanted to be buried.
Slave Quarters
• No one is sure where
the slaves lived, but
there are a couple of
ideas.
• They may have
stayed in a cabin,
about 30 feet from the
Johnson Homestead
or in a basement
room of the main
house.
Slave Duties
• The Johnson slaves performed domestic
duties including tasks such as washing
and ironing clothes, cooking, cleaning,
gardening, caring for horses, caring for
Johnson’s wife Eliza while she was sick
and working for others around town.
• Johnson took Florence (Dolly’s daughter)
with him to Washington, D.C.
Slave Duties
• Eliza Johnson taught William (Dolly’s son)
to cook and he later became a pastry cook
at Weaver’s Grill in Knoxville.
• He said the Johnson family treated him
like on of their own.
• William cared for Johnson during his last
ten days of life.
Freeing of his Slaves
• According to local tradition, Andrew
Johnson, then military governor of
Tennessee, freed his personal slaves on
August 8, 1863.
• Mrs. Johnson shared the news with the
slaves. According to William, “One day
Mrs. Johnson called us all in and said we
were free now, she said we were free to
go or we could stay is we wanted to. We
all stayed.”