Valentine Mason Johnson

Who was Valentine Mason Johnson?

Valentine Mason Johnson was a professor of mathematics and the Superintendent of the West Florida Seminary during the American Civil War. Johnson was born on July 17, 1838 in Spotsylvania, VA and was an 1860 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. Johnson died in Mountville, VA on October 19, 1909.

Johnson trained students at the West Florida Seminary who fought in the Battle of Natural Bridge and defeated Union forces attempting to capture Tallahassee. As a result of the battle Tallahassee was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi River that did not fall to Union forces.