Caroline Matilde Johnson, an Alexandria resident and devoted Confederate supporter, played a daring role during the Civil War by smuggling medical supplies and personal items through Union lines—concealed in secret pockets sewn into her voluminous petticoats.
After General J.E.B. Stuart’s hat and plume were captured by Union pickets during a surprise raid at Verdiersville, Virginia, on the night of August 17, 1862, Caroline was later entrusted with helping obtain a replacement plume for the humiliated Confederate cavalry commander. Stuart would famously avenge the loss by capturing General Pope’s coat and proposing a “fair exchange of prisoners.”
Caroline’s wartime service was shaped by personal tragedy. Her husband, John Johnson, died in late 1860 from injuries sustained during a violent assault. Their son, John Johnson Jr., would later become President of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and is buried beside her.
She lies buried with her family in the Methodist Protestant Cemetery, part of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex, in plots E:58–59.
Her family’s legacy in Alexandria runs deep—from a connection to Revolutionary War General George Weedon to the 1855 Dowell China Shop fire, which claimed the life of her brother-in-law George O. Plain. That fire is still honored annually by the Alexandria Fire Department at Ivy Hill Cemetery’s Firefighters Memorial.
Caroline’s grave is part of Alexandria’s broader story of Civil War resilience, remembrance, and enduring family ties.