Johnston's career was the Funder vs. Readjuster debate. Funders maintained that the state was obligated to pay back its entire pre-War debt, whereas the Readjusters suggested differing, lesser figures, regarding how much was owed. The controversy culminated in the end of the Conservative Party in Virginia and the formation of the Readjuster Party and the Democratic Party. William Mahone was chosen as head of the Readjusters and they gained control of the state legislature in 1879, but not the governorship. The legislature then elected Mahone as the successor to Democrat Robert E. Withers in the U. S. Senate. However, without a sympathetic governor, they could not enact their reforms. Their next chance came in the election of 1881; their aim was to elect a governor, but most importantly to maintain control of the state legislature, since it would elect "a successor to the Hon. John W. Johnston ..." Their party succeeded and the legislature elected prominent Readjuster, and Mahone's "intimate friend", Harrison H. Riddleberger to replace Johnston, eighty-one to forty-nine. Death and legacy After serving in the Senate, Johnston resumed his legal practice. He died in Richmond, Virginia, on February 27, 1889, aged seventy. He was conscious until his death and was aware that he was dying. On March 1, his family brought his body from Richmond to Wytheville, where he was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery. On May 11, 1903, a ceremony was held to install the portraits of deceased judges in the Washington County Courthouse. David F. Bailey was the speaker that presented the portrait of Johnston. In his speech, he described Johnston: Johnston was outlived by his wife, Nicketti, who died on June 9, 1908, aged eighty-nine. Works The True Southern Pacific Railroad Versus the Texas Pacific Railroad: Speech of Hon. John W. Johnston 1878 Repudiation in Virginia, The North American Review. Volume 134, Issue 303. University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. February 1882. Railway Land-grants, The North American Review. Volume 140, Issue 340. University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. March 1885 The True South vs the Silent South, The Century. Volume 32, Issue 1, New York. May 1886 Notes References Johnston, John Warfield, "Reminiscences of Thirteen Years in the Senate", John Warfield Johnston Papers, Special Collections Department, Duke University Library, Durham, North Carolina. Wallenstein, Peter and Wyatt-Brown, Bertram, eds. (2005) Virginia's Civil War. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press. . 1818 births 1889 deaths