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-- Ol' Cap -- Located fifteen miles east of Greenville , Mississippi in an area called the Yazoo Delta, lies the pleasant, attractive little village of Leland (population 300• ) It was here that Joseph or Cap1 as he is known, the youngest of four children, was born to Charles and Mary S. Johnston on April 27, 1892. Caps* father, educated in law, left the University of Virginia to devote his life to planting and raising cotton rather than to follow the profession. However, the Civil War errupted and immediately after Fort Sumpter was besieged, he enlisted in Darden's Battery of the Confederate Army. Completing four years of aotlve duty, a portion of which was under General Joseph B. Johnston, as a private secretary, he returned to his seventeen seotlon (approx. 10,000 acres) plantation. Finding cotton producing unfavorable due to labor conditions, he abandoned the place for a more suitable location. Thus, the move to the Yazoo Delta where Cap* was born. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Goldman Landing in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, which the elder Johnston operated for several years. This was the ideal location for the young lad, for out of the turbulent waters of the Mississippi, grew his love for the sea. Hafts and riverboats of all sizes, shapes and description formed an endless chain of river traffic adding another link to his growing interests. Twelve years of youthful freedom was enjoyed especially when organized schools as we know them were practically non-existant. Local schools were, for the most part, gatherings of a few children, a meager supply of text books and generally, a maiden lady teaching because there was little else to occupy her time. Although these courses of instruction were intermittent, Cap' had no regrets, since he would take to the woods which held a greater interest anyway. A good many of the woodland excursions lasted for days, while living as a backwoodsman. With rifle, hunting knife and axe, Cap* would build a wigwam of Palmetto fronds and small poles for shelter. Canes on a stake frame with a mattress of Spanish moss served as a bed. A smudge of moss drove out mosquitoes to make sleep possible. Food was no problem since game a-bounded in the area and meat barbequed over an open flams, salted down, would appease the heartiest of appetites.