When Johnson’s Island Was Known as Bull’s Island

An early map of Sandusky Bay, published by H.F. Wheeler, is in the map collection of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. (A copy of this map was used as evidence in a case before the Ohio Supreme Court in 1844, "B. Lockwood and others v. Wildman, Mills, and others.") The island was first owned by Epaphras W. Bull, an early settler of the Firelands region, who died in 1812. In 1852, Leonard B. Johnson, a native of Ireland, purchased the island from the Bull family, and re-named it Johnson’s Island.

Leonard B. Johnson, 1808-1898

The epitaph on Mr. Johnson’s tombstone at Oakland Cemetery mentions Johnson’s Island.

During the Civil War, Johnson’s Island was selected as the site for a prison camp which housed Confederate prisoners of war. Many soldiers died at Johnson’s Island, and a cemetery on the island is the final resting place of 206 (or more) Confederate officers and soldiers. Today the Confederate Stockade Cemetery on Johnson’s Island is operated by the National Park Service. The website of the Johnson’s Island Preservation Society includes a listing of all the soldiers buried at the Confederate Cemetery on Johnson’s Island.