Johnson County was named for Middleton T. Johnson (1810-1866), a native of South Carolina who served seven terms as an Alabama legislator and became a leading Texan after 1840. He served in the 9th Texas Legislature, in the Texas Rangers, and in the Mexican War and Civil War. The county was created and organized in 1854 from land that had earlier been in Ellis, Hill, and Navarro counties. Its first county seat was Wardville from 1854 to 1856, and its second was Buchanan from 1856 to 1867. Camp Henderson, at famous springs 3.5 miles southeast of Buchanan, was a recruiting place in the county during the Civil War, and in 1867 it was made county seat and renamed in honor of Confederate General Patrick Cleburne.