Dr. James M. Johnson (Jim or Jet) is Professor Emeritus in History and the Emeritus Dr. Frank T. Bumpus Chair in Hudson River Valley History at Marist University in Poughkeepsie, New York. Now, with his wife Lois, a resident of Danville, Kentucky, he taught courses in military and Hudson River Valley history at Marist from 2000-2018 and served as founding Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Institute from its inception in 2002 until 2022. Author of Militia, Rangers, and Redcoats, co-compiler of America’s First River, and the co-editor of “Key to the Northern Country”: The Hudson River Valley in the American Revolution, Johnson graduated from United States Military Academy in 1969 and served for thirty years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a colonel. Duke University awarded him a Master of Arts in History in 1977 and a PhD in History in 1980.
He received a second Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College in 1995. He commanded two field artillery batteries, one in Germany and the second in Korea and taught for fifteen years in two tours in the Department of History at West Point. In his second tour there, he headed the military history program, rising to the rank of Professor of History.
I have devoted my time in retirement to completing my last book, Key of America: Fortress West Point and the Highlands Department in the American Revolution and, as Vice President of the Friends of the American Revolution at West Point, preserving the forts, redoubts, and batteries of Fortress West Point. We have finished stonework on Forts Meigs and Clinton, phase 1 of Redoubts #2 and #4, and Water (Green), Lanthorn, and Chain Batteries. Next up for June 2026 will be the battery of Redoubt #2. We are happy to live near our son who works for the Kentucky Distillers Association and manages the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, so we have learned a lot about bourbon. We see our Colorado family on occasion, our daughter and her husband, West Point Class of 1994, and two grandsons – one USMA Class of 2022.
Contributions
- Fortress West Point
In February 2026, the West Point Press published my book, Key of America: Fortress West Point and the Highlands Department in the American Revolution, completing my long writing journey. This article has been adapted from the “Epilogue” of that book. During the Bicentennial of the United States, the Department of History at the United States… Read more: Fortress West Point