Bipartisan Push for Bill Renaming Capital Region Bridge after Hometown Hero Sgt. Henry Johnson
ALBANY, N.Y. – Today, Senator Patricia Fahy (D—Albany), Senator Jake Ashby (R, C—Castleton), Assemblymember John T. McDonald III, RPh (D—Cohoes), and Assemblymember Gabriella Romero (D—Albany) were joined by the 369th ‘Harlem Hellfighters’ Veterans Association, Albany Chapter and community leaders to urge Governor Hochul to sign their legislation (S.8440 Fahy/A.8897 McDonald) renaming the Capital Region’s Patroon Island Bridge in honor of national Medal of Honor Recipient Sergeant Henry Johnson on his birthday (July 15).
This push follows President Trump’s announcement last year that the Department of Defense would revert Fort Johnson in Leesville, Louisiana back to its original name, Fort Polk. Prior to 2023, the base was originally named for Leonidas Polk, a Confederate general. The base was renamed to Fort Johnson in 2023 as part of a bipartisan commission recommendation to rename bases that previously honored Confederate generals and the Confederate States of America.
While the base has been renamed to honor Gen. James H. Polk, who was awarded the Silver Star "for his gallantry in action as commanding officer of the 3rd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) during operations across Europe in World War II,” the use of the same surname and its proximity to the original is troubling.
Sgt. Henry Johnson, an infantryman from Albany, first enlisted in 1917 with the segregated, all-black 15th New York National Guard Regiment, ultimately becoming the 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment, aka the ‘Harlem Hellfighters’. While on duty in France’s Argonne Forest in May 1918, Sgt. Johnson and a fellow soldier came under attack by a German raiding party of at least a dozen men. Despite being outnumbered, Johnson fought until his rifle ran out of ammunition, then using it as a club before resorting to a bolo knife in hand-to-hand combat. During the encounter, Johnson suffered 21 injuries but managed to prevent his wounded comrades from being captured.
For decades, efforts by historians, Black veterans, and New York lawmakers spearheaded by Senator Chuck Schumer sought to ensure that Johnson’s extraordinary bravery was properly acknowledged; recognition long denied due to racial discrimination. It wasn’t until 1996 that he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for the severe injuries he sustained in combat. In 2002, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, and in 2015, after nearly a century of advocacy, Johnson was finally honored with the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama, the nation's highest military award.
Patroon Island Bridge is named for the former Patroon Island in the Hudson River, a nod to Dutch patroons; landholders with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland. Patroons were entitled to the acquisition of enslaved labor by the Dutch West India Company's Rights and Exemptions Charter. Patroons, often the wealthiest and most influential residents of New Netherland, procured and exploited enslaved people in almost every part of the colony, but a majority of the enslaved population remained near New Amsterdam (New York City), and farther north, centered around Fort Orange (Albany) and Rensselaerswyck (Rensselaer County).
Moreover, patroons were essentially the only colonists in New Netherland to engage in the procurement of enslaved people and the slave trade. This legislation seeks to establish a new, more appropriate name, one that honors a part of local history all Capital Region residents can be proud of; hometown hero and Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Henry Johnson.
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