Caesar Johnson was born around 1855 in North Carolina. Johnson worked in a tobacco factory and resided in Durham (then Orange County), North Carolina, with his wife Eliza Johnson (née Dunnagan) and their children. Johnson was charged with larceny on April 15, 1878, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Johnson was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2664. In the descriptive register, Johnson's race is noted as Black. Johnson was twenty-three years old when he was arrested. Johnson was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Johnson was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on February 7, 1880.