Correspondence, 1862-1890. 1862-1865 (bulk).

ArchivalResource

Wagner, John, fl. 1860-1890. Correspondence, 1862-1890. 1862-1865 (bulk).

Correspondence, 1862-1890. 1862-1865 (bulk).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/476442524

The Wagner Letters form one subseries in the War Relics and Reminiscences, a five volume appendix to David Edward Cronin's autobiography, The Evolution of A Life, Described in the Memoirs of Major Seth Eyland, published in 1884. The appendix was compiled by Cronin in the late 1880s and completed in 1892; this subseries appears in Vol. V (pp. 108-167), accompanied by portrait sketches and correspondence sent to Cronin in 1890. In letters to his family from 1862 and 1865, Wagner details camp life, picket duty, foraging and reconnaissance. He describes an expedition into North Carolina, during which he claims that soldiers of the Mounted Rifles hung several guerrillas, looted their property and burned their houses; other battles and skirmishes are also recounted, along with an incident in which the 18th New Jersey Regiment fired upon a second Union Regiment after mistaking them for Confederates. Wagner seemed to enjoy army life, commenting on his relative inactivity, pay and diet. Politically, he preferred Grant, then McClellan over Lincoln in 1864. Wagner also comments unfavorably on Union generals, mentions his successes at luring Confederate soldiers at the front lines into deserting, and describes how his whole company was vaccinated by doctors.

.25 linear feet.

New-York Historical Society Library