Collection #

SC 1518,
OM 0097

 

 

George Wagner
Documents and Photographs, 1847–1896, 1974

Collection Information

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Contents

Cataloging Information

 

 

 

Processed by

David Pfeiffer
23 April 2008

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

 

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF
COLLECTION:

Manuscript Materials: 3 folders, 1 oversized folder
Visual Materials: 2 cartes de visite, 3 cased images

COLLECTION
DATES:

1847–1868

PROVENANCE:

Unknown; Dr. William A. Campbell, Athens, Georgia 1974; University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia 1974

RESTRICTIONS:

None

COPYRIGHT:

 

REPRODUCTION
RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE
FORMATS:

 

RELATED
HOLDINGS:

Six copy photographs of Camp Morton in P411, Box 24, Folder 5

ACCESSION
NUMBER:

0000.0505, 1974.0903, 1974.1022

NOTES:

 

BIOGRAPHiCAL SKETCH

George Wagner was born in Pennsylvania on 10 February 1831.  In 1847, he was apprenticed to learn the trade of gold beating until he turned 21.

When the Civil War began, he enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 110th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company I, in August 1861.  He was honorably discharged as a captain in September of 1862 due to “phthisis” (Greek term for Tuberculosis) or possibly hepatitis.  In June 1863 he was appointed as a 1st Lieutenant in the Invalid Corps, later renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps.  He was then assigned to Company A, 5th Regiment, at Burnside Barracks, Camp Morton for guard duty. 

Camp Morton began as a training camp in 1861, but was converted to a prisoner of war camp in 1862 when the North realized it would be a long, drawn out war, requiring places to house prisoners.  Prisoners would be housed there throughout the rest of the war.  Camp Morton would be his post for the remainder of the war, and during that time he was made the post adjutant.    

After the war, Wagner remained in federal service, joining the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.  He was sent to Georgia and served in Augusta, Americus, and Columbus from June 1866 through December 1867.  He was discharged from this position in January 1868.

Sources:

Information from the collection.

American Civil War Research Database http://www.civilwardata.com/active/index.html; accessed 18 April 2008.

Winslow, Hattie Lou and Joseph Moore. Camp Morton 1861–1865: Indianapolis Prison Camp.  Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1941. 
General Collection: F521.I41 v. 13 no. 3

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection contains original and copy documents and original photographs about George Wagner from 1847–1896.  The University of Georgia at Athens holds the original documents that were copied and sent to I.H.S.  

Folder 1 contains copies of the correspondence from the donors and documentation on the Wagner Collection at the University of Georgia. The other two folders contain copies of documents pertaining to Wagner’s time in the Army and with the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.  The documents include letters to the Bureau of Pensions, musters from when he was adjutant, letters from Camp Morton that he was mentioned in or wrote himself, quartermaster reports, and one report of his participation in the execution of three Union soldiers on 23 December 1864.

OM 0097 includes three original documents related to George Wagner.  The earliest is his indenture from 1847 when he was apprenticed to learn the trade of gold beating until he turned 21.  Another document is a Pennsylvania Governor’s Commission confirming his promotion to 1st Lieutenant on 5 May 1862.  The final document is a presidential commission, signed by President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton, making him a 1st Lieutenant in the Veteran Reserve Corps on 1 August 1864.   

The visual materials are two cartes de visite, one of George Wagner as a 1st Lieutenant and the other of his wife Emeline Skilman Wagner.  There is also a set of three cased image ambrotypes, showing his wife Emeline Skilman Wagner, his daughter Kate Wagner at age three, and George Wagner as a 2nd Lieutenant.

The copy photographs of Camp Morton that came with the manuscript materials, are now stored in collection P0411, Box 24, Folder 5.

 

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Letters from the donors, Dr. Campbell and the University of Georgia librarian, copies of George Wagner materials at the University of Georgia, Athens, 1974

SC 1518:
Folder 1

Copies of Wagner’s correspondence and reports beginning at Georgetown Sept. 1862,
Camp Morton reports, 1862–1864, including the report on the execution of three Union deserters from December 1864
Letter to Secretary Stanton in application for assignment to the Veterans Reserve Corps, 1866
Pension forms, 1896

SC 1518:
Folder 2

Copies of company Camp Morton muster rolls, Nov. 1863–Nov. 1865
Copies of Quartermaster forms from Camp Morton May–August 1865

SC 1518:
Folder 3

Letter of Indenture 1847,
Pennsylvania Governor’s Commission promoting Wagner to 1st Lieutenant in the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1862
Presidential Commission appointing Wagner to 1st Lieutenant in the Veteran Reserve Corps, 1864 [signed by Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Stanton]

OM 0097:
Folder 1

3 ambrotype cased images:
George Wagner [age 31, 1861]
His wife Emeline Skilman Wagner [1861]
Their daughter Kate M. Wagner [age 3 years]

SC 1518:
Cased Images

2 cartes de visite portraits of George Wagner
and Emeline Wagner
[stored with the cased images]

SC 1518:
Cased Images

Camp Morton Copy Photographs:
Entrance to prison for Confederate soldiers (1863).
Latrine and creek with people gathered on the grounds (1863). Barracks and creek with people (ca. 1863).
Artillery company with cannons (ca. 1863).
Drum corps (ca. 1863).
Soldiers in 1863 by headquarters row including home of Lt. George Wagner and family (later home of Mrs. Jacob L. Ebert, still later home of Mrs. Daniel W. Pedrick).

Collection P411:
Photographs:
Box 24, Folder 5

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, SC 1518).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.