Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1886-10-28
MAJOR J. H. WAGNER
REPLIES TO SENATOR HARRIS.

49,
He Is not Ashamed OF HIS Record Bot
Did Not Intentionally Suppress
His Record In the state
Legislature.
Maj. Joseph II. Wagner. the recently
appointed pension agent at Knoxville, re
turned to the city yesterday. In reply to
the letter written to him on the 10Th inst.
| by Senator Harris, and published in the
Knoxville Tribune last Tuesday morning
Major Wagner furnishes for publication
| the following:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn, Oct. 81, 1885.
| Hon. IsHAM G. HARRIS,
MEMPHIS, Tennessee; W
DEAR SR:-I have just received your
letter Of the 10Th inst, addressed to me
at Mountain City and forwarded TO this
place, but ! read the copy published in
The Tribune of the 10Th inst, with sur
| prise and regret. l was surprised that
upon the charges originating with the
Knoxville Journal and published for the
purpose of distacting the East Tennessee
democracy In the midst of the canvass,
though sent to you by a Democrat In the
interest of some rival aspirant for the
pension agency, you should have so sum.
marially condemned me without notice
even that | was OIL trial. ! was surprised
too at the harshness Of your judgment,
and the severity of your censure, as un.
worthy of your own high character and
position, as II Is unjust to me. And /
regret very much to lose your favor and
friendship without cause. / believe that
your recommendation had much weight
in the matter Of my appointment, and
for 1t ] have felt. and still feel duly CRATE
full. But / also feel that II / should sub
init in silence to the imputation of decep-
ton, and of deliberate prosecutions of
my fellow citizens, contained In your
letter, l should be unworthy Of your cs-
TEEN and OF the office to which l have
been appointed. These charges affect
my personal, as well as my political,
character; and in vindication OF myself |
must recall the facts and circumstances
which will refute them. AS | am con.
sciously innocent of both, I expect that
not only others, but you also on recon.
sideration, will acquit me OF such grave
charges.
First, then: / did not suppress or In.
~tentionally Withhold from you in our
brief interview my legislative record.
True, | did not mention 1t, because IL did
not occur to me, MOI indeed had | ever
thought of itin any other light than as q
part of the war. / had left home in 1862,
just a boy of twenty-one years of age,
and Travelled over three hundred miles to
the Ohio river on foot, much of the way
through painless mountains by night.
| joined the Union army and was never
back home again until after my lcgisla.
tive career ended in July, 1855. was
elected by soldiers at Knoxville in March,
1855, and went to the, Assembly, al, did
others Of my comrades, direct from camps
and in uniform. War was still going on.
Nashville was q military camp. The
streets were filled soldiers and half of
our body were in their soldier clothing.
My commander was there and many fell
low officers. was young, and it seemed
to me then; AS now, that that Assembly
was part of the war. 1t never occurred
TO me to speak Of that to you particular.
ly, more than of any other part of nv
military record. The interview was
short, not ver twenty minutes as I re.
member 1t, and !, q stranger in a strange
place, did not wish to consume your
valuable time and told you SO. / did not
pretend TO give you my biography, only a
few features of my life, and referred you
TO the letters Of our mutual friends for
my record, military and political, and
my moral and social character. I was
not then thinking OF the troubles Of war
times, but of the efforts of my competi-
tors to secure the Pension Agency, and l
doubt not / was putting my best foot
foremost But l deny that / was nc.
ting unfairly or that ! suppressed any
thing. The most that can be made of it
is, that neither Of us said any thing about
my legislative record. / did not think of
1t, and presume you did not. had no
intention to mislead you, and no wish
to suppress any thing In my record. l
knew nothing In 1t to be ashamed of,
and much of 1t / took pride in, especial.
ythat In wal / had been q faithful SOL
dier, and In peace q good citizen, and in
politics an unfaltering Democrat. Those
things ! did allude to In our conversation,
and for the truth Of my statements I ap.
peal with confidence to my comrades In
arms, to my fellow citizens. Republi-
cans as well as Democrats, and especially
to my exc Confederate neighbors and ac-
quaintances in. the First Congressional
District, who have known my course Of
life from my youth up. Not only were
all my statements true, but all that / in
t~entionally allowed you to believe of me
was true. l was not only a Federal SOL
dier but q pronounced Union man from
the beginning to the end of the civil
war; and when in l 1865. ritter three years
absence / could return home, and the
war was ended, l strove as earnestly for
peace as / had for Union, and oftentimes
amid as many dangers and at as great
personal hazard. In East Tennessee II
could hardly be said that the civil war
ended with the surrender Of Lee, John
ston and Taylor. With us it had been a
civil war indeed, county against county.
district against district, neighbor against
neighbor, brother against brother, father
against son, and even wife against hus-
band. 1t took years to allay the enmi-
ties Of the war, and restore civil law and
order. In the bitterness Of this strife
from 1865 to 1870 the ext onfederates In
our section were the chief sufferers.
With other ex-Federal soldiers, of whose
association / am proud, / tried to stay
the hand of violence and to secure the
right Of all to live at home in peace, an
swerable only to the law for their con,
duct. In my own county this course
was extremely unpopular, and for a time
] was, perhaps, the only ex-F Federal sol.
der openly advocating this course, aud
sometimes 1t was at the Peril Of my life.
II my word Is not sufficient and you still
doubt this, / beg leave to refer for proof
TO my fellow citizens Of the First Con
~gressional District, who were on the
Confederate side during the war, who
have never ceased to feel and express
gratitude for the manly and heroic de.
Tense of these who had been their enc.
mics in war, but in peace had proven
themselves friends in time Of need. If
these things had not been true, at least
in part, as to myself, and ! had been I'M
worthy Of your recommendation. you
would have been informed Of 1t pending
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