The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-03-28

engagement in which it participated and con-
Quoting himself so well that he was promoted
Corporal. There is no doubt but that he would
speedily have received commission had it not
been for his disabling wound. At the second
battle of Bull Run he was lying on the ground
| with his regiment, supporting battery. A
shell fred by rebel gun burst over him. and
| mangled his legs SO that both feet had to be am
putated.
After recovering from his wound he received
| an appointment as clerk in the War Depart
ment, and while there was called into the room
where Abraham Lincoln lay dying and took
down in short-h hand some testimony for use in
investigating the assassination. He subse-
quently studied law, left the War Department,
and was admitted to the bar in 1869.
Before he entered upon practice he was ap-
| pointed a clerk in the New York Custom House,
where he remained eight years. rising by force
of merit and capacity from the lowest position
to the highest under the Collector. He resign
ed the position of Deputy Collector to accept
the remunerative and responsible position of
Collector of Taxes for the city of Brooklyn,
which he held for eight years, collecting in that
| time over $50, 5000 which he turned over in
| excellent shape. He also distinguished himself
| by. his very capable management of the Office,
| improving its management in every way, and
showing himself possessed of executive ability
of the highest order. This fact was every
where conceded, and though his official supe-
riors-the Mayor and Council-were opposed
| to him politically, they were very willing to
| bear this testimony for him.
| In the meantime Corpl Tanner, as he came
| to be known, was winning National reputation
| for eloquenee. He had no peer when standing
before a popular audience in New York or
Brooklyn, and to-day has no superior in the
| country.
He has been an enthusiastic GA. r. man from
| the first, and no man has done more for the
| upbuilding of the Order he was active in
every movement promising benefit to the sol
6iers, and wherever he has been he stood a
| tower of strength.
He was one of the first to conceive of Home
for the veterans of New York, and he gave
necessarily of his time and talent for the build
ing-up of the magnificent Home now estab-
lished at Bath, n Y. This, those who know
| his work best, pronounce his monument, and
| no man has better one.
He was twice Commander of the Department
of New York, GAR, and for several years has
been a valuable member of the GAR. National
Pension Committee.
OF late years he has been very much in re-
| quest as lecturer and campaign speaker, and
has repeatedly travelled from one side of the
country to the other, addressing great crowds at
every stopping place. The best evidence of his
| = I. i
at any place are always greatly larger than his
| first.
| During the recent campaign he did magnif-
cent work in Oregon and Indiana, and the
popular enthusiasm for the Republican ticket
in those States was in no small degree due tC
his efforts.
AS soon as the result of the election was
known the veterans everywhere began raising
the cry for him for Commissioner of Pensions
There was a unanimity about this which Presi
dent Harrison felt he could not disregard. and
although some politicians, who wanted to con
troll the extensive patronage of tho Pension
Bureau for their own purposes, made SHARP
fight against him, Gen. Harrison regarded tht
wishes of the veterans and appointed him.
Commissioner Tanners wife is a charming
cultivated woman, who has been a true help
meet to him. They have two lovely daugh
tiers now verging on womanhOOd, and two sons
aged respectively, 10 and 13.
The Commissioner is now in the prime of hi
manhood, and his friends are sanguine in the
belief that he will make record in the Pen
sion Bureau that will be in the highest de
gree creditable to himself, his party, and emf
nently satisfactory to the veterans.