John Z. Wagner: The Other Civil War Ancestor

John Z. Wagner

It's been a few weeks since my last post...and as I mentioned then...2013 will be void of any letters from John W. Derr.  The letters of 1863 are lost to time and therefore there will be a gap between letter #31 and letter #32 of approximately 15 months.

I thought that this might be a good time to reintroduce my other great-great grandfather, John Zartman Wagner...or John Z. for short.  I mention John Z. in a few prior posts but it is probably a good time to reiterate his service in the war.

John Z. Wagner was born on September 27, 1841 in the Deep Creek area of Barry Township.  A farmer and laborer by trade, John Z. enlisted in the United State Army on April 20, 1861 as part of President Lincoln's call for volunteers during what was supposed to be a 90 day suppression of the rebellion.  John Z. was mustered into the 6th regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Company E, to serve his 3 months of service to his country.  He was part of the famous First Defenders that came from the great state of Pennsylvania.


As we all know...what was thought to be a 3 month war, ended up being a 4 year struggle that would tear the country apart.

John Z. served his 3 months of duty...mostly on provost and guard duty in the Williamsport, Pa. area of the county and was mustered out of service on July 26, 1861.  He would return home only to re-enlist in the newly formed 55th PVI (Company E) on September 13, 1861...after taking a 1 1/2 month rest from his prior service.

Mary Ellen Wagner Derr (left), John Z. Wagner (right)

As I mentioned in my prior posts, John Z. Wagner knew John W. Derr, owing to the close knit nature of the Deep Creek community.  Eventually, his daughter Mary Ellen Wagner would marry the son of John W. Derr, George Washington Derr, my great grandfather.  My great grandmother, Mary Ellen Wagner Derr...or Mom Derr...would produce 1 daughter and 4 sons, of which one was my grandfather, James Monroe Derr.

My father, Donald James Derr, was born in 1927 and remembers, as a little boy, sitting on the lap of John Z. Wagner, as the old man would sing and talk to him.  His great grandfather would still chew tobacco from a plug... taking the little tin brand markers that were pinned into the plug and pressing them into the window sill.  That is what my father remembers most about John Z. Wagner.

John Z. Wagner would serve all 4 years of the Civil War, surviving to become a hard working old man and living for 88 years.  John Z. worked until he was 80 years of age, attesting to his good health and fortitude.

Jim D.

The Dengler Connection - A Comrade, A Friend

In reading the letters this week, I was fascinated by the various names referenced in JWD's letters throughout the war.  I started to investigate the names most often referenced and to make my own determination of the relevance and importance to the life of JWD.  My simple premise was this...the more a name is mentioned...the more impact that person had on the life of JWD.  Not deep psychology...just a simple premise.   This posting is dedicated to the first person specifically mentioned in a JWD letter. 

As a reference, the next letter to be published is dated October 19^th, 1861, and hence will be posted on October 19th, 2011.  It was written by JWD while he was encamped at the Fort Elizabeth, a coordination camp just outside the walls of Fort Monroe, Virginia.  By the timeline that I have, he had been there approximately 3 weeks and was waiting for his regiment’s "marching orders".  We all know now, that those orders would be to attach the 48^th PVI to the Burnsides Expedition to North Carolina.  This letter provides my first insight into the friends and colleagues of JWD.  There are a total of 12 friends and family, and 1 general mentioned in this letter.  For purposes of this blog, I will attempt to research these people to understand their connection to JWD and to show any connections to JWD through out the war and after the conclusion of the conflict.

The first person mentioned in a JWD letter was a “Francis Dengler”.  I have concluded that Francis Dengler was actually Henry Francis Dengler, one of the “First Defenders” and a good friend of JWD. Francis Dengler was born on May 17, 1841 and died on November 6, 1912.  He was mustered into the 6^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Company E, on April 22^nd, 1861 and served there for 3 months until his enlistment expired in July, 1861.  After a 14 months gap in time, Dengler re-enlisted into the 162nd Pennsylvania Regiment, 17^th Cavalry Company H, on September 22^nd 1862 eventually mustering out on June 16^th, 1865.


**** UPDATE:  October 7, 2012.....
After being contacted by a descendant of the Dengler family, I have found that my assumptions in the paragraph above were incorrect.  In the numerous references by John W. Derr to "Dengler", he reference to this person as..."Dengler", "Francis Dengler", "Francis", "Henry F. Dengler", "Henry Francis Dengler", "H. Dengler", or "H.F. Dengler".   I always assumed that these were one in the same person.  They were not.  Francis Dengler was the father of Henry Francis Dengler.  Henry F. Dengler always went by the name Henry.  References in the letters to Francis, vs. Henry F., were related to the situation at hand.  John referred to Henry whenever he was discussing shipping items home or having items carried back from home, since in the role as Quartermaster in 17th Pa. Cavalry, Henry had better access to shipping and transportation and contact with the home front.  Francis Dengler, however, was a hotel and tavern owner, and was the postmaster for Barry, Pa, during the Civil War.  

The beauty of this blog is that I get as much out of it as I give.  People have been gracious enough to provide information, photographs, and corrections as appropriate...and for that I and grateful.  Thank you Mary Anne.

Civil War soldier service records courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archive ARIAS system.

Henry Francis Dengler began his military service as a private, ultimately finishing his Army service as a Quartermaster Sergeant.  His role was to provide for the supplies to the regiment and thus spent most of his time procuring arms, ammunition, farrier’s supplies, food, clothing…etc…

Francis Dengler must have been a close friend of JWD, given that he is mentioned in no less than 9 of the letters.  JWD relied on Dengler to transport his pay, conduct business at home, and even to carry his “likeness” back to his parents during the course of the war.  I was trying to understand why Dengler was able to travel home more frequently than most soldiers during the war…was it because he was a Quartermaster Sergeant and had the ability to travel to procure supplies? 

I tried to correlate the service records of the 48^th PVI and the 162^nd PVI to understand how often these regiments crossed paths during the course of the war….and more specifically…the path of JWD.   Given that the 6^th PVI was dissolved in July of 1861 and the 162^nd PVC was only organized in November of 1862…I am still at a loss to understand how JWD and Dengler crossed paths in late 1861 and early 1862….more research is needed.  As far a battles are concerned….the 48^th PVI and the 162^nd PVC were in closer proximity in the years 1864 and 1865 than during 1863…with the 162^nd PVC staying in primarily in the Virginia/Pennsylvania theaters and the 48^th PVI being dispatched to the Kentucky/Tennessee theaters.  1864 saw both regiments converging in the Virginia theater and later both were part of the Grand Review in Washington, DC in May of 1865.

The October 19^th, 1861 letter will be the first of many references to this neighbor and close friend of JWD, and will shed light on the camaraderie and mutual support soldiers provided each other during this difficult time in their lives.

Jim D.

Private John W. Derr, the War and 1861

People have asked me, if John was such a patriotic enthusiast for the Union, why did he wait until September of 1861 to enlist?   I'm not sure that his overall dedication to "the cause" of Union preservation was as great as the general excitement and peer pressure for participation.  This doesn't  even include the enticement of the $300 signing bonus being offered to enlistees at that time.  I do not want to diminish his service or contribution to the war effort, but I have long thought about the reasons he decided to leave the family farm during harvest time to join the throngs of men enlisting in towns all over Pennsylvania.   Though his first letter in September of 1861 is short, patriotic and to the point, I get the impression that the letter was more to provide a soothing effect to his parents than anything else.  You have to read all of the letters to get a better feel for the man and his feelings for the war itself.

I believe it is safe to say that during this period of the Civil War, the country was in a general state of confusion with the 3 month war not turning out to be so short and romantic as the general population of the north believed it would be.  September 1861 was a mere two months after the disastrous first battle of Bull Run for the north and the three month enlistments of the "First Defenders" was coming due.  The nation needed men, and lots of them, to bolster an ill prepared army.   The country was in a patriotic fervor and was willing to spend bounty dollars to enlist large numbers of men into the Union army...this is where John W. Derr comes into the picture.

I have many other ancestors who fought in the Civil War.  I even have some of the those other ancestors' documents and original paperwork.  But nothing to the level of John W. Derr and none as consistently organized into the same regiment.  For example, my great-great grandfather, John Z. Wagner of the 55th Pa. Vol. Infantry, was one of the "First Defenders" who eventually ended up in the 55th.  Amazingly, both Wagner and Derr both survived their experiences during 4 years of service.   I don't want to drift into Wagner's service in the is blog, but I still find it rather "cool" that John Z. Wagner lived long enough that my own father knew him and played with him as a child.

Ok...to give you feel for what is to come letter-wise in 2011 for the 1861 batch...here you go:

• September 3, 1861 - Arrival at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, Pa.  1st letter home.

• October 19, 1861 - Fort Monroe, Va.

• November 28, 1861 - Hatteras, NC.      

More later.......




Jim D.