John WagnerVeteran

Corporal John Wagner was born in Germany on September 22, 1843. Living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and working as a tailor, he was drafted in Adams County on October 16, 1862, and mustered into federal service at Gettysburg on November 5 as a Private with Company G, 165th Pennsylvania Infantry. According to a comrade, he was "not a robust soldier at any time . . . and [frequently] excused from duty on account of not being well enough to perform any duty." Nonetheless, he remained on the roll and was honorably discharged with his company July 28, 1863, in Gettysburg, shortly after the battle there. Despite his woes during that term of service, he enlisted in Harrisburg February 17, 1865, was mustered into federal service there on March 10 as a Corporal with the second organization of Company G, 74th Pennsylvania Infantry, and discharged per general order on August 29, 1865 at Clarksburg, West Virginia due to the end of the war. After his military service, Wagner married Mary Jane Cain Wagner on December 16, 1870. Their union produced nine children: Andrew, Annie, Ella, Eva, Birdie, Emma, Ida, John, and Edward. By 1880, the Wagners had moved south to the Myers District in northern Carroll County and to 13 John Street in Westminster by 1900. Wagner remained a tailor throughout his life and died on January 24, 1909.