Johann Andreas Wagener

Johann Andreas Wagener was the forty-third mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, serving one term from 1871 to 1873.

Biography

Wagener was born in the Kingdom of Hanover on July 21, 1816. He immigrated to New York in 1831 and worked as a store clerk. In 1833, he relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he began using the first name "John." He founded the first German-language newspaper of the South. Among the many social organization founded by Wagener were the German Jägerkorps (1836); the Deutsche Feuerwehr-Compagnie of Charleston (1838, German Fire Company) whose president he was until 1850; and the Teutonenbund (1843), a literary and musical society from which the Freundschaftsbund emanated (1853). In April 1844 he became the editor of the German-language newspaper Der Teutone.^[1]

Wagener's most lasting work was the founding of the city of Walhalla, South Carolina. In October 1848, the same year in which he was accepted as member of the venerable German Friendly Society, he held the first meeting of the German Colonization Society. In December 1849, 17,859 acres were purchased in the Pickens District, and the town was carefully laid out with a public square.^[1][2]

At the commencement of the Civil War, Col. J.A. Wagener was in charge of the First Artillery regiment which consisted almost entirely of Germans. Ordered to defend Port Royal harbor. They built Fort Walker on Hilton Head island and defended it on November 7, 1861, until their gunpowder ran out. After the war John A. Wagener was commissioned Brigadier-General by Governor James L. Orr and Fort Wagener on Morris Island was named after him.^[1]

In 1871, Wagener was elected mayor of Charleston. He lived at the corner of St. Philip Street and McBride's Lane.

Wagener died in Walhalla, South Carolina on August 27, 1876.^[3]

References