James Tanner

[L Verge]

Just received the latest issue of Civil War Monitor. It has a long, feature article on Cpl. James Tanner, the amputee who took down statements in the Petersens' back parlor as Mr. Lincoln lay dying. I never knew that he went on to participate in so much history of the late-19th century.

The article is written by James Marten, a professor at Marquette University, who has a full book coming out this spring on America's Corporal: James Tanner in War and Peace. It is being published by The University of Georgia Press -- and I think I smell the possibility of a speaker for the Surratt Conference in 2015...

The same magazine has an ad for books being published by Southern Illinois Press. Included are: Abraham Lincoln: Philosopher Statesman by Joseph E. Fornieri; We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a Documentary History, edited by Gary Phillip Zola; Lincoln and the Union Governors by William C. Harris, and Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops by John David Smith -- the latter two being added to the Concise Lincoln Library.

[Rsmyth]

[/u]]Please keep us informed on the book. I will purchase it!

[BettyO]

Yes, do keep us informed, please Laurie!

[L Verge]

When I get a chance to read the article, would you like me to post highlights? Or, would that spoil the book for some of you?

[Gene C]

Post it. I can stand being spoiled

[Rsmyth]

Me too! Those would be teasers.

[LincolnMan]

Amazing...the books just keep on coming. Will Lincoln and his era ever be an exhausted subject?

[L Verge]

(02-27-2014 08:53 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Amazing...the books just keep on coming. Will Lincoln and his era ever be an exhausted subject?

I sure hope not.

[SSlater]

No, Laurie, the arguing will never stop. If it does, we will start all over again when someone will PROVE that Booth didn't die in the barn. It makes me shudder. If I get to heaven, and you haven't arrived yet, I'll send you all the right answers, and that will keep you busy.

[L Verge]

I promised some tidbits from the Tanner article in the current issue of Civil War Monitor. Here are a few teasers:

1. Few things occurred in the last half of the 19th century that did not involve Tanner in some way.
2. He grew up on a farm west of Albany, NY.
3. Enlisted with the 87th NY and marched off to war down Brooklyn's main street. He had never seen a train until he boarded one to go to war. Years later, in 1906, his wife would be killed in an automobile accident.
4. Lost both of his legs right below the knees at Second Manassas in 1862, and endured horrible treatments, surgeries, etc. for the rest of his life.
5. Within months, he began taking a stenography course at a Syracuse business school in order to prepare himself for life. This is where he entered the history books at the time of the Lincoln assassination.
6. He studied law after the war and worked for the U.S. Customs office in NYC. He also served as a tax collector for the city of Brooklyn for over a decade.
7. A part of the Gilded Age of economic growth and moved into the up-scale Prospect Park, where he got deeply involved in politics.
8. By the 1880s, he was a mover and shaker with the Republican Party and a Commissioner of Pensions in Washington. A little trouble here when critics accused him of being too generous to former soldiers. He efficiently managed more than 1500 clerks, agents, secretaries, medical examiners as well as others in field offices around the country. In charge of a payroll of $2.4 million. Dispensed pensions that amounted to one-third of the federal budget.
9. Elected commander in chief of the national GAR in 1906.
10. Became a leading force in the American Red Cross, especially during WWI.
11. Served as Register of Wills in D.C. until his death in 1927.
12. Heard one of his speeches broadcast on the radio in 1924.

[Rsmyth]

Sounds very interesting. His wife's death was tragic.

[L Verge]

Do you know the details of the accident, Rich? Also, I don't remember seeing a mention of where he/she are buried.

[Rsmyth]

Yes, to both. I will post when I get to my office.

[Rsmyth]

Tanner was married to Mero T. Tanner and together they had four children. Tanner and his wife were involved in an automobile accident near Helena, Montana when his wife was killed. Her obituary reads in part:

later in life.
WIFE OF CORPORAL TANNER KILLED
Auto Overturned Near Helena, Montana
G. A. R. Commander in Party But Is Not Hurt
Governor’s Wife and General Wilson Escape
HELENA, Montana, June 29, 1906 – Mrs. James Tanner, wife of the commander of the Grand Army of the Republic was killed this afternoon in an automobile accident.
Corporal Tanner and his wife arrived here this morning. This afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Tanner, Mrs. J. K. Toole, wife of Governor Toole, and General Lester Wilson made up a party to visit points near Helena.
On the way to Fort Harrison, while going at a fairly swift pace along a narrow road, the chauffer turned out to make room for a wagon. The road was so narrow that the automobile ran off the edge of the embankment, turned over and threw the occupants out.
Mrs. Tanner struck the ground first and Mrs. Toole and General Wilson fell on her. Mrs. Tanner, unconscious, was taken immediately to a hospital, dying just as she reached there. The other members of the party were not seriously hurt.

James Tanner died was buried in Section 2, site 877, of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, and two daughters, Ada (1868-1959) and Antionette (1870-1953) are also buried with him.

[Thomas Thorne]

I just finished reading "James Tanner in War and Peace" by James Marten. I had not realized how controversial his advocacy of generous benefits for Union veterans was.

Mr Marten quoted one newspaper which exclaimed "it will be a happy day for the republic when the the last beggar of the Grand Army humbug is securely planted."

I have a question about Tanner's role in the assassination aftermath. Do we we have primary source corroboration of both Tanner's participation as shorthand reporter for Stanton and the DC judges and his presence in the bedroom when Lincoln died?

Tanner's physical disabilities would have made him very conspicuous and his later notoriety would have permitted his critics to claim his account of the assassination to be a fable unless corroborated.

Tom