Henry O. Wagoner to Frederick Douglass, December 10, 1873

HENRY O. WAGONER TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Denver, Colo. 10 Dec[ember] 1873.

My very dear old friend:

My Son,^{1Henry O. Wagoner, Jr.} my dear boy is here. He came on Sunday night and found me at my son-in-law’s house. After the joyous outbursts of nature and nature’s laws, in such Salutations, peculiar to such occasions, my first Enquiries were after you and your dear family, Lewis, Frederick^{2Lewis H. Douglass and Frederick Douglass, Jr.} and all. He at once gave us all the particulars, in his own peculiar style. Last night we slept together, if sleep I may call it, for we talked nearly the whole night, over a wide range of life. And I must here tell you what I have never told you before, that I could discover in the young man a certain impress of his dear Mother,^{3Susan Wagoner died in 1870. Junger, “Thinking Men and Women,” 160–61.} who now “sleeps the sleep that knows no waking.”^{4Wagoner alludes to lyrics from the song “Little Footsteps.” J. A. Barney, “Little Footsteps: Song & Chorus” (Boston, 1868), 2.} At the time of his Conception, and during gestation, his Mother had taken a deep interest in, and was strongly impressed with the character and admiration

of Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith and John P. Hale.^{5John Parker Hale (1806–73), congressman (1843–45) and senator (1847–53, 1855–65) from New Hampshire and minister to Spain (1865–69), was the presidential nominee of the moribund Liberty party in 1847–48 and of the Free Soil party in 1852. Removed from the Democratic party in 1845 because of his opposition to the annexation of Texas, Hale helped forge an antislavery coalition of Whigs and Independent Democrats that gained control of the New Hampshire legislature in 1846 and elected him to the U.S. Senate. Unhampered by partisan ties, Hale emerged during the first two years of his term as virtually the sole antislavery spokesman in the upper chamber. His approach to abolitionism was often indirect and legalistic, however, as exemplified by his response to the 1848 Pearl incident. Although deeply moved by the plight of the recaptured fugitives, Hale did not openly attack slavery or the slave trade but instead raised the issue of proslavery mobs. On 20 April 1848, two days after the mob attack on the National Era office, he introduced a bill to make local communities in the District of Columbia liable for damage to private property by any “riotous or tumultuous assemblage of people.” The bill contained no specific mention of slavery, yet it produced heated responses from several southern senators, including Henry S. Foote, who threatened to lynch Hale if the New Hampshireman ever ventured inside the state of Mississippi. The Pearl incident and its aftermath enhanced Hale’s stature among most abolitionists and helped to solidify his antislavery convictions. Richard H. Sewell, John P. Hale and the Politics of Abolition (Cambridge, Mass., 1965).} Should he, in some sort, seem to echo your Honorable self, let it not be set down as an imitative disposition, but as an inherent impress, a gift of Nature, which, of course, is susceptible of cultivation. I see that even now, at his present time of life, he can imitate your voice, elocution, manner or style, with, as I think, Great Exactness. But I will not dwell.

Well, my dear man, as I approach that great End, to which we must all come at last, I am a little disposed to contemplate the planatery system in which we live. What a glorious theme it is to me to contemplate the great fact, to even a limited Extent, that natures laws are fixed and immutable through the Ages. Yes, evolution and progress are immutable laws which plainly disclose themselves to discerning minds. What a glorious Century is this in which you and I have lived, and what a part you have played. Thinking men and women, in the coming centuries, will look back with interest at the great work you have done. Of course we will continue to the End to do all the good we can, so let us, in the mean time, be as jovial and as happy as we may—

In conclusion, I am strong in my gratitude to you and to all who have acted with me in helping my son to his present position.^{6Douglass had helped Wagoner’s son receive a post in the consul’s office in the U.S. embassy in Paris in 1873. Junger, “Thinking Men and Women,” 161.} I trust he will do no discredit to those who have taken an interest in him. But Enough—

As ever

H. O. WAGONER

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 700–03L, FD Papers, DLC.

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