HENRY O. WAGONER TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Chicago, Ill. 17 Aug[ust] 1849.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS:—

I have read with great pleasure in your paper of the 10th inst., your article headed “The Union of the Oppressed for the sake of Freedom.”¹This article outlined Douglass’s plan to create a National League of free blacks in the North. Douglass proposed a constitution for this new organization intended to unify the black community, elevate the condition of free blacks, and work for the abolition of slavery. NS, 10 August 1849. The idea and general plan, or rather platform, which you have thrown out in the article, I am constrained to think is an excellent one; and taking into consideration the various circumstances connected with the condition of our fellow-countrymen of the free States, it is, in my opinion, well calculated to bring about the desired result, namely, UNION, which is so much needed. The truth is, a union of sentiment and concert of action, in our cause, as in all others of like national character, is the starting point to any successful national reform; and I am encouraged to contemplate that reforms, once wisely commenced, never go backwards.²Wagoner paraphrases Thomas Skidmore, who wrote that “revolutions, never go backwards, are never given up, when their benefits are once tasted.” Thomas Skidmore, The Rights of Man to Property (1829; New York, 1964), 386. No people have ever achieved anything favorable to their united or general prosper[i]ty, without harmony, union of sentiment, and concert of action.

Now, as for my own part, I most heartily subscribe to your plan of organization, in order to bring about an union of our brethren of the free States; and I sincerely hope that every colored man who has the least spark of public spirit about him, will give you every encouragement to push this plan forward, and to bring it into practical operation as speedily as can be done. Go on, friend Douglass, in your efforts to abolish slavery, and to elevate and improve the free colored people of the United States, and Heaven will crown your efforts with success.

Respectfully yours,

H. O. WAGONERWagoner, Henry O.

One of Douglass’s most enduring friendships was with Henry O. Wagoner, Sr. (1816–1901). Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, to a formerly enslaved mother and a German father, Wagoner learned to read and write despite a lack of formal education. He spent most of his youth working on western Maryland farms, but fled to Ohio in 1838 out of fear that his Underground Railroad activities had roused suspicion. The following year he moved to Galena, Illinois, where he found employment as a newspaper typesetter and bill collector. He next worked for a newspaper and taught school in Chatham, Canada West, from 1843 until he relocated to Chicago in 1846 to run a profitable milling business. Wagoner met Douglass during one of the latter’s lecture tours in Illinois in the late 1840s and became an occasional correspondent for Douglass’s newspaper. Wagoner participated in abolitionist activities and aided John Brown in March 1858 by offering his mill as a hiding place for escaping Missouri slaves en route to Canada. During the Civil War, Wagoner recruited black troops for regiments in Illinois and Massachusetts. In 1865 he settled in Denver, Colorado, where he established a barbering business and quickly became a leader in the African American community. An active Republican, Wagoner campaigned for equal male suffrage as Colorado applied for statehood in the 18605, served as deputy sheriff of Arapaho County, Colorado, between 1865 and 1875, and received an appointment as clerk of the Colorado state legislature in 1876. With years of friendship between them, Wagoner and Douglass aided each other’s adult sons. In 1866 Wagoner hosted Frederick, Jr., and Lewis in Denver, teaching them typography. Eight years later Douglass returned the favor by helping to secure Henry O. Wagoner, Jr., a position as consular clerk in Paris, France. The younger Wagoner died while in Lyons, France, and upon the elder Wagoner’s request, Douglass looked for the grave during his 1886 European tour. NS, 18 February 1848, 24 August 1849; FDP, 11 December 1851; Denver Rocky Mountain News, 28 December 1901; Henry O. Wagoner to Douglass, 27 August 1866, 10 December 1873, 23 March 1878, 13 July, 13 October 1885, 19 August 1886, 1 September 1890, 17 August 1893, Henry O. Wagoner, Jr., to Douglass, 2 April 1874, 12 May 1877, Douglass to Lewis Douglass, 24 January 1887, all in General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 197–98, 700–703, 733–36, reel 3, frames 122–26, 241–43, reel 4, frames 193, 217–19, 380–81, reel 5, frames 783–84, reel 32, frames 250–51, FD Papers, DLC; William Simmons, Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising (Alexandria, Va., 1887), 679–84; Benjamin Quarles, Allies for Freedom: Blacks and John Brown (New York, 1974), 39, 59; Quintard Taylor, In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 1528–1990 (New York, 1998), 123. .

PLSr: NS, 24 August 1849.