John A. Wagener was the founder of Walhalla. Born in Sievern, Kingdom of Hannover, Germany on July 21, 1816, he emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he became a leader in the German emigrant community and was elected Mayor of Charleston. He organized the German Colonization Society to find a suitable place for German emigrants to settle in upstate South Carolina. During the War Between the States, he served as a Colonel in the German Artillery, South Carolina Militia, Confederate States Army, and was later promoted to Brigadier General. He died on August 29, 1876, in Walhalla and was buried in Saint John's Lutheran Church cemetery at his request. His remains were later removed to Bethany Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina, where a monument was erected to him by veterans of the German Artillery.