Joseph Wheeler

Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler (September 10, 1836 – January 25, 1906) was an American military commander and politician. He is known for having served both as a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and then as a general in the United States Army during both the Spanish–American War and Philippine–American War near the turn of the twentieth century. For much of the Civil War he served as the senior cavalry general in the Army of Tennessee and fought in most of its battles in the Western Theater.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga

Wheeler and his troopers guarded the army’s left flank at Chickamauga in September 1863, and after the routed Union Army collected in Chattanooga, Gen. Braxton Bragg sent Wheeler’s men into central Tennessee to destroy railroads and Federal supply lines in a major raid. On October 2 his raid at Anderson’s Cross Roads (also known as Powell’s Crossroads) destroyed more than 700 Union supply wagons, tightening the Confederates siege on Chattanooga. Pursued by his Union counterparts, Wheeler advanced to McMinnville and captured its 600-man garrison. There were more actions at Murfreesboro and Farmington, but by October 9 Wheeler had safely crossed the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.^[9] The extensive raid and a subsequent northern movement to assist Gen. James Longstreet in his siege of Knoxville, would cause the mounted arm of the army to miss the battles for Chattanooga (November 23–25). Wheeler covered Bragg’s retreat from Chattanooga following the Union breakthrough at Missionary Ridge on November 25 and received a wound in his foot as his cavalry and Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s infantry fought at the Battle of Ringgold Gap on November 27.

Georgia and the Carolinas

During Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign Wheeler’s cavalry corps screened the flanks of the Army of Tennessee as Gen. Joseph E. Johnston drew back from several positions toward Atlanta. In July, Sherman sent two large cavalry columns to destroy the railroads supplying the defenders of Atlanta. With fewer than 5,000 cavalrymen, Wheeler defeated the enemy raids, resulting in the capture of one of the two commanding generals, Maj. Gen. George Stoneman (the highest ranking Union prisoner of war). In August, Wheeler’s corps crossed the Chattahoochee River in an attempt to destroy the railroad Sherman was using to supply his force from Chattanooga. Wheeler’s men captured the town of Dalton, but he was unable to defeat the Union garrison, which was protected in a nearby fort. Wheeler then took his men into East Tennessee, crossing the Tennessee River above Knoxville. His raid continued to the west, causing minor interruptions in the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad and then continued south through Franklin until he recrossed the Tennessee at Tuscumbia. Wheeler’s raid was described by historian Ed Bearss as a “Confederate disaster” because it caused minimal damage to the Union while denying Gen. John Bell Hood, now in command of the Army of Tennessee, the direct support of his cavalry arm. Without accurate intelligence of Sherman’s dispositions, Hood was beaten at Jonesborough and forced to evacuate Atlanta. Wheeler rendezvoused with Hood’s army in early October after destroying the railroad bridge at Resaca.^[11]

In late 1864, Wheeler’s cavalry did not accompany Hood on his Franklin–Nashville Campaign back into Tennessee and was virtually the only effective Confederate force to oppose Sherman’s March to the Sea to Savannah.^[12] However, his resistance to Sherman did little to comfort Georgia civilians, and lax discipline within his command caused great dissatisfaction. Robert Toombs was quoted as saying, “I hope to God he will never get back to Georgia.” Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill wrote that “the whole of Georgia is full of bitter complaints of Wheeler’s cavalry.”^[13]

Wheeler and his men continued to attempt to stop Sherman in the 1865 Carolinas Campaign. He defeated a Union cavalry force under Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick in South Carolina at the Battle of Aiken on February 11. He was replaced as cavalry chief by Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton and fought under him at the Battle of Bentonville on March 19–20.^[13] While attempting to cover Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s flight south and west in May, Wheeler was captured at Conyer’s Station just east of Atlanta. He had intended to reach the Trans-Mississippi and Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, still resisting out west, and had with him three officers from his staff and 11 privates when he was taken.^[14] Wheeler was imprisoned for two months, first at Fort Monroe and then in solitary confinement at Fort Delaware, where he was paroled on June 8.^[15]

During his career in the Confederate States Army, Wheeler was wounded three times, lost 36 staff officers to combat, and a total of 16 horses were shot from under him. Military historian Ezra J. Warner believed that Wheeler’s actions leading cavalry in the conflict “were second only to those of Bedford Forrest”.^[16]

Legacy

In 1925, the state of Alabama donated a bronze statue of Joseph Wheeler to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol. Additionally, several locations in Alabama are named after Wheeler including Joe Wheeler State Park,^[20] Wheeler Lake and Dam, and the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. Also, Joseph Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, and Wheeler County, Georgia are named after him. During World War II, the United States Navy named a Liberty Ship in honor of Wheeler. Wheeler Road, a main thoroughfare through west Augusta is named after him as well. Furthermore, Joe Wheeler Electric Cooperative in northwest Alabama also honors him. Also Camp Wheeler, near Macon, Georgia (which served as an army base during both World Wars) was named for Wheeler.^[21]

The City of Derby, Connecticut, where Wheeler grew up, named him as one of the first members of its Hall of Fame in 2007.^[22]

Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wheeler.

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