Volume 38, No. 4 – April 2025
Website: www.CivilWarRoundTablePalmBeach.org

The President’s Message:

Our April 9th, speaker will be Dr. Robert Watson.  He is a professor of America History at Lynn University.  I look forward to his presentation.

If anyone has a program that they would like to present, please speak to me at the meeting or call me.

I was pleased that Patrick Falci was able to be our speaker in March.  Many of his presentations are on YouTube (Do a Google search for Patrick Falci).

Gerridine LaRovere

March 12, 2025 Program:

Patrick Falci was our March speaker and as usual he brought Joe Wheeler to life with drama, exuberance, historical accuracy.  Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler was born on September 10, 1836.  Although of New England ancestry and directly descended from the English Puritans who came to New England, he was born near Augusta, Georgia. However, he considered himself a son of the South.

He was a soldier who wore many uniforms. The first of these was the gray cloth of a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Wheeler entered West Point in July 1854, barely meeting the height requirement. He was only 5' 2" at the time of entry.  He graduated on July 1, 1859, placing 19^th out of 22 cadets, and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the 1^st U.S. Dragoons.  Donning a blue uniform on June 26, 1860, he reported to the Regiment of Mounted Rifles stationed in the New Mexico Territory.  He fought in a skirmish with Indians and picked up the nickname "Fighting Joe." 

From the years 1861 to 1865 he wore Confederate grey fighting the Union blue.  In April 1862, first lieutenant served at Shiloh in the 19^th Alabama under Braxton Bragg.  During the Siege of Corinth in April and May, Wheeler's men while on picket duty repeatedly clashed with U.S. patrols.  Serving as acting brigade commander, Wheeler burned the bridges over the Tuscumbia River to cover the Confederate retreat to Tupelo, MS.  During the war it looked like “Fighting Joe” was everywhere.  He was in the West, in the deep south, and in the East, and fought using the style of mounted cavalry known as “cut, slash, and run.”

His Civil War career came to an end while attempting to cover Confederate President Jefferson Davis's flight south and west in May 1865.  Wheeler was captured at Conyers' Station just east of Atlanta.  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, 1865.

After the War Wheeler settled near Courtland, Alabama.  His home, Pond Spring, is in an area now known as Wheeler, Alabama.  Joe was not in good health and was bothered by a nervous condition. His doctor suggested he “get married to calm him down.”  Wheeler took that advice. He married Daniella Jones Sherrod and they had six children.  He tried farming, small business, and the law before entering into politics.

In 1880, Wheeler was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a hotly contested race. He served most of the term only to have the results of the election overturned.  His opponent, Col. William M. Lowe, a fiery leader of the Independent Democrats, took over the seat but died soon after.  Wheeler returned to Congress in 1885 to replace Lowe and served there until 1900. 

In 1898, Wheeler, at age 61, volunteered for the Spanish–American War.  Fighting Joe had become a crusader for pushing the United States toward war with Spain.  He received an appointment as major general of volunteers from President William McKinley.  From that beginning he earned a regular army commission as a brigadier general.  Some former U.S. and Confederate officers noted the irony of Wheeler serving in the U.S. Army. 

 The story becomes entwined with the life of Theodore Roosevelt.  Like Joe, Teddy wanted to go to war.  The administration liked the idea that a senior Confederate officer was rejoining the Army in service for the country.  Wheeler assumed command of the cavalry division, which included Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders.  This division was under the command of General William R. Shafter, Fifth Army Corps.  Roosevelt had formed the Rough Riders himself and recognized that he lacked army experience. He enlisted Leonard Wood to command the unit.  TR assumed the rank of lieutenant colonel under Wood.  Rounding out the famous names was First Lieutenant John “Black Jack” Pershing.  He got the title “Black Jack” because he was a white officer leading a unit of Buffalo Soldiers, the black calvary fighters in the post-Civil War army.

The cavalry units were formed in Texas, then shipped to Tampa, FL and transported to Cuba. However, logistics were a nightmare.  The army needed to get to Cuba fast, but the troops were green. Supplies took a long time to get to Florida, and ocean transportation was limited.  The Americans planned to destroy Spain's army forces in Cuba and capture the port city of Santiago de Cuba.  To reach Santiago they had to pass through concentrated Spanish defenses in the San Juan Hills.  The limits on transport ships meant that, except for a few officers, the cavalry had no horses.  The Rough Riders fought on foot.

Once the fighting started, old Joe Wheeler seemed to have forgotten which war he was fighting. During the excitement of the battle, Wheeler called out, "Let's go, boys!  We've got the damn Yankees on the run again!"  If this really happened, he would have been promptly reminded that he was one of the “damned Yankees.”

Wheeler fell seriously ill during the campaign and turned over command of the division to Brig. Gen. Samuel S. Sumner.  In July, Wheeler was still incapacitated.  When the Battle of San Juan Hill began, he heard the sound of guns. Once again, the "War Child" returned to the front despite his illness.  He was the senior officer at the front.  Upon taking the heights, Wheeler assured General William R. Shafter that the position could be held against a counterattack.  He led the division through the Siege of Santiago and was a senior member of the peace commission.  When back in the United States, Wheeler commanded the convalescent camp of the army at Montauk Point.

Wheeler sailed for the Philippines to fight in the Philippine–American War, arriving in August 1899.  He commanded the First Brigade in Arthur MacArthur's Second Division until January 1900.  During this period, Wheeler was mustered out of the volunteer service and commissioned a brigadier general in the regular army. He reentered the organization he had resigned from over 39 years before.  After hostilities, he commanded the Department of the Lakes until his retirement on September 10, 1900, and moved to New York City.

 He retired at the age of 64, but continued to travel to be of aid to U.S. Army veterans.  After a prolonged illness, Wheeler died in Brooklyn on January 25, 1906, at the age of 69.  He is one of the few Confederate officers buried within Arlington National Cemetery.