Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-08-31

in the Carolinas, and conceived bold
plot to rescue jeff Davis by selling the
steamer upon which the Confederate
leader and his party were conveyed to
Fortress Monroe. A trooper who rode
with Wheeler says Of the general
He was very small and remarkably youth
full in appearance-almost boyish, except for a
heavy silkcn beard-neat and dapper in dress,
as gentle hammered rs a woman, refined in ex-
preston, never indulging in oaths or rude
speech.
1t was when the battle was Joined, however,
that Wheeler was seen at his best. Then Il
was that the little general, mounted on his
black charger seemed to grow to the full stat
ure Of cavalryman II it was not an at.
tack that he was planning. he was organizing
n raid TO burn bridges tear up the rail
roads in the rear Of the enemy so that to
ride with Whcolor was to live in the saddle, to
sleep in the saddle, to be here today, but far
away tomorrow
Only white silken beard distinguish
ed the Wheeler of the sixties from the
Joe Wheeler of 1893. He was wiry, alert
and brave at Santiago, and carried him
self with all the fire of volunteer,
guided by the training Of a skilled sol
der. But somehow circumstances pre-
vented him from doing full justice to
his military reputation at Santiago. He
was prevented from attacking FL Caney
as he had planned, and he did not lead
his division in the attack on San Juan
hill, He helped hold the hill and was a
positive force in the campaign after the
first blow had been struck.
The veterans at Santiago were the
mainstay of the line. The younger gen
Grafton looked up to them with conf
dence and admiration, and the fact that
Wheeler's last uniform before he put
on khaki was the gray made no differ
ence. He was brave and wanted to
smash Spaniards all right. That was
enough Besides every one knew that
the Confederates put up good fight,
and the old flag is all the safer with
that stock in line again. If Wheeler had
done no more than to face Spaniards at
long range he would have signifed by
that act the reunion Of the blue and the
gray under one flag forever.
Passing from the battle with Span
iards at Santiago to the battle with fe-
yer and want at Camp Wikoff, Wheeler
showed himself in a still grander light.
Up TO the 10th of September he had
with him in camp two sons and two
daughters holding up his hands in the
struggle to alleviate suffering among
the stricken victors of Ell Caney and
San Juan Hill. The boy who was
drowned in the surf was Joe Wheeler
in his teens, and so the team was COM
plete-brains, youth and woman's ten
derness. If the fighters at Santiago can
never forget Joe Wheeler the soldier,
neither can the victims of famine and
fever forget the tireless administrator
of the i'll provided camp at Montauk.
He was their friend, the instrument for
carrying out the humane impulse Of the
country when the horrible truth was
made known that an enemy worse than
of the army Of liberation. No soldier at
Camp Wikotf was 80 lowly but that his
story penetrated headquarters, and if
he had no father or brother or sister
70 come to his relief then the COM
manding general himself or his son or
his daughter acted the part of father,
brother or sister until the crisis was
over and the last service done Doubly
hero. then, was Joe Wheeler, SOL
der free from the vices of the camp,
a Confederate free from bitterness, an
American nobleman free from the pride
of rank and privilege.
GEORGE l.. KILMER.