The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-04-04

n In the fall of
IT, N 1864 Wheeler
S&sRs.S rode for a month
MEwmW. ~ in the rear Of
SI59aaALsN w Sherman's army
WSMsSSTsa through Tennes-
MM&., ~ see and northern
- = = ! !; J ! !: : ! . ! !; ] ]; J J J !
~ MMMyn Alabama and
~ \IyHXW M(Ecafterward circled
'VNYHe W$sNHM around to the
HMIMWSS Wv front Of Uncle
~Z~ Billy's colu mn
49, on it's march to
the sea. He was
0 EEL IN lS9o. in at the wind up
in the Carolinas, and conceived a bold
plot to rescue jeff Davis by seizing 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 silken beard-neat and dapper in dress.
as gentle hammered as q 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 1t
was that the little general, mounted on his
black charger, seemed to grow to the full stat
ure OF a cavalryman. If it was not an at
tack that he was planning, he was organizing
o raid to burn bridges or tear up the rail
roads in the rear of the enemy, SO that tn
ride with Wheeler was to live in the saddle, to
sleep in the saddle, to be here today, but far
away tomorrow.
Only a white silken beard distinguish
ed the Wheeler of the sixties from the
Joe Wheeler of 1898. He was wiry, alert
and brave at Santiago. and carried him.
self with all the fire of q 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 q
positive force in the campaign after the
first blow had been struck.
The veterans at Santiago were the
mainstay of the line. The younger gem
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 a 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 Wikof. 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 a Joe Wheeler
in his teens, and SO the team wac COM
plete-brains, youth and woman's ten
derness. Ii the fighters at Santiago can
new 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
Mauser bullets had struck at the vitals
OF the army Of liberation. No soldier at
Camp Wikoff was SO lowly but that his
story penetrated headquarters, and if
he had no father or brother or sister
to ccme 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
q hero. then. was Joe Wheeler, a 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.. KnMER.