The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-29
IN CAREER
 OF GEN. JOE WHEELER

up that hill. Gen. Wheeler laughed as heartily as any one at 1t and said:
 Why. that is funny, indeed. I must have forgotten just where I was"
 General Wheeler was then major gen eral, and yet no one would have suspect ed it from his equipment. His campaign outfit consisted of an old slouch hat that had seen years of hard service, a blue flannel shirt. and pair of khaki trousers that had seen better days. There was not single insignia of his high rank A story came back from the front. while the American army was investing Santiago, telling how the then Colonel Roosevelt, commander of the Rough Riders went to see General Wheeler. Roosevelt was directed to the front and told that Gen. eral Wheeler was out there some place looking for spaniards.n The colonel found him up a tall tree with battered old field glass glued to his eyes,
 Gen. Joseph Wheeler, with all his great ness, was one of the most modest of men. Quiet, reserved and unassuming. he was five feet six inches. He weighed only no pounds at his best but. as Speak CT Reed once said in the House at Wash ington, there's a fight in every pound of the congressman from Alabama" He was nothing more than a bundle of nerves and unfagging courage. With the possi- ble exception of Gen "Jeb" Stuart, he was the greatest of all the cavalry lead CTS in the army of the Confederacy. It was General Wheeler who made the great CT part of the trouble General sherman had on his historic march to the sea " The little Confederate leader held on to Shermans army with the tenacity of a bulldog. His cavalrymen fell on the Hanks and rear of the Union forces at the most unexpected times and places, and har- assed them throughout the campaign
 In one of his reports later General Sherman referred to this harassing de- tachment of Confederates as "that batch of devils under Wheeler" But in the years that followed the war these two great leaders met many times, and strong friendship grew up between them.
 At the battle of Shiloh his regiment and it's commander distinguished them selves. The regiment was almost cut to pieces in the battle but, then colonel. Wheeler, according to the official report of General Chambers, his brigade com mander, bravely charged at the head of the small remnant of his regiment and the remnant of the Mississppians, bear ing the regiment colors aloft." In this charge two horses were shot under him. Before the war was ended sixteen horses were shot and killed under him in bat tie. From his valor on this occasion he received the nickname of "Fighting Joe" which stuck to him for the remainder of his life.
 In the war no fewer than thIrty-two of his staff officers were killed or wounded while riding beside him in battle. Gen. eral Wheeler was wounded three times slightly and once painfully, and his sad dle equipments and clothes were fre- quently struck. He received his most. serious wound in 1862 in an engagement near Nashville. On this occasion his horse was torn to pieces by an exploding shell, his aide was killed beside him, and he himself was wounded. but he mounted another horse, got another aide and con tinued the fight. He was in over 800 slSirmishes and commanded in more than 200 battles.
 At the age of 27 his reckless bravery had won for him a major generals com mission. He commanded the Confederate cavalry at Chattanooga and Chickamau- ga. After Chiekamauga, where, as usual, his dash and valor were conspicuous, he fell on General Rosecrans' line and sew cred 1t. destroyed 12OO wagons and dam aged national property valued at 100000 His career of brilliant mischief suffered check, however, and he was driven back into northern Alabama
 It was due largely to General Wheeler's skill and fearlessness as a cavalry leader that the Confederate forces under Gen. eral Braxton Bragg were able to retreat in good order and almost unmolested af- ter Missionary Ridge and Lookout noun tain. His most famous exploit, perhaps. was performed in his efforts to oppose General Williams T. Sherman's advance on Atlanta Scarcely a day passed with out skirmish which was almost a bat tie. and the Union troops never knew at what hour or place Fighting Joe" might be expected with his furious onslaughts of cavalry In one of his attacks on General Stonemans forces he succeeded in capturing the general himself and sev- eral other famous officers