Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1906-01-26
DEATH OF GEN. WHEELER.

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Gen. Joseph Wheeler died at 5.S5
O'Clock Yesterday afternoon at the home
of his sister, Mrs. Sterling Smith, in
Brooklyn. He was 90 years old.
1t has not yet been decided where tie
body will be inferred, but proably it
will be in Arlington National Cemetery.
General Wheeler was taken i'll six
days ago at his sisters home, where he
had been living recently. He contracted
severe cold, which developed into
pieurisy and pneumonia. From the
first his age told against him, but the
family did not give up nope until We'd
nesday night, when the disease was
found TO have affected both lungs. Gen
eral Wheeler's immediate relatives were
all with him.
Gen. Joseph Wheeler ranked high
among the brilliant cavary leaders de
yeloped BY the civil war When he sur
rendered "a lieutenant general in the
service of the Confederacy he was only
30 years old, yet he was senior cavalry
officer in the Confederate army. Thirty
three years later, rs major general OF vol
unteers, U. : A., he was leading Ameri-
can cavalry against The Spaniards inCuba
In his last service he showed the same
dash, the same capacity for oudden,
brilliant movements that worried federal
generals in the cival war.
General Wheeler was born ia Augusta,
Ga, on September 10, 1886. His an
ceslors were English, his parents one of
the FIRST families of Georgia, In 1854
he sought and secured the appointment
a. cadet to the Military Academy at
West Point He received the rank Of
lieutenant of cavalry, and soon there
after was ordered to New Mexico, and
then to Kansas. In both places he did
much hard work and saw blood spilled
in various Indian scouting engagements.
Then came the civil war in which his
military genius and dash we're displayed
on many occasions. He had a number
of narrow escapes, on one occasion q
horse upon which he was riding having
been blown 10 pieces. He was generally
regarded as having charmed life. In
October, 1862, he was made brigadier
general, and 10 January. 1863, he was
promoted to major general. Besides
being in many skirmishes, General
Wheeler commanded in large num-
Der of battles, many Of which, coz
siderng the numbers engaged, were
among the most severe and successful re-
corded in the history Of cavalry. On the
death Of Stuart ne became senior cavalry
general of the Confederate army. At the
conclusion of the war General Wheeler
settled in Wheeler, Lawrence coun Y,
Ala, where he became lawyer and cot
ton planter. He was elected to Congress
in 1881 from the Eighth district OF Ala
hama, aud served continuously unul
1899. He was reelected to The Fifty
sixth Congress, but resigned From 1886
to 1900 he was regent ofthe Smithsonian
Institution aud was member of the
board of visitors 10 the Military Academy
frJm 1887 to 1898, again in 1895, vice
president of the board in 1887 aud presi-
dent IN 1895. o May 4, 1898. Presi-
dent Mckinley appointed General
Wheeler major general of volunteers,
u. 5. A. He was assigned to the COM
maud of the cavalry division Of the army
at Santiago. At he battle of Las Guas-
imas, June "a, 1898, General Wheeler
was in command, and was senior officer
in the field at the battle of San Juan Hill
From August, 1899, to January, 1900.
he commanded brigade in the Philip
pine IsIands. On June 6, 1900, he was
commissioned brigadier general, U. ;
A., and assigned to command the De-
partment OF the Lakes He remained
in the army until September 10, 1906,
when he resigned. General Wheeler
was a member of the Society OF Colonial
Wars, Sons Of the Revolution, Society
Of the War of 1912, Society of Santiago
aud the Naval and Military Order of the
Spanish. American War. He was the
author OF "Account OF the Kentucky
Campaign" 1862; Cavalry Ia tics, "
1868; military History of Alabama"
History of the Santiago Campaign,
1898; "Hstofy of Cuba, 1896 to 1899"
"History OF the Effect Upon Civil
izalion # the Wars of the Nineteenth
Century," and also eight volumes f
congressional speeches, 1888 to 1898.
He wrote also monographs upon the
lives of Admiral Dewey, William Me
Kinley, StonewalI Jackson and Theo-
dore Roosevelt He was frequent con-