General Joseph Wheeler: the loyal rebel
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2009
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History
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Abstract
General Joseph Wheeler was born into a time of great change for the world and
America. In his lifetime horses were replaced by trains, sails by steam engines, and paintings by photographs. As a young man Wheeler watched and participated as his nation sought to tear itself in two. During his midlife, as an elected representative, he took part in attempts to heal the wounds of a bloody war that had kept the nation as one but left it divided in the minds of its people. In his later years, Wheeler once again
became a soldier and showed the world that the South was ready to be more than an occupied territory. As a young man the love of his home had led him to defiance and in later years that same love called him to serve once more. Through a study of Joseph Wheeler's life it is possible to follow the transitions that America went through during these times of change. Wheeler graduated from West Point, and led men the likes of Nathan Bedford Forrest with great zeal during the war. He practiced law after the war, defending the South from his seat in congress during the dark days of reconstruction. When war returned to America he volunteered to serve his
country against Spain. Wheeler would don the uniform of his former enemies and show the nation once and for all that the South had healed much since the war and was ready to be a loyal part of the Union. Following the Spanish-American War, America stood as a
united world power. No longer were the primary concerns of the nation internal; instead they focused on the place of America in the world. These times of change thrust men like Theodore Roosevelt, who served under Wheeler in Cuba, on to the world stage. This paper will explain the life of General "Fightin Joe" Wheeler. His actions on the battlefield, in Congress, and in Cuba, helped America get through the growing pains on its way to becoming a world power.