Major General Joseph Wheeler - the Controversy

Background

This is the entry from my US Civil War Generals site.

Name WHEELER, Joseph "Fightin' Joe"
Born September 10 1836, Augusta GA
Died January 25 1906, Brooklyn NY
Pre-War Profession Graduated West Point 1859, frontier duty, resigned April 1861.
War Service 1861 1st Lt. of artillery, September 1861 Col. of 19th Alabama, Shiloh, chief of cavalry in Army of the Mississippi, Kentucky campaign, October 1862 Brig. Gen., commanded the Cavalry Divn at Murfreesboro, January 1863 Maj. Gen., commanded the cavalry at Chickamauga, raided around Chattanooga, Knoxville campaign, commanded Cavalry Corps in Atlanta campaign, opposed Sherman's March to the Sea, Carolinas campaign, superseded by Hampton.
Post War Career Cotton planter, US congressman, Maj. Gen. of volunteers in Spanish-American war, commanded a brigade in the Philippines, commissioned a Brig. Gen. in the Regular Army.
Notes Second only to Forrest as a raider.
Further reading
De Leon, T. C. Joseph Wheeler, the man, the statesman, the soldier; seen in semi-biographical sketches Kennesaw GA, Continental Book Co. 1960
Staff Officer Synopsis of the military career of Gen. Joseph Wheeler Birmingham AL, Birmingham Public Library Press 1988

But there is some confusion about whether Wheeler was, at the end of War, a Major General or Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army.

Was he ever promoted to the grade of Lieutenant General?

If you look around the Web, you'll find many pages that claim that he was promoted to the grade of Lieutenant General in February 1865. Some of the sites that make this claim are:

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Alabama Hall of Fame: Joseph Wheeler
• Joseph Wheeler, Lieutenant General, Confederate States of America - from the Arlington National Cemetery Website
• A Chronology of the Life and Career of Joseph "Fightin' Joe" Wheeler - from the Wheeler Plantation Website, although the editor of the site has acknowledged that there is debate on the matter.

Well, I reckon they're wrong. And I'm not alone. The two prime cataloguers of Civil War leaders' biographical information in recent times are Ezra J Warner and Dave Eicher. Warner specifically addresses the issue of this promotion in Generals in Gray:

Some readers may also take issue with the grade herein assigned to general officers. It has almost always been taken for granted, for example, that Major Generals John B. Gordon of Georgia and Joseph Wheeler of Alabama were lieutenant generals, despite the fact that no conclusive evidence exists to support to support such assumptions. Unofficial lists of Confederate generals usually cite both officers as lieutenant generals. The biographical sketch of Wheeler in Confederate Military History even cites a date of appointment (February 28, 1865). In point of fact, Wheeler's nomination as a major general was debated in the Senate for over year; confirmation was finally voted, 12 to 9, only by Davis's appealing to the distinctly unfriendly Joseph E. Johnston for assistance in persuading certain recalcitrant senators. (11) It is entirely probable that Johnston, who was partial to Wheeler, recommended the latter for promotion; there are indications in the Official Records which can be construed to mean that he gave Wheeler assurances of a forthcoming commission at that grade. No evidence of such, however, can be found. [p. xvii]

(530) For verification of the fact that Wheeler was not promoted a lieutenant general, see the author's analysis in the Introduction, and S.H.S.P. XXXII, 41-42. Wade Hampton was unquestionably promoted lieutenant general (February 14, 1865) in order to rank Wheeler, whom he was to supersede, and who ranked Hampton as a major general by seniority. [p. 398]

Dave Eicher, with his father John, in 2001 produced Civil War High Commands, the most comprehensive compilation ever of biographical data of senior officers and leaders of both sides in the Civil War. The entry for Wheeler notes his highest promotion as Major General on 20 January 1863. No mention is made of a promotion to Lieutenant General.

The evidence against the promotion

Acknowledging that it's difficult to prove a negative, I offer two arguments - that if the promotion had occurred, there would have been some documentation; and that the written record shows that while Wheeler styled himself as Lieutenant General for a short period towards the end of the war, virtually nobody else acknowledged this.

First, the paper trail. The advance of the Federal forces after the breakout at Petersburg in April 1865 caused many of the papers of the Confederate Government to be destroyed. Some of these papers may have shed some light on Wheeler's claims. Nevertheless, there is some remaining documentary evidence that would be expected to confirm or deny whether a promotion had taken place. The most significant documentation is the Journal of the Confederate Congress.

Every promotion to General grades in the army of the CSA had to be confirmed by the Confederate Senate. The Journal includes such confirmations: Wheeler's 1863 promotion to Major General is there, Hampton's 1865 promotion to Lieutenant General is there, but there is no record of a confirmation of Wheeler's promotion to Lieutenant General - either in February 1865 or at any other time.

Next, there's the issue of other people's response to Wheeler at the time that he was calling himself Lieutenant General.

The Official Records show that during the early part of April 1865, Wheeler in his correspondence with other Confederate officers, signed himself as Lieutenant General Joseph Wheeler. Examples are:

• From Raleigh, April 4, 1865--2 p.m. to General J. E. Johnston, Smithfield
  (But when Johnston replied to Wheeler later that day, he addressed him as Major-General Wheeler)
• From Raleigh, April 4, 1865--2 p.m. to General G. T. Beauregard, Greensborough.
  (Beauregard's response is to General Wheeler)
• From near Black Creek, April 10, 1865--10.30 a.m. to General J. E. Johnston, Smithfield Station.
• From near Black Creek Station, April 10, 1865--5.20 p.m. to General Braxton Bragg, Raleigh.
• From near Black Creek Station, April 10, 1865--7.10 p.m. to General Braxton Bragg, Raleigh.
• From Headquarters Cavalry Corps, April 10, 1865--12 m. to Maj. C. S. Carrington, Tarborough.
• From near Black Creek Station, April 11, 1865--8.30 a.m. to General J. E. Johnston.
• From Headquarters Cavalry Corps, Near Black Creek Station, Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, April 11, 1865--10 a.m. to General J. E. Johnston.
• However, from near Hillsborough, N. C., April 13, 1865--7 p.m. to General J. E. Johnston, Company's Shops, Wheeler signed himself Major-General.
• From Morrisville Station, April 14, 1865--8.35 a.m. to General J. E. Johnston, Greensborough he returned to signing Lieutenant-General.
• As he did from Morningsville, April 14, 1865--1.25 p.m. to General J. E. Johnston.
• And from near Chapel Hill, April 16, 1865--5.20 p.m. to General J. E. Johnston, Greensborough
• From Headquarters Cavalry Corps, Greensborough and Salisbury Road, April 20, 1865 to General J. E. Johnston, he had returned to signing as Major-general.
  And there is no record of his signing further correspondence as Lieutenant-General.

Apart from Johnston's reply to his note of April 4, others who addressed him explicitly as Major-General during this period and after were:

• J. E. Johnston from near Smithfield, N. C., April 5, 1865--6.30 a.m.
• Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton from Boon Hill, April 9, 1865.
• General J. E. Johnston, April 27, 1865---8 p.m.
• Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton, April 27, 1865--11 p.m.

Various Confederate authorities appear to have no misunderstanding of his grade around that time. First, General J. E. Johnston to General Robert E. Lee, from Smithfield, N. C., March 27, 1865:

• ... Lieutenant-General Hardee, detached to that point with the reserves, met it in front with Cumming's (Georgia) brigade, the only infantry up, while cavalry, directed by Lieutenant-General Hampton and Major-General Wheeler, was thrown upon its flanks. By these combined attacks this corps was promptly driven back. In this affair Cumming's brigade, under Colonel Henderson, and the Eighth Texas Cavalry, distinguished themselves. In the latter General Hardee's son, a very promising youth of sixteen, fell mortally wounded when gallantly charging in the foremost rank.

• Camp Humes' Cavalry Division,
  In the Field, Wayne County, N. C., April 3, 1865.
  Whereas, information from a credible source has reached this command that the impression prevails in official circles at Richmond, and especially in the Department of War, that this corps is dissatisfied with and lacks confidence in Major-General Wheeler, and that the wholesale charge of want of fidelity on the part of the men to the cause they have so long served is boldly brought against the whole command, therefore, in obedience to the requirements of justice alike to the gifted chief and noble patriot who has so long led us, and whose name we have so long proudly borne, and to the gallant men composing this corps, who through all vicissitudes, left without pay for months at a time, half clad and partially shod, have nobly stood by their colors for twelve months past, not having seen a day that has not witnessed a collision between the enemy and some part of this corps, and as each succeeding day called for renewed proof of devotion and courage, no demand was left unanswered by it by the officers of Humes' cavalry division, representing the feelings and wishes of the enlisted men of the entire division as well as their own--
  Resolved, first, That since the organization of this cavalry corps we have followed Major-General Wheeler, and have always found him vigilant, active, and brave, and that during this long period, now over eighteen months, he has never been absent from his post for an hour, constantly giving his personal attention to the interests of the cause. He has been foremost in fight, in most instances even leading and directing the movements of the skirmish line, in every exigency his presence inspiring the utmost confidence on the part of all his troops.
  ...
  Resolved, fifth, That a copy of this preamble and resolutions be furnished each division commander of this corps, and also that a copy be sent to Major-General Wheeler, and that another be forwarded through the proper channel to the War Department.
  [Signed by H. M. Ashby, colonel, commanding Humes' division; James H. Lewis, lieutenant-colonel, commanding Tennessee Brigade; Baxter Smith, colonel, commanding Harrison's brigade, and 119 subordinate officers.]
  

and later in April

• GREENSBOROUGH, April 27, 1865--12.30 p.m.
  COMMANDING OFFICER AT SALISBURY:
  Communicate to Major-General Wheeler that General Johnston directs he take a brigade to the position recently occupied by Butlet's division below Hillsborough, in addition to Anderson's, which has been ordered there. Wheeler's cavalry was ordered to the valley of the Yadkin, below Salisbury. General Wheeler's whereabouts not definitely known here. Acknowledge.
  ARCHER ANDERSON,
  Assistant Adjutant-General.

His Union captors certainly regarded his as a Major General:

• FORT MONROE, May 19, 1865.
  ADJUTANT-GENERAL:
  SIR: I have the honor to report that I have just arrived at this point on board the steamer Clyde, in charge of a party of prisoners from Macon, Ga., consisting of Jeff. Davis and family, Alexander It. Stephens, C. C. Clay and wife, Major-General Wheeler and staff, Postmaster-General Reagan, Colonel Johnston and Colonel Lubbock, aides-de-camp to Davis, and Harrison, his private secretary, besides several other unimportant names. The Clyde is under the convoy of the steam sloop-of-war Tuscarora. We will depart for Washington at once.
  I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
  B. D. PRITCHARD,
  Lieutenant-Colonel Fourth Michigan Cavalry.
  

and

• No. 9.--Reports of Bvt. Brig. Gen. William J. Palmer, Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanding Cavalry Division. HDQRS. CAVALRY DIV., DIST. OF EAST TENNESSEE,
  Howell's Ford, near Warsaw, on the Chattahoochee,
  May 12, 1865--5 p.m.
  MAJOR: After my last dispatch to you from Athens via Ashville, I got reliable information from a scout, disguised as a Confederate soldier, who stated positively that he had traveled with him for a day, that Davis was one mile and a half from Willis' Ferry, on the Oconee River, a short distance above the mouth of the Appalachee, moving westward. This was at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 7th instant. The scout left him at that point to report to me at Athens, and, on the way, eight miles northwest of where he had left Davis' party, near Salem, he states that he met General Bragg with about 100 men, most of whom were without arms, and five wagons. He traveled with Bragg some distance toward Furlow's Bridge, over the Appalachee, and then came to Athens. A detachment of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry sent in pursuit succeeded in capturing General Bragg below Concord, west of Monticello, on the night of the 9th instant, with his wife, 3 staff officers, 1 ambulance, and 3 wagons. There was no specie in the wagons, but an assortment of provisions, horse equipments, papers, wines, &c. The lieutenant, in violation of orders, paroled Bragg to report to General Wilson, at Macon, he stating that he was not trying to escape, but was simply going to his home in Alabama. He had, however, passed around detachment of my command at Madison, and had evaded another detachment at Covington, and I have no doubt whatever but that he was a candidate for the Trans-Mississippi Department, and that he had been with Davis but a very short time before. A detachment of the Twelfth Ohio Cavalry which I had stationed at Monroe, while pursuing a party which they took to be Davis, also captured at Conyer's Station, west of Yellow River, on the morning of the 9th instant, Major-General Wheeler, 3 of his staff, and 11 privates. Wheeler had a forged parole on his person, and tried to pass himself off as Lieutenant Sharp, stating that he had been paroled. . . . .
  WM. J. PALMER,
  Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General, Commanding.

And finally in his parole, given at Fort Delaware on 8 June 1865, he signs as "J Wheeler, Major. Genl. C.S.A." (Compiled Service Record of Wheeler, Joseph, Cav. Corp. Army of Tenn., Record Group 109, Part 9, National Archives Microfilm Publication, M331, Roll 25, National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.)

On the other hand, there are references in the Official Records that acknowledge him as a Lieutenant General:

• JANUARY 1-APRIL 26, 1865.--The Campaign of the Carolinas.
  No. 285.--Organization of the Confederate Forces,(*) commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston.(+) . . . CAVALRY CORPS. Lieut. Gen. WADE HAMPTON. Consisted of Lieut. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's corps and the division of Maj. Gen. M. C. Butler, embracing, in part, the following-named organizations:
  

and

• JANUARY 1-APRIL 26, 1865.--The Campaign of the Carolinas. No. 304.--Reports of Lieut. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, C. S. Army, commanding Cavalry Corps, of operations January 3-April 15.
  

and Wheeler's report, written presumably shortly after April 15:

• SYNOPSIS FROM MARCH 1 TO APRIL 15, 1865.
  . . . [signed] J. WHEELER,
  Lieutenant-General.

Summary

So, it looks like he believed that, for the period 4-16 April 1865, he was entitled to call himself Lieutenant General Wheeler. Apart from Wheeler's own report, there are two places in the Official Records, one in the Table of Organisation and one in a heading, that credit him with the grade of Lieutenant General.

Against this, his superiors and his troops around the time - as well as his Union captors later - knew him as Major General Wheeler. There is also Warner's comment (above) that Hampton's promotion was specifically made to allow him to rank Wheeler. And there is no record of his promotion in the Journal of the Confederate Congress.

Which leads us to two questions - why did he feel that he had been promoted, and why is there still confusion on this issue?

First, regarding the reason why he believed himself to be entitled to the higher rank, Warner suggests (above) that Wheeler believed that Johnston intended to recommend him for promotion. We can't know what passed between the two, but if this was Johnston's intention, there's no evidence of it being followed through, and when Wheeler did begin to sign his correspondence with the higher rank, the only response from Johnston was a pointed reply to "Major-General Wheeler". And why did he stop doing this after April 15?

There's also the question of the date of the promotion. The Wheeler Plantation website says that the date of the promotion was 28 February 1865 (which Warner also attributes to Confederate Military History). If this did indeed happen (and there is nothing in the Journal to suggest that it did) why did Wheeler wait for five weeks to begin to use his new rank?

Second, on the subject of the ongoing confusion, I suggest that there's a simple answer. When it was time to supply his biographical information to the US Congress, Wheeler said that he was a Lieutenant General CSA at the end of the War, and this has mostly been accepted uncritically ever since: by the US Congress, by Arlington Cemetery and others.

In conclusion

I have not entered into this discussion to blacken the name of a man who fought bravely for the causes in which he believed. I have only tried to set out arguments to state why I believe he was never entitled to style himself as Lieutenant General, CSA.

One day it may happen that conclusive evidence of Wheeler's promotion to Lieutenant General is found. If so, many of the questions asked here will still have no answers, but I will change this page.

Until that happens, I will be very interested to hear any comments about this subject. Feel free to mail me at kwebb@grapevine.com.au

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mark, who set me on this path, and to Gerry Strey of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Dave Powell and Laddin Montgomery, who all provided assistance in tracking down details.

Kerry Webb
Canberra
Australia

Last updated September 2010