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A Soldier to the Last: Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler in Blue and Gray
Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler served in two armies, playing a major role in the development of Confederate cavalry in the Civil War's western theater, and, more than thirty years afterwards, commanded troops in the Spanish-American War. After leaving the U.S. Army to join the Confederacy, Wheeler served in artillery and infantry units before joining the cavalry. Subsequently, he fought at Shiloh, the Battle of Murfreesboro, and other engagements. As a cavalry commander in the Army of Tennessee from mid-1862 almost to the war's end, he raided Gen. William T. Sherman's lines of communication and contested his advance in the final Carolinas campaign. In addition to detailing Wheeler's Civil War experience, Edward Longacre discusses Wheeler's youth and education at West Point, his pre-Civil War service in the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, his postwar business, his political career as a congressman from Alabama, and his colorful service in Cuba as a major general of volunteers during the Spanish-American War. Longacre also seeks to correct errors and misconceptions about this Civil War figure that have become a part of the public record, making Joseph Wheeler's life and career accessible to a new generation of readers. A Soldier to the Last will be a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in Civil War history and U.S. military history.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 4, 2023
The title of “A Soldier to the Last” is very descriptive, as it is a biography of Major General Joseph Wheeler with his military career the focal point. His personal and political lives are touched upon, but very briefly in comparison.
Though the scion of New England families, Wheeler was born in Augusta, Georgia where his parents had sought, in vain as it turned out, a climate more salubrious to his mother’s health. Returning to New England, Wheeler attended Episcopal Academy of Connecticut where he befriended his classmate, J. Piermont Morgan. Aware of his family’s military tradition in the Revolution and War of 1812, he obtained a nomination to West Point from a congressman from New York where he had moved in with relatives. Ironically, given his later career, his nomination was forwarded to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. In the undistinguished class of 1859, Wheller graduated 19 out of 22, with no accomplishments suggestive of a successful military career.
Assigned to the 1st United States Dragoons, he received cavalry training at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania and Jefferson Barracks, Missouri before successfully requesting transfer to the Mounted Riflemen fighting Indians in New Mexico Territory. After Georgia seceded, Wheeler resigned from the United States Army and offered his services to the governor of his native state, his family roots in Northern soil notwithstanding.
Appointed a second lieutenant in the Confederate Artillery, Wheeler began Confederate service that brought him to many significant engagements in the Western Theatre. Beginning with the defense of Pensacola, Florida. Transferred among units commanded by Braxton Bragg, P. G. T. Beauregard and Leonidas Polk, Wheeler advanced to colonel and brigadier general. He saw action at Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee, Kentucky, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and harassed Sherman’s March Through Georgia. Not surrendering until captured while attempting to catch up and escort fleeing President Jefferson Davis, Wheeler was confined for a while before release and return home.
His family’s property having been devastated during the War, Wheeler pursued business interests in New Orleans and Alabama, where he turned to law before election to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1880. Recognized primarily for constituent service, Wheeler’s service took on new dimensions with the advent of the Spanish American War in 1898.
With memories of the War Between the States and Reconstruction still vivid in Southern minds, President William McKinley recruited Confederate heroes to serve in the United States Army with the rank of Major General of Volunteers. Of four former Confederates who accepted, only Wheeler saw combat. His Cuban action was extensive, serving as commander of the cavalry division and, as second in command, often seized the initiative as the senior office on the scene while commanding General Shafter, a Union army veteran, remained well behind the front lines. With victory in Cuba achieved, Wheeler briefly served in the Philippines. His participation in and support of a war advanced by a Republican administration engendered Democratic opposition that thwarted any future political or military advancement.
Not a hagiography, author Edward G. Longacre frequently draws on Wheeler’s contemporaries and other historians and reports their praise and criticism of Wheeler’s conduct. He is alleged to have exaggerated his accomplishments in official accounts, with recognition of that as a practice of military commanders going at least to Ceasar. Claims of exceeding authority and military errors are balanced against Wheeler’s enthusiasm and energy.
When I find factual errors in books, I always wonder how many I missed. I found two in this work. It mentions “Lincoln…polled fewer votes than his combined Democrat and Whig opponents.” True, Lincoln received only a plurality of votes, well short of a majority, but the Whig party had disbanded and ran no candidate in 1860. Confederate Braxton Bragg is reported as commander of the Army of the Mississippi, a glaring error repeated in titles of dispatches. As Union armies were traditionally named after rivers and Confederate after the area in which they served, the likelihood that the errors were made in original dispatches is very low. I looked it up and the Army of the Mississippi was, as expected, a Union Army.
I appreciate “A Soldier to the Last” for several reasons. It provides a biography of a unique personality in our military history. It also provides a rather detailed account of the tide of battle among the Western Armies as well as the role of calvary units in that theatre. I am glad I read this work and recommend it to others seeking another Civil War biography or insights into the workings of that war and its personal connections to the Spanish American War.
Though the scion of New England families, Wheeler was born in Augusta, Georgia where his parents had sought, in vain as it turned out, a climate more salubrious to his mother’s health. Returning to New England, Wheeler attended Episcopal Academy of Connecticut where he befriended his classmate, J. Piermont Morgan. Aware of his family’s military tradition in the Revolution and War of 1812, he obtained a nomination to West Point from a congressman from New York where he had moved in with relatives. Ironically, given his later career, his nomination was forwarded to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. In the undistinguished class of 1859, Wheller graduated 19 out of 22, with no accomplishments suggestive of a successful military career.
Assigned to the 1st United States Dragoons, he received cavalry training at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania and Jefferson Barracks, Missouri before successfully requesting transfer to the Mounted Riflemen fighting Indians in New Mexico Territory. After Georgia seceded, Wheeler resigned from the United States Army and offered his services to the governor of his native state, his family roots in Northern soil notwithstanding.
Appointed a second lieutenant in the Confederate Artillery, Wheeler began Confederate service that brought him to many significant engagements in the Western Theatre. Beginning with the defense of Pensacola, Florida. Transferred among units commanded by Braxton Bragg, P. G. T. Beauregard and Leonidas Polk, Wheeler advanced to colonel and brigadier general. He saw action at Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee, Kentucky, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and harassed Sherman’s March Through Georgia. Not surrendering until captured while attempting to catch up and escort fleeing President Jefferson Davis, Wheeler was confined for a while before release and return home.
His family’s property having been devastated during the War, Wheeler pursued business interests in New Orleans and Alabama, where he turned to law before election to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1880. Recognized primarily for constituent service, Wheeler’s service took on new dimensions with the advent of the Spanish American War in 1898.
With memories of the War Between the States and Reconstruction still vivid in Southern minds, President William McKinley recruited Confederate heroes to serve in the United States Army with the rank of Major General of Volunteers. Of four former Confederates who accepted, only Wheeler saw combat. His Cuban action was extensive, serving as commander of the cavalry division and, as second in command, often seized the initiative as the senior office on the scene while commanding General Shafter, a Union army veteran, remained well behind the front lines. With victory in Cuba achieved, Wheeler briefly served in the Philippines. His participation in and support of a war advanced by a Republican administration engendered Democratic opposition that thwarted any future political or military advancement.
Not a hagiography, author Edward G. Longacre frequently draws on Wheeler’s contemporaries and other historians and reports their praise and criticism of Wheeler’s conduct. He is alleged to have exaggerated his accomplishments in official accounts, with recognition of that as a practice of military commanders going at least to Ceasar. Claims of exceeding authority and military errors are balanced against Wheeler’s enthusiasm and energy.
When I find factual errors in books, I always wonder how many I missed. I found two in this work. It mentions “Lincoln…polled fewer votes than his combined Democrat and Whig opponents.” True, Lincoln received only a plurality of votes, well short of a majority, but the Whig party had disbanded and ran no candidate in 1860. Confederate Braxton Bragg is reported as commander of the Army of the Mississippi, a glaring error repeated in titles of dispatches. As Union armies were traditionally named after rivers and Confederate after the area in which they served, the likelihood that the errors were made in original dispatches is very low. I looked it up and the Army of the Mississippi was, as expected, a Union Army.
I appreciate “A Soldier to the Last” for several reasons. It provides a biography of a unique personality in our military history. It also provides a rather detailed account of the tide of battle among the Western Armies as well as the role of calvary units in that theatre. I am glad I read this work and recommend it to others seeking another Civil War biography or insights into the workings of that war and its personal connections to the Spanish American War.
April 5, 2018
If you don’t know anything about Joseph Wheeler, this is a good place to start. Unique in that he was a General for the Confederacy during the Civil War and a US general during the Spanish-American War. While not on the same stature as other notable generals, he played an important part. Full of faults and imperfections, he is still an interesting figure.
January 17, 2021
From the US Army to the Confederacy, to Congress and back to the US Army, Joseph Wheeler’s story is fascinating. Whether you love or hate him.
The book however, was very difficult to get through. I don’t know whether it was the author’s writing style or fondness for minutiae. Glad I read it as a history fan, but would not recommend otherwise.
The book however, was very difficult to get through. I don’t know whether it was the author’s writing style or fondness for minutiae. Glad I read it as a history fan, but would not recommend otherwise.
August 30, 2021
I enjoyed reading about this cavalry officer. He wore the blue, then the grey, and then the blue again. I was after little more on this life post-1865; but the civil action gave great insight into his character.
March 27, 2024
This military life of the senior Confederate cavalry commander in the western theater of the American Civil War is essentially "drums & bugles" history, but I did get a strange "vibe" from it, starting with the author dedicating it to the memory of kinsmen "murdered" by Union militiamen in Missouri; one wonders what Longacre really meant by such a loaded statement. That said, the portrait you get of Wheeler is of a man who one could generally depend on to carry out a mission as ordered and who was at his best screening the main body of the Army of the Tennessee, whatever his limitations as an intelligence officer and a raider. Later in his career, when recalled to service in the Army of the United States, Wheeler generally retained his virtues as an organization man, besides being committed to the vision of empire building as an instrument of Reunion. Though Longacre glosses over nothing, Wheeler is generally depicted in the best possible light, possibly making this an odd form of official history (Longacre was employed by the USAF at the time this book was written).
Originally written: October 27, 2016.
Originally written: October 27, 2016.
July 17, 2009
In a made for TV movie about the Spanish-American War General Joe Wheeler was played by Gary Busey. I thought that whatever Wheeler's faults-- and they were many-- he didn't deserve that. Edward Longacre remedies that injustice with this readable biograghy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews