Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/466

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
390
JOSEPH WHEELER

hundred men and destroyed the depots of supplies stored there. He destroyed the roads and bridges between Nashville and Chattanooga defended by Hooker, Crook, Mitchell and McCook, and after constant fighting for ten days on October 9, 1863, he recrossed the Tennessee river and joined the main Confederate army at Chattanooga. He commanded the cavalry in the army of Longstreet while opposing Burnside at Knoxville, November 17-23, 1863, returning to Missionary Ridge in time to cover the retreat of Bragg's army. He opposed the advance of Sherman toward Atlanta from May, 1864, defeating a large force near Varnells Station, May 9, 1864, and capturing three hundred prisoners including several officers. His next cavalry engagements were at Dalton, Dug Gap and Snake Hill Gap, May 10-12; Resaca, May 13-15; Adairsville, May, 16; Casa Station, May 22; New Hope, May 25, and a desperate encounter with Howard's corps at Picketts Mill, May 27. He kept up the active resistance to Sherman's advance through June and July and on July 22 penetrated the rear of Sherman's army at Decatur and captured trains of provisions, took prisoners and secured valuable supplies of arms and equipments. He defeated the raiding column of Federal cavalry ten thousand strong under McCook, Stoneman and Garrard, July 28-August 1, 1864, and captured a large number of prisoners and supplies of horses and arms. He continued to harass the rear of the Federal army in the battles around Atlanta, and on August 9, 1864, made a raid through Northwest Georgia and into Tennessee destroying Sherman's line of supplies and railroad communication and securing one thousand seven hundred head of beef cattle and other provisions on their way to the army before Atlanta. He opposed Sherman's march from Atlanta to Savannah and was successful in preventing the occupation of both Macon and Augusta by the Federal force; and when Sherman was in South Carolina he defended Aiken, South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia, from raids of the Federal army. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general February 28, 1865. He greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Averysboro, North Carolina, March 16, 1865, and at Bentonville, North Carolina, where one of the last battles of the Civil war was fought, March 18, 1865.

After the surrender he returned to his home at Wheeler, Alabama, where he engaged in farming and in the practice of law. He was elected from the eighth district of Alabama a representative in the forty-seventh Congress, but his election was contested and he was