Lt. Wheeler got the action he desired about 7 months later, while commanding the 13th NY Light Arty at Gettysburg. There are two markers commemorating his unit's locatio on that first day.
Four of my ancestors served and fought with him north of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863--and only one of them made it unscathed through the day.
I wonder if he was still wondering about a "good, honorable death" by 1864, when he was shot through the heart in Georgia. I doubt it...by then, I bet he was getting plenty of action and figuring the war was going to end soon enough.
What a horrible chapter of our nation's history... a federal government calling upon states to muster and invade their brother states, a union torn apart, and such misery and death throughout it all, instead of the brightness of the Season.
I lost one ancestor at Bull Run, and another one at Gettysburg, all for the Union.
The details are few on all of them, but the conclusion of “their history”, is final.
RIP.
Nice history about your ancestors. I was introduced to Wheeler as an undergrad when my teacher said he was Wheeler's great nephew. I was then able to get read all of Wheeler's letters, which of course, were published after his death.
I was able to get his letters republished again back in 2003 together with other Battery records.
Where were your ancestors?