By Mike Phifer
A cold rain was falling as Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Wheeler led his brigade of horse soldiers north from the Confederate position at Stones River at midnight on December 29, 1862. Cutting around the Federal Army of the Cumberland’s left flank, which had been slowed in its advance from Nashville during the past three days by Wheeler’s cavalry and muddy roads, Wheeler planned to strike the Yankees from behind. General Braxton Bragg, commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, had ordered his cavalry commander to harass the Federal army’s supply lines. Wheeler did just that.
At dawn on December 30, Wheeler’s men struck 64 heavily laden supply wagons. Word of the raid brought two Federal regiments to the scene, intending to drive off Wheeler, but instead they were forced back. With 20 wagons sending billowing smoke skyward, the raiders moved on and struck an encamped supply train at La Vergne, Tennessee. This time 200 wagons were aflame. In addition, the Confederate raiders dispersed 1,000 mules into the countryside and paroled 400 soldiers.
Wheeler was not done yet. Well behind Yankee lines, Wheeler and his men destroyed a third wagon train. Continuing on, the raiders took more wagons and ambulances. After stopping for much needed rest, Wheeler and his troopers were back in the saddle by 2 am on December 31 and at midday splashed back across Stones River. Wheeler and his men had done an admirable job of damaging the Army of the Cumberland’s fragile supply line.
That same day at Murfreesboro, Bragg’s infantry drove Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans’s Federal army back five miles. Success seemed imminent but, as Wheeler and the rest of the Army of Tennessee were to learn, the Yankees were not beaten yet. Wheeler would soon find himself in a role he would play often in the Army of Tennessee, which was acting as its rear guard under orders to slow the Union advance.
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Go heler!
Read the story of General Wheeler,which was very interesting. I took my infantry basic in Camp Wheeler in Macon GA. Was this camp named for him? This was in July 1944 and was shipped out later to Germany for the battle of the bulge
Mr. Nungesser,
Yes, the camp was named for Joseph Wheeler. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Wheeler
Would love to hear your stories of WWII, if you’re interested in sharing with another vet. bwsteiger@gmail.com
V/r,
Ben
Interesting story, especially because I graduated from Joseph Wheeler High School in Marietta, GA near Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield so grew up hearing all about the local battles. https://www.cobbk12.org/wheeler/page/1662/about-school
What Confederate commanders lacked in numbers of troops they often made up for with daring, boldness, and tactical wiles. Gen. Wheeler is a perfect example of this. Thanks for the very informative article!
Yankees are fond of doing some tall running indeed
You mean like “running” the length of Georgia and through Richmond?
It’s amazing that the confederates won all the battles but still managed to lose the war and very badly lose the war. It’s a shame they were not smart enough to realize that they never had a chance of winning but deluded themselves with their own propaganda. But they sure were fond of running also when needs be. No shame in that. After the war they showed they never lost their knack for propaganda and making excuses.If they would have freed the POW’s at Andersonville my great-grandpa could have gotten home sooner. Captured in the battles of the Wilderness he spent time in 18 POW camps and named his 18 surviving children after each one. When he got home he looked like any survivor of a Nazi death camp.
Thank you for this marvelous story!
Well, they went wild when they credited Wheeler for “writing” cavalry manuals, both before and during the war.
Pick up a copy of “Wheeler’s Tactics.”
You will find—word for word—“Cooke’s Tactics,” plus “Maury’s Tactics“ (mounted infantry) tacked on the end. He didn’t even bother to change the page numbers. The only “edits” were removing the original author’s names.
Joe Wheeler is the only person I know of who served as a general in two different armies.
Fascinating telling of a true warrior with a superb tactical mind. He used his Calvary and his infantry to harry the Federals. Much like an air force does today with close ground support.
Had the CSA unlimited supply chain and reinforcements what would the outcome have been?