Eyes ofHistory - The North Star Monthly

10 SEPTEMBER 2009 THE NORTH STAR MONTHLY
>> Page 9
through the camp we had to
step over men lying on the
ground and evry moning passing
throgh the camp I would see
men laying around on the grond
dead and some dieing”.
The reader gets a descriptive
rundown of the daily struggle
the prisoners faced to rid themselves
of lice, maggots, and
mosquitoes. He described a
daily routine of ridding their
clothes of lice. Wheeler wrote
of men dying beside him during
the night and the following
morning, seeing them covered
in a solid mass of lice.
As in any war, prisoners
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were deprived of decent, humane
conditions, but they were
abused psychologically as well.
The Confederate soldiers, which
Wheeler referred to as Rebels,
used head games, lies, trickery,
and coercion to beat down the
prisoners’ morale and hopes.
Wheeler described the punishments
in minute detail from the
stocks, buck and gag, cat-onine-tails,
to hanging by the
thumbs. Many tried to escape,
and large forces of prisoners
planned a huge tunnel escape
and takeover only to be
thwarted by a traitor.
Despite the horrid stories
Wheeler wrote, the reader gets a
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strong sense of hope and desire
to survive. Wheeler wrote with
wit and stayed positive — not in
a bitter or angry tone. Wheeler
conveyed his Yankee stubbornness
in not allowing the Rebels
to kill his spirit and hope.
Wheeler wrote: “I use to tell the
rebels that they wood never
have the priviagle of carring me
out” [to be buried]}.
In mid-October 1864,
Wheeler was fortunate to leave
Andersonville in a small group
to be paroled. The parolees
were loaded on a train and
thought they were being exchanged
only to be moved to
Florence Stockade, S.C. It was a
similar prison setup as Andersonville
and just as terrible except
medical treatment was
available and a large shed built
for sick prisoners where
Wheeler sought shelter.
On Nov. 30, 1864, Wheeler
was paroled and handed over to
Union troops. He was taken
north to Annapolis, Md. and received
medical treatment. He
survived on doctor-prescribed
doses of whiskey and brandy to
build up strength because he
couldn’t eat. After two weeks in
Camp Parole hospital, Wheeler
was released.
Wheeler survived the journey
and was reunited with his
wife and family at the end of
December 1864. He returned a
“living skeleton,” weighing only
90 pounds. Wheeler recuperated
at the Sloan General Hospital in
Montpelier until the end of the
war.
The Caledonian-Record in
St. Johnsbury published articles
referring to Wheeler’s imprisonment
and on Dec. 30, 1864, an
article titled “From Andersonville”
reported Wheeler’s and
another Vermont soldier’s return
home. The article states:
Wheeler “is a pitiable object and
a living monument to the bar-
barous cruelty of those men
who call themselves the
‘chivalry’ and ‘gentlemen’ of
this country. We know now
what ‘chivalry’ means: it is
‘chivalry’ to starve a Union soldier
by inches.”
Wheeler returned to farming,
eventually purchasing a hilltop
farm on East Hill in
Peacham. He married three
times, being widowed by the
first two, and had five children.
For 40 years, Wheeler was active
in the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Peacham which was
located where today’s Peacham
town offices are. In later years,
Wheeler moved to East
Peacham Village.
He was a charter member of
the X.C. Stevens Grand Army
of the Republic Post of Barnet
and Peacham and served as
chaplain. The GAR fought for
pension legislation, established
veterans’ retirement homes, and
later evolved into the U.S. Department
of Veterans’ Affairs.
In the 1880s, he was a founding
member of the Relief Corps, a
women’s auxiliary to the GAR
with the purpose of perpetuating
the memory of the GAR.
Tragedy struck in the year
1882 when he lost his 17-yearold
daughter, infant son, and his
second wife all in that year. Two
years later, he married for a
third time.
Wheeler spent the rest of his
life years educating people
about the realities of war and
the immense sacrifice soldiers
made for our country and freedom.
On Decoration Day [our
modern-day Memorial Day]
Wheeler visited the local school
and shared war experiences with
schoolchildren. He had a mission
he was dedicated to and he
left his mark. Despite his weakened
constitution, Wheeler lived
a long life, dying in 1916.
In the 1916 St. Johnsbury
Republican, Wheeler’s obituary
was published as well as a
“Memorial to the late M.M.
Wheeler” by his GAR Post that
stated: “Comrade Wheeler was
... ever seeking to [inculcate] in
the hearts of both young and
old the spirit of true patriotism
and devotion to our beloved
land; and possessing a character
such as to know him was to respect
and love him.” .... “we
further express our own sense
of loss and the loss to the community
generally through the
passing from among us of our
brave, patriotic, faithful, lovable,
and honored comrade and
friend.”
His 1890 memoir and the
map he drew of Andersonville
Prison was kept by Wheeler’s
eldest son Elwin “Ellie”
Wheeler. Elwin passed it on to
Wheeler’s friend and fellow veteran,
John (Millen) Farrow.
Wheeler’s memoir was kept in
the Farrow family, transferred
from John to his daughter Mary
Farrow Moore who in turn gave
it to her son Francis Moore. At
some point, John Farrow’s wife
Emma or his daughter Mary
Moore made a copy of
Wheeler’s Andersonville map
onto a 4-foot by 5-foot oilcloth
mounted on cardboard.
Wheeler’s memoir was read
in Peacham classrooms
throughout the years and at
family gatherings. In the late
1980s, the Moores donated the
Wheeler memoir and large oilcloth
map to the Peacham Historical
Association for
safekeeping.
One hundred and forty-five
years after Wheeler returned
from the Civil War, people are
still reading his story. Wheeler’s
manuscript survived 119 years
and has remained in the town he
loved. His story continues to be
passed on, just the way he
would have wanted it. �