A Well-Armed Soldier

[satx78247]

Dear Friends,

MG "Fighting Joe" Wheeler, late of the PACSA, at the Battle of Atlanta was reported to have been armed with a "brace of Navy Model Colt's revolvers", a brace of Colt's Dragoons on his saddle, a 1962 Colt's Pocket Police in his sash and a Deringer in his left vest pocket. = If my arithmetic is correct, that 31 shots W/O need to reload.

During the S-A War, MG Wheeler (who was a sitting AL Congressman at the time) was "recalled to active service" as an officer of US Volunteers, given command of all cavalry forces in theater AND was one of three USV officers, who rode a horse up Kettle & San Juan Hill.

MG Wheeler, COL Leonard Wood & LTC Theodore Roosevelt BOUGHT their own horses IN Cuba, as none the cavalry's horses ever made it to Daiquiri.
(The Port of Entry for military cargo AND the name of the mixed-drink of the same name.)

During the assault on Kettle Hill, MG Wheeler shot an Austrian officer (an armed "observer", who pointed a revolver at him) in the chest and shot a Prussian LTC (who was "directing Spanish heavy howitzer fire") in the forehead with one of his engraved Model 1851 Colt revolvers.

As a Texican friend of mine says, "General Joe wasn't no pussycat. He was a full-grown TIGER."

Note: When LTC Roosevelt apologized for appearing at an Officer's call without his saber (He had lost the saber in a fight in the jungle the day before.), MG Wheeler started laughing & said, "Only a DAMNYANKEE would carry a knife when he could carry a pair of revolvers."
(COL Wood said that Wheeler laughed so hard that he literally, "Fell out of his chair.")

yours, satx

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

Great story! :thumbsup:

 

[satx78247]

TRUE STORY.

The main reason that we know so much "trivia" about The War in Cuba was that 1LT Jack Pershing of the 9th Cavalry (One of the 2 "Buffalo Soldier" or USCT units "in country" = Ninth & TENTH CAV.) and later GEN "Black Jack" Pershing of WWI fame, kept a VERY detailed diary & an "official journal" of his daily experiences in the war.
(His diary is so detailed that Pershing even recorded what he ate at each meal from arrival in San Antonio until he returned to NYC after the campaign.)

One of those "pieces of trivia" is that MG Wheeler took his son out of the USMA for service in Cuba, as his "cadet aide". - According to Pershing's reports, "Cadet Wheeler killed numerous Spaniards in the joint attacks on Kettle & San Juan Hills".
(I've wondered if Cadet Wheeler was the sole USMA cadet to serve in combat at the same time that he was still a student at West Point???)

NOTE: The 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, "The Rough Riders" actually first attacked Kettle Hill, while the Buffalo Soldiers attacked San Juan Hill.- The attack on San Juan Hill was nearly completed when the Rough Riders joined in on the final assault, after "investing Kettle Hill".
(The "confusion" was caused by a "mis-labeled map", that reversed the names of the two Spanish fortresses.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

In case anyone is wondering, 1LT Pershing's diary is the property of THE MENGER HOTEL here in SA and can be "viewed" on request.
(It's now very fragile & they won't let anyone handle it.)

As the 1st USVC Rgt., "The Rough Riders", trained here in San Antonio & in the surrounding seven counties, even today The Rough Riders are routinely referred to as "OUR Rough Rider Heroes".
Many local businesses even have plaques that say that, "Our Rough Riders ______________ on these premises." and "King Antonio's staff members" still wear the Rough Rider's "full-dress" uniforms at Fiesta San Antonio.

Addenda: The USA had only three machine guns in Cuba, which were "loaned to" The Rough Riders by TIFFANY'S JEWELRY STORE. The MG are "Colt's Tater Diggers"- After the 1st USVC returned to NYC, the machine guns were returned to Tiffany's & two of them still "belong to the family".
(I've "heard that" a collector here in SA owns the 3rd one, but I cannot find out if that is true.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, satx

 

[Wes/Tex]

Sounds like "Little Joe" could have been a member of Terry's Texas Rangers...all he'd need is a scattergun to go with a pot full of pistols! He was a spry 62 at the time of the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the top of his head hit Woods and Roosevelt about at the mouth! No wonder they also called him the "War Child"!

 

[Zonie]

To all:

Well, all of this Spanish/American war stuff is wonderful but its discussion has no business on the forum.

As a few of you may remember,
"The focus of this site is "Traditional Muzzleloading"; The history of muzzleloading weapons and battles, up to and including the American Civil War. (From the inception of firearms through 1865)".
That is Forum Rule #1 for those who forgot.

Please limit the discussion to the time period given in the Forum Rules.

 

[satx78247]

YEP. In point of fact, Cadet Joe Wheeler MAY have been TOO SHORT (by about a half inch) to BE a WP cadet. = His room-mate during his Plebe Year claimed that he "stood on a length of lumber" to be measured & STILL "barely hit the mark". - IF anyone wants to SEE just how short that he was, look on "Wikipedia" for a photo of him standing next to 5' 10" COL Leonard Wood & 6' LTC Roosevelt.
(MG Wheeler literally is a HEAD SHORTER.)

As to "spry", in 1899 he commanded US & Filipino troops & (at age 64 and still afflicted with Chronic Malaria, from the S-A War) heard an infantryman complaining about how HOT/WET that it was, how heavy "loaded down" that he was & that "I'm too tired to go on." = MG Wheeler, got off his horse, took the man's gear & rifle, put the PVT on his horse & walked the rest of the way to camp.
(After that incident, NOBODY was heard to "gripe on the march", lest they, TOO, would become a laughingstock.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

MY FAULT. = MG Wheeler was a Major General of CSA Cavalry and I've always found him to be brave to a fault (Critics would call him "RECKLESS".), quite "colorful" and "wedded to" his old faithful Colt's Walker & 1851 Navy revolvers that he carried as a young man during TWBTS.

At the time of the Battle of Atlanta, Wheeler was so ill with a "break-bone fever" that he was "ordered to bed" by a "very senior ranking" Army surgeon. Nonetheless, Wheeler mounted his horse "against medical orders" saying, "Well, HELL. Everybody's going to die of something. I'd sooner take mine in the saddle." and "spurred away" to "lead from the front", AGAIN.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

To All:

For those with a particular interest in MG Joe Wheeler's CSA period, the 1800-1860s warring along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo & in South Texas OR Terry's Rangers, THE SOUTH TEXAS HERITAGE CENTER on the campus of San Antonio's Whitman Museum has many UNIQUE items that are exhibited no place else.
(NO, I don't work for The Whitman.)

NOTE: The Whitman has FREE admission on Tuesday afternoons after 1400.

yours, satx

 

[Blizzard of '93]

wonder if josey wales served under the general?

 

[Dphar]

To all:

Well, all of this Spanish/American war stuff is wonderful but its discussion has no business on the forum.

As a few of you may remember,
"The focus of this site is "Traditional Muzzleloading"; The history of muzzleloading weapons and battles, up to and including the American Civil War. (From the inception of firearms through 1865)".
That is Forum Rule #1 for those who forgot.

Please limit the discussion to the time period given in the Forum Rules.

Sounds to me like Wheeler was using MLs. I don't see where the use of a Navy Revolver to shoot an Austrian in the Spanish American War is any less appropriate for discussion than using one in 2013 to poke holes in paper.
Perhaps the discussion did carry on past that,as they often do, but I still find the use Colt Navys in COMBAT in the smokeless powder era interesting and appropriate.
It also points out, that like the flintlock the percussion revolver was not completely abandoned with the advent of the large caliber brass suppository revolver.
Dan

 

[satx78247]

YEP. In Cuba MG Wheeler had/used a pair of 1851 Navy Colt's, a pair of Colt's Dragoons & his back-up piece was the 1862 Colt's Pocket Police that he carried "in the city".

Both "armed foreign observers" died of "lead poisoning" from .36 caliber Colt's revolvers.
("The War Child" never trusted "the new-fangled gadgets" & as a General Officer of the USVC could lawfully carry his own private arms AND wear just about anything that he chose as a "uniform".)

Note: Even in the 21st Century, General Officers have "great latitude" in their uniforms & sidearms. = In "the police action in Macedonia", the Deputy Commanding General of 29th Infantry Division frequently carried his grandfather's Model 1917 S&W revolver as a "personal weapon."
(Both his grandfather & father, during WWII, had carried that revolver into combat.)

yours, satx

 

[rambler]

I am proud to say that in Late 1987 I became a member of the US Army affiliated Pershing Rifles CO A-1....Founded by you know who in the 1890's.

Now I need some SA war toys.....