09/10/2025
Today marks the 189th anniversary of the birth of General Joe Wheeler. Born September 10, 1836, in Augusta, Georgia, General Wheeler made Pond Spring his home after his 1866 marriage to Daniella Jones Sherrod, widow of Ben Sherrod, the owner of Pond Spring. Despite his diminutive status (5'2", 120 lbs), Wheeler made the most of every opportunity life presented to him. A graduate (Class of 1859) of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, he served in various outposts in the Nebraska & New Mexico territories. After resigning his commission in early 1861, he served as cavalry commander of Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of the Tennessee during the Civil War. Later he served nine terms representing Alabama's 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he sought to be a symbol of reunification, as well as returning to the U.S. Army to serve as cavalry commander of the 5th Corps Army in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Among those who served under him was an energetic former assistant secretary of the Navy (and future president) Theodore Roosevelt. After his passing at the Brooklyn, NY home of his older sister Lucy in 1906, his daughter Annie made it her life's goal to keep the memory of her Papa alive in the hearts and minds of those he served here in North Alabama. and turned the first floor of the family home into museum honoring him. Today, Pond Spring stands as a place of remembrance and honor to the man known as Fightin' Joe, Congressman Wheeler, and Point by his fellow West Point classmates, as well as his family. Happy Birthday, General!
