Wheeler, Willard W., b. ca.1838

Diary (photocopy), 1861 August 24-1862 February 15
100 pp.

Wheeler, Willard W., b. ca.1838
Rank:	Private
Regiment:	7th Ohio Infantry Regiment. Co. C (1861-1864)
Service:	1861June 20-1862 June 23

Background note:

The 7th Ohio Regiment was raised in June, 1861, and sent immediately to the theatre of action in West Virginia. In one of their first engagements, the Battle of Cross Lanes on August 26th, 150 men, most from Company C, were captured by Confederate forces and marched to Richmond. Willard W. Wheeler, a 23 year old Private, was among those captives who spent almost half a year in confinement in Confederate prisons.

At this early stage of the war, the Confederate government was still ill prepared to deal with large numbers of prisoners of war. In Richmond, Wheeler was first placed in an old tobacco factory, Atkinson's, the tobacco presses were still in place and the building was "dirty and smelt very strong of the weed " (p. 13). Though rations were short and conditions rough, Wheeler's treatment was nevertheless somewhat better than that of men captured during the later stages of the war.

On September 21st, Wheeler and his company were shipped on open train cars through nearly the entire length of the Confederacy, arriving in New Orleans on October 1st. There they were placed in the squalid Parish Prison alongside common criminals -- including, on a floor above, women of low repute -- much to their indignation. "I am surrounded by vile associates," wrote the deeply religious Wheeler, "and am pained to hear their conversation" (p. 31). Conditions in Parish Prison were far worse than in Richmond, the cells being overcrowded, damp, dark, and unhealthy. With little to do, prisoners passed their time turning soup bones into rings and souvenirs to be sold or traded to civilians. Yankee industry and ingenuity, Wheeler thought.Despite some temporary improvement brought about by the donation of a barrel of molasses and some rice by a citizien who had been a P.O.W. during the War of 1812, good food was generally scarce. The prison commandant did his best to conceal this from the Confederate authorities. "The cooks when they know that anyone is coming in take special pains to have good soup saved to show to them and try to have everything neat and clean" (p. 68).

Wheeler's deep faith sustained him throughout his ordeal. He regularly attended services provided for the prisoners, and he helped organize prayer meetings among the inmates. He appears to have been a staunch Union man, and was opposed to slavery, "a terrible and cursed institution" (p. 24). He noted that some of the ill treatment afforded to the 7th Ohio troops may have resulted from their being "known to eminate from the 'Hot Bed of Abolitionism'" (p. 49), and he never warmed to the Confederacy. "We think that our treatment argues a very moderate degree of civilization for the South" (p. 60), he wrote, and when an Episcopal minister was forced by the prison commandant to substitute "President of the C.S.A." for "President of the U.S.A." in a sermon, Wheeler added, "If he comes again and repeats it, he will be hissed out of the yard."

An exchange for the prisoners from the 7th Ohio was finally arranged in February, 1862, and after being issued an overcoat and some new clothing sent by the Union government, Wheeler and his company were again placed on an open box car and shipped north. He was discharged from the service at Detroit, 23 June 1862, on a surgeon's certificate of disability.

Scope and Contents:

Wheeler's diary begins immediately before the Battle of Cross Lanes and covers the entire period of his imprisonment from his capture to his brief stay at Salisbury Prison on his return north. Unlike many prison diaries, Wheeler's provides some excellent, daily detail on prisoners' lives, and is unusual in documenting a prisoner's experience very early in the war, before the formal system of paroles and exchanges had been established. His deep religious sentiments distinguish him from many of his fellow prisoners, and though his entries are short, they contain excellent observations, with insights into the prisoners' attitudes and mental state.

Provenance:

The Wheeler diary was loaned to the Clements Library in 1986 for photocopying. The original was retained by Mr. William R. Wheeler of Ann Arbor, descendant of the writer.

Reference:

Wilder, Theodore. The history of Company C, Seventh regiment, O.V.I. Oberlin, J.B.T. Marsh, 1866.
Wood, George L. The Seventh regiment, a record. James Miller, N.Y., 1865.

M-2282
Cat. 4/92 rsc

Link to subject index to the W. W. Wheeler Journal

Alphabetic index to the Schoff Civil War Collections

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