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Historic People of Boonville – The History of General Charles Wheelock


July 16, 2024

by McKenna VanDreason

General Charles Wheelock (1812-1865)

            The Black River Canal Museum doesn’t only host a wonderful history of the Black River Canal but also important moments from other parts of local history. This article takes us back to the Civil War and the people of Boonville participating in it.

            Charles Wheelock came to Boonville as a young boy with his family settling near the west bank of the Black River. His father was a man of English descent from New Hampshire and his mother was a Stewart (having two brothers fight in the Revolutionary War). On May 20, 1835 Charles married Miss Lucy Jones and they had six children together, three girls and three boys. Five of the children were still alive when Charles Wheelock went into service, the eldest daughter Allie died in 1863 much to the sadness of the entire family. General Wheelock was very much a family man and he prized his family, though not enough for it to keep his patriotism at bay for long.

            The Civil War broke out in April of 1861 and when President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to fight, many boys in Boonville signed up and joined the Company F of the First Oneida regiment (14th New York volunteers) or the Second Oneida (26th regiment) both of which Wheelock had a part in organizing. General Wheelock gave a New Testament to the 89 boys sent off and while the 14th was training in Albany he delivered whole hams and cheeses from Boonville. When it came time for the boys in Company F to separate, Wheelock gave each of them a dollar. In today’s currency, that is equivalent to $35.69.

            In July there was still a need for recruits so Charles Wheelock was put in charge of organizing a local regiment which he based out of Boonville. General Charles Wheelock became the colonel of the unit that was soon on the battlefield, though Wheelock’s health was poor. Doctors told Charles Wheelock to leave the battlefield to regain his health, Wheelock refused. Charles Wheelock was going to fight with his men or be carried off the battlefield. His regiment stood behind him and felt as though they were a family at heart.

            When Wheelock and the 97th New York State Volunteer Infantry came to Gettysburg, the army had already suffered heavy losses. Of the 236 men at the start of the battle, 132 were lost and 78 captured or missing. Charles Wheelock was one of the captured men. When the enemy asked him to surrender his sword he tried to break it and when the sword didn’t break, he refused to give it up as it was given to him by his friends. At the time he was captured, he was in the home of Carrie Sheads. He was able to discreetly hand the sword to her which she hid in the folds of her dress and was later able to convince the Confederates they had already taken it.

            General Charles Wheelock was able to escape six days later, under the cover of darkness Sunday night, through a mountain pass. He was then ordered to Elmira to take charge  of and forward conscriptions. While there he was dismissed after being accused of approving fraudulent vouchers, which no one who knew the man, believed. Later the War Department realized they made a mistake and they dropped the charges against Wheelock. General Charles Wheelock had his rank restored and in December of 1863 he returned to the 97th.

            Before the Battle of the Wilderness in May of 1864, Wheelock was accidentally shot in the foot by a pistol. This, paired with exhaustion and sunstroke, he couldn’t move and had to be carried off the battlefield by First Lieutenant Thomas Burke. In doing this Thomas Burke won a Congressional Medal of Honor, the only man in the 97th regiment to receive this award.

Over the course of the war, General Charles Wheelock had been in poor health. So when he was transported to Washington hospital in January 1865, no one was overly worried but on January 21 General Charles Wheelock passed. His body was returned to Boonville and despite a snowstorm, the funeral took place on January 26 at the Presbyterian Church. All the stores and shops in the village were closed and people throughout the area came to the church. There was a long procession to the cemetery which consisted of 150 of the 45th regiment, National Guard, and the Boonville Fire Department. A disabled member of the 97th regiment from Boonville led a riderless horse to the Boonville cemetery. Three months later the Civil War was over.