LYSANDER WHEELER was born in Fultonville,
New York in 1837. In August of 1862, he left his job as
a ship carpenter in DeKalb County, Illinois, to enlist
in the 105th Illinois infantry. He would be promoted to
first corporal in the late summer of 1864 and then assume
the rank of sergeant that same December, just as his regiment
completed the “March to the Sea” under the
direction of General William T. Sherman. The following
letter describes his celebratory victory march through
Washington D.C. following the Confederate surrender and
the end of the Civil War. Wheeler died of heart failure
in 1903, the day after his 66th birthday. Get
transcript
Abraham Lincoln entering Richmond, April 3, 1865. Engraving
by J. C. Buttre, 1866 (GLC 05866p1)
