campaign. On October 30, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of brinadier-general, and covered the retreat of Bragg's army to the southward. In January, 1863, he was commissioned major-general. He commanded the Confederate cavalry at Chattanooga and at Chickamauga, and covered Bragg's rear after the defeat at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. He harassed Sherman's flank during the march to Atlanta. In August, 1864, he led a successful raid in Sherman's rear northward as far as the Kentucky line. Subsequently he opposed Sherman's advance on Savannah, and in February, 1865, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, and continued in command of the cavalry division of General Johnston's army until its surrender. After the war he became a lawyer and cotton-planter. In 1880 he was elected to Congress as a Democrat and was a member continuously until 1899. In May, 1898, he was appointcd by President McKinley a major-general of volunteers, and was assigned to the command of the cavalry division of the Army of Santiago in the Spanish-American War. He commanded the troops in the engagement of Las Guasimas, was senior field officer in the battle of San Juan Hill, and subsequently was one of the American commissioners to arrange for the surrender of Santiago. In 1899-1900 he commanded a brigade in the Philippine Islands, was commissioned a brigadier-general in the Regular Army in June, 1900, and retired in the September following. He published The Santiago Campaign, 1898 (1899).
WHEELER, William Adolphus (1833-74). An American lexicographer, born at Lester, Mass. A graduate of Bowdoin (1853), Wheeler, after teaching for several years, assisted Joseph E. Worcester in preparing his Dictionary, and contributed to the revision of Noah Webster's Dictionary (1864), for which he prepared an “Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of the Names of Noted Fictitious Persons and Places, including Familiar Pseudonyms, Surnames, etc.” This was published separately in 1865. Wheeler then joined the staff of the Boston Public Library, became superintendent of the catalogue department, and made collections for a Shakespearean cyclopædia. He revised the abridgment of Webster's Dictionary and Hole's Brief Biographical Dictionary (1866), and edited Mother Goose Melodies (with antiquarian and philological notes, 1869) and a Dickens Dictionary (1873).
WHEELER, William Almon (1819-87). An American legislator, Vice-President of the United States from 1877 to 1881. He was born at Malone, Franklin County, N. Y. He taught a district school for several seasons after completing the course at the public schools, and studied for two years at the University of Vermont. He then studied law at Malone, was admitted to practice, and met with considerable success in his profession. From 1847 to 1849 he was district attorney of Franklin County, and in 1850 and 1851 was a Whig member of the New York State Assembly. In 1851 he abandoned his law practice for banking, and was also interested in railroads. In 1857 he was chosen, as a Republican, to the State Senate, and was elected president pro tempore. In 1860 he was elected a member of the Thirty-seventh Congress. In 1867 he was a member of the New York Constitutional Convention, of which he was elected president. From 1809 until 1877 he was again a member of Congress, serving as chairman of the important committees on Commerce, the Pacific Railroads, and Southern Affairs, and taking a leading part in legislation affecting the reconstructed Southern States. In 1875-76, while chairman of the Committee on Southern Affairs, he originated and effected the compromise, known by his name, between the warring political factions in Louisiana. From 1877 to 1881, during the administration of President Hayes, he was Vice-President of the United States.
WHEEL′ING. The largest city of West Virginia and the county-seat of Ohio County, 63 miles southwest of Pittsburg, Pa., on the Ohio River, and on the Pennsylvania, the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Cleveland, Lorain and Wheeling, the Wheeling and Lake Erie, and other railroads (Map: West Virginia, D 1). It is situated on ground rising gradually from the river. A steel railroad bridge spans the Ohio, and there is a suspension bridge, 1010 feet long, which is one of the chief attractions of the city. Noteworthy features include also the Krugar Monument, the site of Old Fort Henry, the custom-house and post-office, the city hall, and the county courthouse. The Public Library has 17,200 volumes. Among other institutions are Linsley Institute, Wheeling Female Academy, and Haskins Hospital. Owing to its excellent transportation facilities. Wheeling is an important wholesale and jobbing centre, and is also of considerable industrial prominence, being known especially for its iron and steel interests. The manufacture of glass, pottery, smoking tobacco, and cigars is extensive. The smaller establishments comprise lumber mills, canneries, breweries, and manufactories of carriages and wagons, boxes, leather, etc. In the census year 1900 the capital invested in all industries was $13,224,577, and their output was valued at $16,747,544.
The government is vested in a mayor, chosen every two years, and a bicameral council. Of the subordinate officials, the water board, board of public works, and gas board are elected by the council, and the school board is chosen by popular vote. The water-works, which represent an expenditure of $803,092, the gas plant, and the electric-light plant are the property of the municipality. For maintenance and operation the city spends annually about $438,000, the chief items being: schools, $94,000; gas plant, $80,000; water-works, $51,000; fire department, $42,000; police department, $36,000; and interest on debt, $26,000. Population, in 1890, 34,522; in 1900, 38,878.
Settled by Colonel Ebenezer Zane in 1770, Wheeling was the first town, established on the Ohio River. It was laid out in 1793, was incorporated as a town in 1806, and was chartered as a city in 1836. In 1774 Fort Henry, named in honor of Governor Patrick Henry, was built here, which, in September of the same year, was fiercely attacked by a force of 300 Indians, who killed 23 out of a garrison of 42. In 1781 the Indians made another attack, and in 1782 a force of English and Indians unsuccessfully besieged the place for several days. In 1861 the Wheeling Convention, representing the people of Virginia
