Advertising Card for Fairbank Soap

Colonel 19th Alabama Infantry

United States Congressman from Alabama

This ex-Confederate General fought in the Spanish-American War as a U.S. Army General

(1836-1906) Born at Augusta, Georgia, he graduated in the West Point class of 1859. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on April 22, 1861, and in September was appointed colonel of the 19th Alabama Infantry, with which he fought with at Shiloh. Soon after he was transferred to the cavalry and on July 13, 1862, General Bragg appointed him chief of cavalry of the Army of the Mississippi. From that time until the close of the war he was almost constantly engaged in battle. Three times wounded, 36 staff officers fell by his side, and 16 horses were shot out from under him. His exploits were second only to those of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Promoted to brigadier general on October 30, 1862, and major general to rank from January 20, 1863, he commanded the cavalry during Bragg's invasion of Kentucky, at Murfreesboro, and in the Chattanooga campaign. During the Atlanta campaign he was again active and made several raids on General Sherman's communications. He later opposed Sherman's advance to Savannah. He was captured in Georgia in May of 1865 and confined at Fort Delaware until June 8, 1865. In 1881, he was elected to the U.S. Congress serving for 8 terms. He once again donned his old blue U.S. Army uniform when he was appointed major general of volunteers during the Spanish American War. He commanded the cavalry division, which included Colonel Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. General Wheeler sailed for the Philippines to fight in the Philippine-American War, arriving there in August 1899. He commanded the First Brigade, in General Arthur MacArthur's Second Division, in the war. Wheeler was mustered out of the volunteer service, and commissioned brigadier general in the regular army, reentering the organization he had resigned from over 39 years before. After hostilities, he commanded the Department of the Lakes until his retirement on September 10, 1900, and then moved to New York City. Wheeler wrote several books on military history and strategy and civil subjects. His first was "A Revised System of Cavalry Tactics, for the Use of the Cavalry and Mounted Infantry, C.S.A.," in 1863, a manual that saw use by the Confederacy during the Civil War. After a prolonged illness, General Wheeler died in Brooklyn, N.Y., on January 25, 1906, at the age of 69. He is one of the few former Confederate officers buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

4 x 6 1/4, advertising card, with a wonderful half view portrait of General Wheeler in his U.S. Army uniform with rank of major general taken from the time he fought in the Spanish-American War. Imprint on front of the card, Joseph C. Wheeler, Major General Volunteers. G.H. Buek & Co., Lith., N.Y. The reverse of the card has a detailed advertising imprint for Fairbank's Fairy Soap. Pure White Floating. "The Soap of the Century."- Mrs. Rorer. The N.K. Fairbank Company, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh & Baltimore. Excellent. Very interesting item. Uncommon.