JOSEPH D. WHEEL -- 118th INFANTRY9 MONTHS AND 7 DAYS WITH THE 118th - The parents of Joseph D. Wheel, Pierre Rouette and Lucy Landry, came from Quebec to settle in Au Sable Forks. The first of their nine children, Joseph, enlisted in the 118th Infantry with his Anglicized name on September 19, 1864, and received \$500 for his one-year enlistment.Joseph and 25 other men from the Plattsburgh area who enlisted in August and September were sent straight to the Petersburg battlefield while they were encamped near Fort Burnham on the outskirts of the city. On October 27th, they started the march to Fair Oaks about 25 miles to the north and participated in the Second Battle of Fair Oaks on October 28th. During the battle, they had 111 casualties -- 89 of them were men captured by the enemy.They returned to Fort Burnham. On November 7th, the 118th marched to Deep Bottom to meet an expected attack. They remained in camps in the vicinity of New Market Road about five miles south of Richmond which was the nearest point they got to the city.Finally, on April 3, 1865, the regiment entered Richmond. They were on the skirmish line of the 3rd Division when Richmond was finally occupied, and they claim to have been the first organized Federal infantry in that city. They camped at Manchester on the other side of the river from Richmond until they were mustered out under Col. Nichols, June 13, 1865. By June 17th, they had traveled down the James River and were in New York City. On the 19th, they reached Plattsburgh and, after many administrative formalities, were finally mustered out on June 26, 1865.Joseph married Mary Rock and they had nine children. They went to Massachusetts to find work and remained there for the rest of their lives. Mary died in 1912 after a long stay in hospital and was buried in the St. Mary's Cemetery in the industrial city of Westfield, MA. Joseph, who had alternatively used the name Rouette and Wheel, was buried under the name of Rouette in the same cemetery in 1923.
