Civil War Union Army Officer. Born in New Milford, Connecticut, he grew up and was educated in Ohio. He moved to Lake County, Indiana in 1847, and worked as a farmer and a teacher. In 1853 he was appointed as Lake County surveyor after he and his father undertook the successful task of draining many county swamp areas. In 1857 he founded and published the “Crown Point Register” newspaper. A staunch Republican, when the Civil War began he recruited a company of soldiers that was mustered in as Company B, 20th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and he was commissioned its Captain and commander on July 22, 1861. The unit was stationed first in North Carolina, then in Hampton, Virginia, where in March 1862 the men witnessed the clash between the ironclads “USS Monitor” and “CSS Virginia”. Promoted to Major on February 16, 1862, in the coming Spring John Wheeler and his regiment were assigned to the Army of the Potomac and participated in the 1862 Peninsular Campaign. The unit first saw combat in the June-July Seven Days Battles, seeing heavy action in the Battles of Oak Grove, Savage’s Station, Glendale, and Malvern Hill, and sustaining over 200 casualties. In the August 1862 The 20th Indiana Infantry played a key part in the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, at one point flanking and routing a Confederate attack. During this action the 20th Indiana’s commander, Colonel William Lyons Brown, was shot in the head and killed, and John Wheeler took command of the regiment for the rest of the battle. Lieutenant Colonel John Van Valkenburg was advanced to Colonel after the campaign, and John Wheeler was promoted to fill his position. At the December 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg his men fought along the left flank of the Union Army, and helped rescue the troops under Major General George G. Meade, who had broken through the Confederate lines, but were unsupported and thrown back. In February 1863 Colonel Van Valkenburg was dismissed from the Army for “conduct unbecoming of an officer”, and John Wheeler was promoted to Colonel and commander of the regiment on February 11. He led them at the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, where they near fought the Hazel Grove area repulsing several Confederate assaults. In the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, his men arrived on the field with the rest of the III Corps, and on the Second Day of the engagement his regiment was part of the Union line stationed in the Rose Woods on the ridges north of Devil's Den during the heavy fighting. While the regiment was engaged in heavy combat, Colonel Wheeler was riding behind his command's battle line on horseback when he was shot in the temple and instantly killed. When his remains were brought to his hometown of Crown Point, Indiana, nearly a thousand people attended his funeral services. His name is inscribed today on the 20th Indiana Infantry Monument in the Gettysburg National Military Park, which is located near the spot where he fell (Cross Avenue, Rose Grove).