Wheeler Rifles
~Organized 1888~
Prior to the repeal of the Militia Act in 1902, states maintained their own militia. One of the last militia in Florence and Lauderdale County was the Wheeler Rifles.
Organized in 1888, under the command of Captain Julian Fields, it was named for U.S. Congressman Joseph Wheeler, a Confederate hero who later commanded the U.S. Cavalry in Cuba. The Wheeler Rifles, under the command of Captain William Martin, was the first militia company in Alabama to volunteer for service in the Spanish-American War, although the war ended while they were undergoing training in Florida.
Marker is at the intersection of East Tennessee Street (U.S. 72) and Short Court Street, on the left when traveling west on East Tennessee Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
