Postbellum Career and Life
For his service in the Civil War, in 1865 he was awarded an honorary A.M. Degree from Brown University and Rhode Island presented him with a sword of honor in July 1866.
Shortly after the end of the Civil war, Wheaton was placed to command the district of Nebraska in Omaha. On April 30, 1866, he was mustered out of the volunteers and was subsequently promoted as lieutenant colonel of the 39th Infantry on July 28. He, along with others, recommended that Confederate General George H. Steuart of Maryland be pardoned for his crimes during the American Civil War. This led to Steuart's pardon in November 1866.
On January 14, 1867, Wheaton was married for the third and last time to Maria Bleeker Miller (August 4, 1846 – August 21, 1924), born in Utica, New York. She eventually would become a Vice-President General in the Daughters of the American Revolution (as Mrs. Frank Wheaton).
In the lead up to the Modoc War, Wheaton took command of approximately 250 regular army troops and a further 150 troops consisting of volunteers from California and Oregon as well as some Klamath Indians. At the First Battle of the Stronghold on January 17, 1873, he faced about fifty Modoc warriors in well defended positions amongst the lava fields of Northern California in a dense fog. Wheaton's troops suffered 35 deaths and many more wounded compared to no casualties on the Modoc side. Wheaton was subsequently relieved of command of the troops in the field. This defeat eventually led to the assassination of General Edward R. S. Canby on April 11 at a meeting of the Peace Commission on the battlefield.
Wheaton was appointed colonel of the 2nd Infantry, effective December 13, 1874. On April 19, 1892, Wheaton was selected in a long and politically heated competition for promotion to brigadier general. While the selection of Wheaton was controversial, it was met with overall approval in the army due to his excellent war record. In August 1896, General Wheaton played a minor role in the Yaqui Uprising at Ambos Nogales. After a group of Yaqui, Pima and Mexican rebels were repulsed in their attempt to capture the customs house in Nogales, Sonora, some of the party fled north into Arizona. Wheaton dipatched two companies of the 24th Infantry to pursue the rebels but they escaped.
Wheaton was promoted to brevet major general on April 3, 1897 after the retirement of Major General Thomas H. Ruger and retired one month later on his 64th birthday on May 8.
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