[1] Frank Wheaton attended Brown University, studying civil engineering, but withdrew in 1850 at the age of seventeen to take a position with Mexican-American Boundary Commission, where he worked for the next five years.

On March 3, 1855, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Cavalry and assigned to duty on the Indian frontier on the Missouri and Kansas Border.

[3] When the Civil War started, Wheaton was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry on July 10, 1861.

Wheaton took command of the unit, was promoted to colonel effective July 21, 1861, and led the 2nd Rhode Island during the Peninsula Campaign, where he was commended for his actions at the Battle of Williamsburg.

During the ensuing operations in the Shenandoah Valley, under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, Wheaton was promoted to command of the first division after Brig.

[1][8] He was breveted to the rank of major general in the Regular Army, to date from March 13, 1865, for meritorious service during the Civil War.

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.

[12] 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.

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.

[17] He gave a speech at a Thanksgiving dinner in Berlin, Germany in 1898 which he used as a platform to encourage the U.S. Congress to support a stronger military which reflected the greatness of the United States.

[18] Wheaton died in Washington, D.C., of a brain hemorrhage,[4] and was buried in Section 1, Grave 131-A of Arlington National Cemetery.