John T. Wilder Biography

John Thomas Wilder (Jan. 31, 1830-Oct. 20, 1917), soldier and industrialist, was born in Hunter Village, New York. The son of Reuben and Mary Wilder, John T. Wilder served as an apprenticed draftsman in a millwright plant in Ohio. In 1852 Wilder established a millwright plant of his own in Greensburg, Indiana and worked there until the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1858 he married Martha Stewart. They had five daughters and one son, all who lived to adulthood.

On April 21, 1861, just a few weeks after the beginning of the war, Wilder enlisted as a private in the First Independent Battery of Artillery and on the very next day was elected captain. On June 12, 1861 he was made lieutenant colonel of the 17th Indiana Infantry, which would later be known as "The Lightning Brigade." His first service was in West Virginia where Colonel Wilder personally met General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Armies.

While on the battlefield, one of Lee's nephews was injured. Wilder gave the soldier a drink and while he was in Wilder's arms General Lee's nephew died. Wilder, under a flag of truce, brought the body to General Lee, who thanked the Union officer. Wilder next went to Kentucky where he received the rank of colonel. He was officially conferred the title of brigade commander on December 20, 1862.

As a Colonel, Wilder opposed the Confederate Army in a large number of skirmishes and was often the victor, but on September 18, 1862 he and his brigade was captured. They were soon paroled and his brigade was swiftly mounted. Having been armed with seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles, his "Lightning Brigade" became an effective fighting unit. Upon General William S. Rosecrans' succession as commander of the Union forces Wilder received the command of Rosecrans' army in the advance on Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the battle of Chickamauga Wilder's brigade was the only part of the Union army that was not forced to give way at any time. Because of the brilliant service here, Wilder's brigade received the name "Wilder's Lightning Brigade." Wilder then fought in Georgia, near Atlanta. After these campaigns Wilder was sent to Nashville, Tennessee, after which he would fight in no more important battles of the Civil War. It was during this time he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. During the war, General Wilder participated in 219 battles, in which he was never severely wounded. Wilder resigned his commission due to illness on October 5, 1864.

While in Tennessee during the war Wilder procured reports on the geology of Tennessee. This, coupled with land he had already obtained before the war, provided the backbone of Wilder's soon-to-be prosperous career in the mining industry. In 1866 Wilder and his family moved from Greensburg, Indiana to Chattanooga. In 1867 the Roane Iron Company was organized in Roane County by Wilder and two other associates, Major W. A. Rockwood and Captain H. S. Chamberlain. The surrounding town was laid out and named for Major Rockwood. On this site there is a fairly continuous vein of iron ore, coal, and limestone. Soon the Roane Rolling Mills was founded at Chattanooga for manufacturing railroad rails.

Wilder served as mayor and postmaster of Chattanooga, but served only eight months in the office of mayor before his resignation. Wilder represented Tennessee as commissioner to the World's Fair in Vienna and was nominated for a seat in Congress but lost in the election. After his brief stint as mayor, Wilder became the pension agent at Knoxville for eight years, and also served as commissioner of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park. He was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and an honorary member of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain.

General Wilder's first wife, Martha Steward Wilder, died in 1893 and in 1904 Wilder married Dora E. Lee. From North Carolina, Dora Lee was a member of the distinguished Lee family of Virginia.

There is a monument to "Wilder's Lightning Brigade" at the National Battlefield at Chickamauga, Georgia. General John Thomas Wilder died on October 20, 1917 while visiting his son in Florida.

(Photographs © courtesy of Thomas Maher, grandson of General Wilder)