John Wilder was a very remarkable man, before and after the war as well as during it! I tend to lean on bios - like to see who these guys were to see why they could do what they did. He, like Forrest, had no military training or experience, but sure had a natural talent for war.
Wilder was born in the Catskill Mts of New York and migrated to Ohio as a teenager. It's said he was so down on his luck he was fairly close to starving when he found a coin on the street - saved! He was headed for the bakery to buy a roll when he stopped and thought a little. He decided to save the coin until he was a lot hungrier! A day or so later he got a job in a foundry and didn't need to spend it. (He carried the coin on his person throughout the rest of his life.)
Wilder's ambition, energy and brains impressed his boss, who offered to make the boy a full partner. Couldn't beat that deal! Wilder not only turned it down but quit - he had bigger plans. He relocated to Indiana and started his own foundry! He was an inventor and became nationally known in the field of hydraulics.
When the war opened in 1861, Wilder cast two cannon, melted his metal down into bullets, closed the foundry and recruited a light artillery company. They weren't accepted by the regular army but he enlisted as a private, then a few months later the governor of Indiana made him lt colonel of the 17th Indiana Infantry - the future Lightning Brigade!
1SGDan,rhp6033 and others have already presented a fine summary of Wilder's brigade, but I'll add a dab or two, with a little repetition!
He was not your usual right away - his first major battle (there was a beginning one in Virginia) was at Corinth after Shiloh. He had arrived too late to participate much in that battle, but his activity impressed Buell. He was not one to gather moss either - he promptly moved on to McMinnville and jumped on N B Forrest - he later successfully attacked him at both Chickamauga and Chattanooga. While he was recuperating from typhoid at home in Greensburg IN, John Hunt Morgan raided Kentucky and small bands of Confederate raiders entered Indiana - Wilder crawled out of bed and assembled a 30-day outfit who ran the raiders back south. These were his first mounted infantry. (Forrest had, sort of by accident, been using this method since the battle of Sacramento.) Wilder later mixed it up again with Morgan in Tennessee and decided he liked his style. Soon Wilder and his men were raiding, too - with excellent results. Wilder picked up some good ideas from his enemies, and tweaked them in his own inimitable style!
Wilder distinguished himself in many battles thereafter, and was captured at Munfordville. Bragg had sent Gen Chalmers and Munfordville native Simon Bolivar Buckner to take care of the railroad bridge - Buckner, not wanting his hometown flattened, courteously informed Wilder he was surrounded and did he wish to surrender? No, he did not. He and his men fought and defended their position. Even Wilder's superior, Dunham, recommended he surrender. Wilder began to think maybe he really was outnumbered, and so he sent a message to Bragg asking for a truce so he could see for himself! He got his tour and found his 3500 men had been holding out against 25,000 and 45 cannon. "Well," said Wilder, scratching his chin, "Maybe I ought to surrender!" He was paroled after a couple months and joined with Rosecrans.
As mentioned in earlier posts, Wilder discovered the Spencers at a gun dealer's in Murfreesboro and immediately recognized their value. He borrowed from bankers in Greensburg and got his own men to buy in as well. He also offered to hock his property to secure the bank loan but they gave it to him anyway. Wilder's house had burned down - he requested a leave to deal with it but Rosecrans turned him down, saying, "We can't spare you. The government might better build you half a dozen houses than have you away for 10 days." Also as previously noted, he armed his men with long handled hatchets, so sometimes they are called "The Hatchet Brigade." (There were some difficulties with Union cavalry sabers - sometimes it was hard to procure them and usually they were delivered 'as is' - often the soldiers had no training in how to use them. A hatchet was pretty self-explanatory and most had experience with them!)
The battle of Hoover's Gap proved the worth of the Spencer rifles in the hands of Wilder's unique company. This battle is where they acquired the nickname, "The Lightning Brigade". They were prominent from then on - Chattanooga, Chickamauga and so to the end.
After the war, Wilder moved to Chattanooga and became a leading citizen. Some wryly commented he wasn't too bad for a carpetbagger! He led in the development of eastern Tennessee - one reason he relocated to Chattanooga was to investigate the Cumberlands for minerals. He established the Roane Mountain Iron Company. Eventually he merged with other companies, including a rolling mill W T Sherman had established, and it became the Southern Iron Company. (He also invented the Wilder Turbine Wheel.) East Tennessee mining and iron works boomed! He also founded Chattanooga University. One interesting thing he did in this corner of Tennessee was connect the mineral resources of North Carolina, West Virginia and East Tennessee.
He built the famous Cloud Hotel or Roane Mountain Hotel, which was very beautiful and high in the mountains. So many of his guests were invalids and health seekers that they were called "The Hay Fever Brigade". Many, many noted people visited. (The hotel's guest book and registry have been lost but it had many a famous signature inside!) The hotel was, curiously, situated half in Tennessee and half in North Carolina, the state line running through the lobby. North Carolina was dry so liquor was served only on the Tennessee side of the building!
Wilder also was strongly involved in creating the Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Parks. He made many friends on both sides, including some he partnered with and some he employed. He made a particular friendship with Forrest. Having heard Forrest was about to be arrested for parole violation because of his klan activities, Wilder appeared at Forrest's home in Memphis to ascertain what the general was up to. Satisfied that Forrest's intentions were only to protect white Southerners, Wilder used his influence to help prevent the arrest. Later, Forrest and his wife stayed with the Wilders for two or three weeks in Chattanooga.
John Wilder had two wives and a large number of descendants. He died in 1887 in Florida, apparently from a relapse of the old typhoid. He is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN.
Bringing the