Wilber Elliott Wilder

Wilber Elliott Wilder (August 18, 1857 – January 30, 1952) was a United States Army Brigadier General who was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for rescuing a wounded soldier under heavy fire.^[1]

Wilber Wilder
Wilder in 1918 as commander of the 168th Infantry Brigade, 84th Division.
Born	(1857-08-18)August 18, 1857 Atlas, Michigan
Died	January 30, 1952(1952-01-30) (aged 94) Governors Island, New York
Place of burial	Fairlawn Cemetery, Ridgefield, Connecticut
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch	United States Army
Years of service	1877–1920
Rank	Brigadier General
Service number	0-13490
Unit	4th Cavalry Regiment
Commands	5th Cavalry Regiment 84th Infantry Division
Battles / wars	Indian Wars Spanish–American War Pancho Villa Expedition World War I
Awards	Medal of Honor

Education and army career

Brigadier General Wilder with his staff of the 168th Inf. Brigade, including his son, France October 1918

Wilber Elliott Wilder graduated from West Point in June, 1877, when he was just short of 21 years old. In 1886, he was a key figure in negotiating the surrender of the Apache chief Geronimo.^[2][3][4] While an Army Captain, he served as acting superintendent of Yellowstone National Park from March 15, 1899 - June 22, 1899.^[5] He also served in the Spanish–American War, the Pancho Villa Expedition, and World War I. From 1913 to 1916, he was the commander of Fort Myer.

Personal life

He married Violet Blair Martin (1860-1919), of the prominent Throop-Martin family of "Willowbrook" near Auburn, New York, on April 16, 1884. Violet's brother Edward Sanford Martin (1856-1939) was a writer and her mother, Cornelia Williams Martin (1818-1899) was a prominent social activist; her sister Emily (1846-1870) had married General Emory Upton. The Wilders had two sons - Throop Martin Wilder (1884-1956) and Wilbur Elliott Jr. (1888-1961) - and three daughters - Sylvia (1887-1938), who married British diplomat Alvary Gascoigne, Cornelia (1890-1962), and Violet (1893-1986).^[2] After Violet's death, Wilder remarried in 1921 to widow Rose Dimond Phinney Grosvenor (1857-1923) and then to Laura Williams Merritt (1871-1951), widow of General Wesley Merritt. He outlived them both and, at the time of his death, was the oldest surviving graduate of the Academy. He died in Governors Island, New York but was residing in Ridgefield, Connecticut at the time.^[6]

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 4th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Horseshoe Canyon, N. Mex., 23 April 1882. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Birth: Atlas, Mich. Date of issue: 17 August 1896.

Citation: Assisted, under a heavy fire, to rescue a wounded comrade.^[1]