Wilber Elliott Wilder

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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.{{cite book|last=Gatewood|first=Charles B.|title=Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache Wars Memoir|publisher=Bison Books|location=Lincoln, NE|year=2009|pages=241, 257|isbn=978-0-8032-1884-0}}{{cite book|last=Thrapp|first=Dan L.|title=Conquest of Apacheria|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman, OK|year=1979|pages=356|isbn=0-8061-1286-7}} While an Army Captain, he served as acting superintendent of Yellowstone National Park from March 15, 1899 - June 22, 1899.{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/tolson/histlist7y.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121214095147/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/tolson/histlist7y.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 14, 2012|title=Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials|year=2000|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2009-04-18}} 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.

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).{{cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6160852|title=Wilber Elliott Wilder|publisher=Find a Grave|access-date=2009-04-18}} 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.{{cite magazine|date=1952-02-11|title=Obituaries|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815989,00.html?iid=digg_share|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103030533/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815989,00.html?iid=digg_share|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 3, 2012|access-date=2009-04-18}}

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.

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Category:1857 births

Category:1952 deaths

Category:United States Army Medal of Honor recipients

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Category:American military personnel of the Spanish–American War

Category:United States Army generals of World War I

Category:People from Genesee County, Michigan

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Category:United States Army generals