John T. Wilder

John Thomas Wilder was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, noted principally for capturing the key mountain pass of Hoover's Gap during the Tullahoma Campaign in Central Tennessee in June 1863. Wilder had personally ensured that his "Lightning Brigade" of mounted infantry was equipped with the new Spencer repeating rifle, though he initially had to appeal to his men to pay for these weapons themselves, before the government agreed to carry the cost. The victory at Hoover's Gap was attributed largely to Wilder's persistence in procuring the new rifles, which totally disoriented the enemy.