Wilder family

Wilder, Albert, ca. 1841-1864

Rank : Private

Regiment : 39th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, Co. G (1862-1864)

Service : 1862 September-1864 June

Albert Wilder, a shoemaker from Hingham, Mass., was born in about 1841, and at the age of 21, enlisted in the 39th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, raised near Boston. For the first year and half of its service, the regiment was assigned to duty in near Poolesville, Md. and in the defenses of Washington, D.C., and saw virtually no action. While troubled by the seeming inactivity and uselessness of their assignment, Wilder spent some of his free time visiting hospitals, and after seeing the results of the carnage of war, decided that he had been as close to battle as he would ever like to be.

The quietude did not last for the 39th Massachusetts. Wilder entered into battle for the first time during the Mine Run campaign in November, 1863, and after a bleak winter of renewed inactivity, he found his regiment called into duty during the spring campaigns, beginning with the Battle of the Wilderness. Wilder was wounded near Spotsylvania, and died in a hospital in Washington, D.C., June 1, 1864.

From the guide to the Albert Wilder papers, Wilder, Albert, 1862-1864, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)