. >> during booktv's recent trip to chattanooga, tennessee, we took a tour of the papers of john t. wilder, who relocated to the south after killing an officer in the civil war. >> we are on the second floor of the library. this is a collection we acquired around 1960. she donated his military documents that her father wrote to their mother in the water. after the war there were a lot of union officers who moved from chattanooga to t

special with an exploration of the writings of civil war general and chattanooga entrepreneur john t. wilder. >> collection at university of tennessee at chattanooga, the second floor of the library. all the papers we have here at the university, a collection that we acquired around 1960 am one of general wilder's daughters were still alive at the time. she donated his collection of military documents and letters that her father wrote to their mother in indiana during the war. wilder after the war, did what a lot of union officers did. include indiana from the midwest and the game a prominent businessman in town, and industrialists throughout the south. he opened a series of mines throughout tennessee into north carolina, and he was an entrepreneur. he opened up several hotels to he was always working new ventures and moneymaking opportunities, and would get them rolling and stay with them for two or three years and then he would sell. start something else. he was also the mayor of chattanooga in 1870, and the postmaster of the city as well. he was sort of a prominent citizen of the late 180

of our offerings, including this look at the writings of sole or general -- civil war general john t wilder[video clip] >> he was one of the first to have a repeating rifle. he had an advantage over the single shot rifles that most soldiers used. they could fire 70 shots without reloading. versus shoot and reload. he really gained an upper hand. because of them getting spencer repeating rifles, it was a lethal division. it is because of that but they became known -- prior to that, they were the hatchet brigade. they all carried hatchets, just for camp necessity. he also was very instrumental in the battle of chickamauga. that was across the border in georgia. he was one of the last to leave the union troops. he helped to protect george thomas, who later became known as the rock of chickamauga. after the battle of chickamauga, in the late summer of 1863, he was pretty much done with the war. he went home. he was pretty sick and he went home for the remainder of the year. when he rejoined this outfit in early 1864, it was a reduced capacity. i believe about halfway through the war, he was pre

during booktv's recent trip to chattanooga, tennessee, we took a tour of the civil war papers of john t. wilder, a native northerner who relocated to the south after he attacked a union officer during the civil war. >> collections of the university of tennessee of chattanooga. the john q. oliver papers that we have here at the university, a collection that we acquired around 1960 from one of general wilder's daughters who was till alive at the time -- the still alive at the time, she donated a collection of military documents and letters that her father wrote to their mother in indiana during the war. wilder, after the war, did what a lot of union officers did, he moved to chattanooga from indiana or from the midwest. and he became a prominent businessman and an industrialist throughout the south. he opened a series of mines throughout tennessee, into north carolina. he was an entrepreneur, he opened up several hotels. he was always working, new adventures in money-making opportunities and would get them rolling and stay with them more two or three years, and then he would sell and start someth

. >> during booktv's recent trip to chattanooga, tennessee, we took a tour of the papers of john t. wilder, who relocated to the south after killing an officer in the civil war. >> we are on the second floor of the library. this is a collection we acquired around 1960. she donated his military documents that her father wrote to their mother in the water. after the war there were a lot of union officers who moved from chattanooga to the midwest. he became a prominent businessman and an industrialist throughout the south and he opened a series of mines into north carolina and he was an entrepreneur in nt open up several hotels. he was always working with moneymaking opportunities in the and would stay with them for two or three years and he was also the mayor of chattanooga in 1870 and he was sort of a prominent citizen. so i think it is appropriate that we get this collection of letters that he wrote to his wife. one thing i find interesting is that a lot of these letters started off by asking a person why haven't you written more and they're like we haven't received a letter from you and c