William H. Gilder: Author, Adventurer, Soldier

William H. Gilder

William Henry Gilder was born into a prominent Philadelphia family on August 16, 1838, the son of  Rev. William Henry and Jane Nutt Gilder. His grandfather was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and laid the corner stone of Girard College in Philadelphia. His older brother, Richard Watson Gilder, was a famed writer and editor of  Scribner’s. Even as a boy he displayed an adventurous and heroic nature, once rescuing a smallpox victim from a burning house.

Gilder was living in Bordentown, NJ at the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted on April 19, 1861 at the age of 22 as a Private in Company B, 5^th New York Volunteers (Duryee’s Zouaves). On Oct. 12, 1861 Gilder was appointed 1^st Sergeant in Company E, 9^th New Jersey Volunteers, however he never joined the unit. On Jan. 11, 1862 he was promoted to Corporal and in March became a member of the 5^th New York Color Guard. In August Gilder was promoted to Sergeant.

Gilder was reported sick with sunstroke at White House Landing, VA on May 26, 1862. He was detailed on recruiting service from of July 23, 1862 till Sept. 10, 1862. Gilder was placed on detached service on Nov. 14, 1862 in order to receive a commission as 2nd Lieutenant of  Company H, 40th New York Volunteers (the Mozart Regiment), a regiment in which his father served as Chaplain. He was officially discharged from the 5^th New York on Jan. 7, 1863. On Jan. 10, 1863 Gilder was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant. The following month he was promoted to Regimental Adjutant.

During the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, Gilder was wounded in the arm and leg and escaped capture by running for nearly a mile despite his wounds. Gilder nursed his  sick father who was suffering with small pox until his death in April of 1864 at Brandy Station, VA. On Oct. 6, 1864 Gilder was promoted to Captain and assigned to the staff of Gen. Thomas Egan. That same month he was wounded at Hatcher’s Run, VA. Gilder served until the end of the war, receiving a promotion to Brevet Major for “gallant and meritorious conduct.”

Following the war, Gilder opened an art studio in Newark, NJ before becoming Managing Editor of the Newark Register which was founded by his brother. From 1878 through 1881 Gilder served as second-in-command of the expedition led by Lieut. Frederick Schwatka to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. The expedition made a sledge journey through King William’s Land which lasted twelve months and covered 3,250 miles, a world record. The expedition recovered the remains of Lieut. Irving, a member of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. On one trip, lasting fifty-four days, Gilder was alone with a driver who had sworn to kill him.

In 1881 Gilder accompanied the DeLong Expedition under Capt. Berry of the United States Navy. When the expedition’s ship, the USS Rodgers, was destroyed by fire near the Bering Strait. Gilder was selected to travel the 2,000 miles across Siberia in midwinter to inform the Secretary of the Navy of the situation. Gilder then joined the search for the Jeannette which had been lost while searching for a Northwest passage. Later that year he was one of the first to visit the scene of the Spanish earthquakes.

Gilder spent the summer and autumn of 1883 in Tonquin, where the French and Anamese war was in progress. During these adventures Gilder served as correspondent for the New York Herald. He published "Schwatka's Search" in 1881, and "Ice-Pack and Tundra" in 1883. In 1887 Gilder attempted to reach the North Pole via a land route. The expedition failed to reach its destination. Nevertheless, the redoubtable Gilder returned to New York after traveling more than six thousand miles and vowed to make the attempt on a whaling schooner.

In later years Gilder wrote of his travels in Borneo and China and served as Editor of the  Newark Sunday Standard and Sunday Times, as well as the New York Journal. William H. Gilder died of Bright's Disease at Memorial Hospital, Morristown, NJ, on Feb. 5, 1900. He is buried in Bordentown Cemetery, Bordentown, NJ.