{{Short description|American pioneer and author (1842–1915)}} {{other people|Nicholas Wilson}} {{Infobox person | name = Elijah Nicholas Wilson | image = Elijah Nicholas Wilson portrait.jpg <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = Portrait of Wilson<!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date ={{Birth date|1842|04|08}}<!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1915|12|26|1842|04|08}}<!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Mormon pioneer, author | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''Among the Shoshones'' | alma_mater = | education = | website = }}
'''Elijah Nicholas Wilson''' (April 8, 1842 - December 26, 1915) was known as "Yagaiki" when among the Shoshones, and in his later years as '''"Uncle Nick"''' when entertaining young children with his adventurous exploits. He was a Mormon American pioneer, childhood runaway, "adopted" brother of Shoshone Chief Washakie, Pony Express rider for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, stagecoach driver for Ben Holloday's Overland Stage, blacksmith, prison guard, farmer, Mormon bishop, prison inmate (unlawful cohabitation), carpenter/cabinet maker, fiddler, trader, trapper, and "frontier doctor" (diphtheria and smallpox).
In 1859, Wilson was guide to General Albert Sidney Johnston when he led a company from Camp Floyd to hunt down Western Shoshone people in retaliation for a raid on a caravan. According to Wilson's account, Johnston's army massacred 350 men and an unknown number of women and children in the Spring Valley Massacre.<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web |author= |date=June 30, 2016 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Bahsahwahbee |url=http://water.nv.gov/hearings/past/Spring%20-%20Cave%20-%20Dry%20Lake%20and%20Delamar%20Valleys%202017/Exhibits/CTGR/CTGR_EXH_021.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022142414/http://water.nv.gov/hearings/past/Spring%20-%20Cave%20-%20Dry%20Lake%20and%20Delamar%20Valleys%202017/Exhibits/CTGR/CTGR_EXH_021.pdf |archive-date=October 22, 2017 |accessdate=October 21, 2017 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>
Wilson is remembered today due to the publication of derivative works based upon, and later-day republications of, his 1910 autobiography entitled ''Among the Shoshones'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Elijah Nicholas "Uncle Nick" |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=10002970&searchType=1&permalink=y |title=Among the Shoshones |publisher=Skelton publishing company |year=c. 1910 |location=Salt Lake City |lccn=10002970}}</ref> such as ''The White Indian Boy: The Story of Uncle Nick Among the Shoshones''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=E. N. |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=19019487&searchType=1&permalink=y |title=The White Indian Boy: The Story of Uncle Nick Among the Shoshones |publisher=World Book Company |others=Illustrated by F. N. Wilson |year=1919 |editor-last=Driggs |editor-first=Howard R. |editor-link=Howard R. Driggs |series=Pioneer Life Series |location=Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY |lccn=19019487}}</ref> (a volume of the World Book Company's ''In Pioneer Life Series''), ''The White Indian Boy'', and its sequel ''The Return of the White Indian''.<ref>[http://lccn.loc.gov/86127837 Elijah Nicholas Wilson and Charles Alma Wilson. ''The White Indian Boy; and its Sequel, The Return of the White Indian.'' Rapid City, SD: Fenske Printing, Inc., 1985. Library of Congress Control Number 86127837]</ref> He founded Wilson, Wyoming. His life was highlighted in the 2000 movie ''Wind River''.<ref>''Wind River''. Dir. Tom Shell. Perfs. Blake Heron, A Martinez, Karen Allen, Russell Means, Tim Griffin, Patricia Van Ingen, Devon Gummersall, Wes Studi. 2000. DVD. Lions Gate Entertainment, 2001.</ref><ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q15854772|title=Wind River}}</ref>
There is some evidence that suggests that Wilson was not the author of ''The White Indian Boy''. The Morgan County News reported in its 28 August 1959 edition, that "'White Indian Boy', was written by a man named Howard Driggs."<ref>Morgan County News, Utah, 28 August 1959 edition, page 5.</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline}} * {{Find a Grave|28786017}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Elijah Nicholas}} Category:1842 births Category:1915 deaths Category:American memoirists Category:American autobiographers Category:Writers from Illinois Category:Mormon pioneers Category:American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:People convicted of cohabitation Category:Pony Express riders Category:American people convicted of bigamy Category:Latter Day Saints from Wyoming Category:People from Wilson, Wyoming