William Maxwell Wood

Infobox Military Person
name = William Maxwell Wood
lived = May 27, 1819 – 1 March 1880
placeofbirth = Baltimore, Maryland
placeofdeath = Baltimore, Maryland


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allegiance = United States of America
serviceyears = 1829–1871
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branch = United States Navy
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William Maxwell Wood (May 27, 1819 – March 1, 1880) was an officer and surgeon in the United States Navy in the middle 1800s. He became the first Surgeon-General of the U.S. Navy in 1871, with the equivalent rank of Commodore after rising to Chief of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in the years following the American Civil War. In that role, Wood was instrumental in increasing the stature of the Naval Surgeon, by championing a bill eventually passed by Congress that increased the rank and compensation of physicians in the Navy, enabling the Navy to attract and recruit more qualified physicians.

Wood is most remembered in U.S. Naval history for his daring journey through Mexico in 1846 at the onset of the Mexican-American War, where he eluded detection and capture as a U.S. spy in enemy territory and successfully provided vital intelligence leading to the possession of California by the Pacific Squadron, as well as providing intelligence information to the Secretary of the Navy in Washington regarding Mexican fortifications and military operations. Wood was also an accomplished writer, and authored three books chronicling his voyages with the Pacific and East India Squadrons, and his ideas on improving the U.S. Navy, as well as many literary articles for notable publications of his day.

Biography

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Wood graduated from the Medical School at the University of Maryland, was appointed Assistant Surgeon on May 16, 1829, and, between 1830 and 1834, served with the West Indies and Home Squadrons, as well as with the Army during the Seminole Wars.

For several years he conducted a medical practice in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he and his family followed his mother and siblings in relocating from Baltimore after the completion of the National Road in 1834. He resumed sea duty as Passed Assistant Surgeon aboard the ship-of-the-line USS "Independence" in 1836 , sailing to St. Petersburg, Russia, where Czar Nicholas boarded and inspected, before the "Independence" sailed to the South Atlantic. Tragically, his wife Hannah died while he was serving on the "Independence" and he returned to Terre Haute to tend to his young daughters and the family property in January 1838.

During 1839 he served with the West Indies Squadron and the receiving ship in Baltimore, before being assigned to the Pacific Squadron in 1843. He became Fleet Surgeon with the Pacific Squadron in 1844 and, upon completion of his tour in 1846, was about to return to the United States when relations between that country and Mexico became decidedly strained. The commander of the Navy's Pacific Squadron, Commodore John D. Sloat, consequently entrusted certain dispatches to Wood to carry back to the United States with him. Wood volunteered to travel through Mexico and report upon conditions there. Accompanied by the American consul from Mazatlan, Mexico, the former fleet surgeon commenced his journey across Mexico.

Mexican-American War

Arriving at Guadalajara on May 10, Wood and his companion found the town "in a high state of agitation" owing to the reception there of the news of the battles between American and Mexican forces at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, on the Rio Grande River. The surgeon immediately wrote a dispatch to Sloat at Mazatlan, and it was delivered in five days — an exceptional occurrence in those days. His message that hostilities with Mexico had actually commenced was the first tidings of that nature that Sloat had received.

Wood meanwhile continued on his journey across Mexico and subsequently arrived at Mexico City to be "startled and shocked by hearing newsboys crying through the streets 'Grand victory over the North Americans.'" He later learned through a trusted friend of the Mexican minister of war that General Zachary Taylor's men had, in fact, annihilated the Mexican Army's choice regiment. Surgeon Wood remained in Mexico City not less than a week and gathered more information which he sent off to Commodore Sloat, apprising him of the situation, via Guadalajara.

Wood continued his mission, as he had since the beginning of it, in civilian clothes — running the risk of being apprehended as a spy — and, while posing as an Englishman, inspected the defenses of the castle at Chapultepec. Continuing on to Veracruz, the surgeon carefully took notes on Mexico, its condition and resources. Ultimately, the physician reached a neutral man-of-war and was taken to the flagship of the American blockading squadron. Sailing on a vessel especially detached for the purpose, Wood carried the vital intelligence information to Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Commodore Sloat took action. As he later recorded in a letter to Wood, "The information you furnished me at Mazatlan from the City of Mexico, via Guadalajara, (at the risk of your life) was the only reliable information I received of that event, and which induced me to proceed immediately to California, and upon my own responsibility to take possession of that country, which I did on the 7th of July, 1846."

Sloat considered the performance of Wood's journey through Mexico "as an extraordinary feat, requiring great courage, presence of mind, and address. How you escaped from the heart of an enemy's country ... has always been a wonder to me."

Following the Mexican-American War, Wood served in the receiving ship at Baltimore and later went to the steamer "Michigan", operating on the Great Lakes. During this period, he sold his property in Terre Haute, and married a niece of President Zachary Taylor, Rose Mary Carson, daughter of Pennsylvania Senate leader Thomas Carson. Wood served as personal physician of President Taylor. From 1853–1855 Wood served at the Naval Hospital at Sackett's Harbor, New York. He again served as Fleet Surgeon — this time with the East India Squadron — from 1856 to 1858, serving under Commodore James Armstrong aboard the USS "San Jacinto", and took part in the negotiations with the King of Siam in opening that country to American trade, in establishing the first American consulate to Japan, and in Commander Andrew H. Foote's attack upon the Chinese Barrier Forts — of "enormous strength ... built of large blocks of granite ... heavily armed." — at Canton, China, in response to Chinese attacks upon American shipping during the Second Opium War.

Wood subsequently served a second tour in "Michigan" before he became Fleet Surgeon for the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron aboard the USS "Hartford", and the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the American Civil War. While serving aboard the flagship USS "Minnesota", Wood participated in the Battle of Hampton Roads, and witnessed the historic battle of the ironclads USS "Monitor" and CSS "Virginia" (the former USS "Merrimack") in Hampton Roads; and later took part in the assault and capture of Sewall's Point. Wood established a Naval Hospital at Sewall's Point, and later served as medical inspector of the James River Flotilla, before being transferred back to the USS Michigan before the end of the U.S. Civil War.

After the Civil War, Wood served on various Naval medical examining boards in Boston and New York and at Baltimore and Annapolis in 1866 and 1867 and was President of the Naval Examining Board in 1868 before he became Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in 1870.

Appointed the first Surgeon-General of the US Navy and Medical Director on March 3, 1871, Wood retired later that same year and returned to Maryland. He continued to serve the Navy in a civilian capacity as Medical Inspector - General Hospitals and Fleets until his final retirement in 1873. He died at his farm, Rosewood, in Owings Mills, Maryland in March, 1880.

Honors

Two Navy ships, the "Clemson"-class destroyer USS "Wood" (DD-317), in commission from 1919–1930, and the "Gearing"-class destroyer USS "William M. Wood" (DD-715), in commission from 1945–76, have been named for him. In 1944, the name "William M. Wood" was twice assigned to proposed destroyer escorts, but both times their construction was canceled. By coincidence, the combined 42 years of service of the two destroyers coincides approximately with Dr. Wood's 42 year U.S. Naval career.

The USS William M Wood Association was formed in 1994 and currently has an active living shipmate directory of over 1,500 former crew of the "William M. Wood" (DD-715). Ten annual reunions have been held by the Association and many of the active living shipmates regularly attend. The Association has initiated a project named "Wood III" with the goal of requesting the U.S. Navy to continue the legacy of Dr. Wood and the U.S. Navy ship lineage for ships named in his honor, by naming another new Navy destroyer after Dr. Wood, thus enabling the shipmates of the "William M. Wood", including those who served during World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the Cold War, to continue to honor Dr. Wood and to pass the baton during their lifetimes to the next generation of "Wood" sailors.

References