Everything about Leonard Wood totally explained
Leonard Wood (
October 9,
1860 –
August 7,
1927) was a
physician who served as the
Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of
Cuba and
Governor General of the Philippines. Early in his military career, he was awarded the
Medal of Honor.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in
Winchester, New Hampshire, he attended Pierce Academy in
Middleborough, Massachusetts, and
Harvard Medical School, earning an
M.D. degree in 1884 as an intern at
Boston City Hospital.
He took a position as an Army contract physician in 1885, and was stationed at
Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Wood participated in the last campaign against
Geronimo in 1886, and was awarded the Medal of Honor, in 1898, for carrying dispatches 100 miles through hostile territory and for commanding an infantry detachment whose officers had been lost.
While stationed at
Fort McPherson in
Atlanta,
Georgia in 1893, Wood enrolled in school at
Georgia Tech, then known as the Georgia School of Technology, and became the school's first football coach and, as a player, its team captain. Wood led the team to its first ever football victory, 28 to 6, over the
University of Georgia.
Wood was personal physician to Presidents
Grover Cleveland and
William McKinley through 1898. It was during this period he developed a friendship with
Theodore Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of the
Navy. At the outbreak of the
Spanish-American War, Wood, with Roosevelt, organized the 1st Volunteer
Cavalry regiment, popularly known as the
Rough Riders. Wood commanded the regiment in a successful engagement known as the
Battle of Las Guasimas. When
brigade commander,
Samuel B. M. Young became ill, Wood received a field promotion to
brigadier general of volunteers and assumed command of the 2nd Brigade, Cavalry Division, V Corps (which included the Rough Riders) and led the brigade to a famous victory at Kettle Hill and
San Juan Heights.
After San Juan, Wood led the 2nd Cavalry Brigade for the rest of the war; he stayed in
Cuba after the war and was appointed the Military Governor of
Santiago in 1898, and of Cuba from 1899–1902. In that capacity, he relied on his medical experience to institute improvements to the medical and sanitary conditions in Cuba. He also ordered the incarceration of Dr. Manuel M. Coronado, director of La Discusión newspaper and
Jesus Castellanos, caricaturist of the newspaper because Jesus Castellanos drew a cartoon that was published on April, 12, 1901, in the Cuban paper La Discusión. The cartoon showed "The Cuban People" represented by a crucified Jesus Christ between two thieves, General Wood and American President William McKinley. Cuban public opinion was depicted by Mary Magdalene on her knees crying at the foot of the cross and Senator Platt, depicted as a Roman soldier, is holding a spear that says "The Platt Amendment" on it. Governor Wood, who saw in Castellanos's drawing an unfriendly gesture toward the United States, had both men arrested for criminal libel and held in the Vivac prison of Havana, and the offices of La Discusión newspaper were sealed (Wood was persuaded to release them on the following day). He was promoted to
brigadier general of
regulars shortly before moving to his next assignment.
In 1902, he proceeded to the
Philippines, where he served in the capacity of commander of the Philippines Division and later as commander of the Department of the East. He was promoted to
major general in 1903, and served as governor of
Moro province from 1903–1906. During this period, he was in charge of several bloody campaigns against Moslem rebels, including the
Moro Crater massacre.
Army Chief of Staff
Wood had known Theodore Roosevelt well before the Spanish-American War. Wood was named
Army Chief of Staff in 1910 by President
Taft, whom he'd met while both were in the Philippines; he remains the only medical officer to have ever held that position. As Chief of Staff, Wood implemented several programs, among which were the forerunner of the
Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, and the
Preparedness Movement, a campaign for universal military training and wartime conscription. The Preparedness Movement plan was scrapped in favor of the
Selective Service System, shortly before
World War I. He developed the
Mobile Army, thus laying the groundwork for American success in World War I. He created the
General Staff Corps.
In 1914, Wood was replaced as
Chief of Staff by
William Wotherspoon. Wood was a strong advocate of preparedness, which alienated him from President Wilson. With the US entry into World War I, Wood was recommended by
Republicans, in particular
Henry Cabot Lodge, to be the U.S. field commander; however, War Secretary
Newton Baker instead appointed
John J. Pershing, amid much controversy. During the war, Wood was, instead, put in charge of the training of the
10th and
89th Infantry Divisions, both at
Camp Funston. In 1915, he published
The Military Obligation of Citizenship, and in 1916
Our Military History.
Wood was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the
election of 1920. He won the
New Hampshire primary that year, but lost at the convention. Among the reasons why he didn't become the candidate were rivals for the nomination, his obvious political inexperience, and the strong support he gave for the
anti-Communist tactics of Democratic Attorney General
A. Mitchell Palmer. After the major candidates deadlocked, the nomination went to
Warren G. Harding.
He retired from the Army in 1921, and was made
Governor General of the Philippines, in which capacity he served from 1921 to 1927. He was noted for his harsh, unpopular policies.
Wood died in
Boston, Massachusetts after undergoing
surgery for a
brain tumor. He had initially been diagnosed with a benign
meningioma in 1910. This was successfully resected by
Harvey Cushing at that time. The successful removal of Wood's brain tumor represented an important milestone, indicating to the public the advances that had been made in the nascent field of
neurosurgery, and extending Wood's life by almost two decades.
He is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery.
Legacy
Camp Leonard Wood in Missouri, now
Fort Leonard Wood, home of the
United States Army Combat Engineer School, Chemical School, Military Police School, and USAF 366 TRS Det 7 was named in his honor, as was the
USS Leonard Wood (AP-25/APA-12).
Ft. Leonard Wood is also a major
TRADOC post for
Basic Combat Training (BCT), home of the 10th
Infantry Regiment.
He is portrayed favorably in the 1997
miniseries Rough Riders by actor and former
United States Marine Dale Dye.
Leonard Wood was portrayed in a less favorable light by
Mark Twain and others for his part in leading the
Moro Crater massacre in 1906.
A plaque in Wood's memory is found in
Harvard University's
Memorial Church.
Medal of Honor citation
» Voluntarily carried dispatches through a region infested with hostile
Indians, making a journey of 70 miles in one night and walking 30 miles the next day. Also for several weeks, while in close pursuit of
Geronimo's band and constantly expecting an encounter, commanded a detachment of Infantry, which was then without an officer, and to the command of which he was assigned upon his own request.
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