Robert Crooke Wood

{{Short description|American Union Army surgeon}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = |name = Robert Crooke Wood |honorific_suffix = |image = Robert Crooke Wood.jpg |image_upright = |alt = |caption = |native_name = |native_name_lang = |birth_name = |other_name = |nickname = |birth_date = {{birth date|1799|09|23}} |birth_place = [[Newport, Rhode Island]], US |death_date = {{death date and age|1869|03|28|1799|09|23}} |death_place = [[New York City]], New York, US |burial_place = [[Cold Springs Cemetery]], [[Lockport (town), New York|Lockport, New York]], US |burial_label = |burial_coordinates =  |allegiance = {{flag|United States|1867}} ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]) |branch = [[File:Seal of the United States Board of War.png|25px]] [[United States Army]] ([[Union Army]]) |branch_label = Branch |service_years = 1825–1869 |service_years_label = |rank = [[File:Union Army colonel rank insignia.png|35px]] [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]]<br />[[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brevet (military)|Bvt.]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] |rank_label = |service_number = |unit = [[1st Infantry Regiment (United States)|1st Infantry Regiment]] |commands = |known_for = |battles = [[Black Hawk War]] *[[Battle of Bad Axe]] [[Second Seminole War]] *[[Battle of Lake Okeechobee]] [[Mexican–American War]] *[[Texas Campaign]] **[[Battle of Palo Alto]] **[[Battle of Resaca de la Palma]] [[American Civil War]] |battles_label = |awards = |memorials = |alma_mater = [[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons|Columbia University]] <small> ([[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]])</small> |spouse = {{marriage|Ann Mackall Taylor|1829|1869}} |children = |relations = |other_work = |signature = |signature_size = |signature_alt = |website =  |module = }}

'''Robert Crooke Wood''' (September 23, 1799 – March 28, 1869) was an American Brevet Brigadier General, [[military medicine|military physician]] and [[neurologist]] who was the Assistant Surgeon General throughout the [[American Civil War]] as well as serving in the [[Second Seminole War]] and the [[Mexican–American War]]. He was also the father of [[John Taylor Wood]] who would go on to serve in the [[Confederate States Navy]] as a captain.

==Early years== Robert was born on September 23, 1799, as the son of John Wood and Rebecca Wickham Wood.<ref name="Medical">{{Cite book|author=United States. Army Medical Service|title=The Army Medical Bulletin|volume=48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFKgAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Robert+Crooke+Wood%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA92|publisher= U.S. Government Printing Office|date=1932|pages=92–95}}</ref> His childhood consisted of attending private schools and learning from private tutors.<ref name="Medical"/> After taking an interest in medicine, Wood went to [[South Carolina]] to begin a study under Dr. Waring and afterwards, went to attend the [[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons]] and graduated with a [[Doctor of Medicine]] in 1821.

He then moved to [[Utica, New York]] to practice medicine there until May 28, 1825, where he joined the [[United States Army]] as an assistant surgeon and was then stationed at the [[Detroit]] Barracks but was then transferred to [[Fort Snelling]] until May 1833 with the [[1st Infantry Regiment (United States)|1st Infantry Regiment]].<ref name="Medical"/> Around this time, he got married with Ann Mackall Taylor in 1829 who was the eldest daughter of [[Zachary Taylor]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Helene Hinson Staley|title=Appendices Of To Escape Into Dreams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dN6wMqR2Dp0C&dq=Robert+Crooke+Wood&pg=PA489|date=June 1, 2004|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|page=489|access-date=May 1, 2022|isbn=1413408788}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKfKAgAAQBAJ&dq=Robert+Crooke+Wood&pg=PA92|editor=Lewis L. Gould|date=Feb 4, 2014|publisher=Routledge|page=92|isbn=978-1135311551}}</ref> They proceeded to have one child there on August 13, 1830: [[John Taylor Wood]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=John Bell|title=Confederate Seadog: John Taylor Wood in War and Exile|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S--g6L74BoMC&dq=Robert+Crooke+Wood&pg=PA12|date=Oct 28, 2002|publisher=McFarland|page=12|isbn=0786413522}}</ref>

===Military career=== Wood then participated at the [[Black Hawk War]] and was an active combatant at the [[Battle of Bad Axe]] which marked the end of the war. He was then transferred to [[Fort Crawford]] and was promoted to Major and Surgeon on July 4, 1836.<ref name="Medical"/> He was then transferred to [[Florida]] due to the outbreak of the [[Second Seminole War]] at [[Fort Brooks]] but managed to participate at the [[Battle of Lake Okeechobee]] and would continue skirmishing with the Seminole natives until May 1839 when a truce was signed.<ref name="Medical"/> When the truce was broken, Wood was transferred to [[Buffalo Barracks]] and served with the [[5th Infantry Regiment (United States)|5th Infantry Regiment]] until August 1845 as Wood was sent near the border with [[Second Federal Republic of Mexico|Mexico]].<ref name="Medical"/> Wood arrived at [[Corpus Christi, Texas]] in October and after spending the winter there, he was sent to a camp that overlooked [[Matamoros, Tamaulipas]]. Wood then participated at the battles of [[Battle of Palo Alto|Palo Alto]] and [[Battle of Resaca de la Palma|Resaca de la Palma]].<ref name="Medical"/>

Due to the increasing amount of casualties in the [[Mexican–American War]], a general hospital was required and after some clearing and construction, a hospital near Point Isabel was established and Wood was put in charge there as the hospital would grow to have over hundreds of different patients who were either wounded or severely ill. After the [[Siege of Veracruz]] however, the hospital no longer had enough capacity for the amount of patients and a makeshift hospital was constructed at [[Greenwood, Mississippi]] as a new one was being constructed at [[New Orleans]].<ref name="Medical"/> In May 1848, Wood was transferred to [[Fort McHenry]] where he served for the next six years. Due to his brother-in-law [[Jefferson Davis]] being elected [[United States Secretary of War]], Wood was then assigned to become the Acting Surgeon General of [[Thomas Lawson (military physician)|Thomas Lawson]]'s administration.<ref name="Medical"/> With Lawson's death in 1861 however, there was an opening for Lawson's successor and Wood was a strong candidate due to his extensive experience within the medical field however due to the rise of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], President [[Abraham Lincoln]] chose to put [[Clement Finley]] in the office instead.<ref name="Medical"/> Finley kept Wood as his assistant as the [[American Civil War]] broke out. On April 14, 1862, however, Finley retired due to his displeasure with [[Edwin Stanton]] as well as the Sanitary Commission. Wood was again, a candidate for the position of Surgeon General but the Sanitary Commission had nominated [[Richard Sherwood Satterlee]] for the position but ultimately, [[William A. Hammond]] was appointed instead.<ref name="Medical"/> Wood then requested to be Hammond's assistant and while he initially declined, accepted Wood's request on April 25, 1862, and Wood was transferred to [[St. Louis]] as he oversaw all medical affairs in the [[Department of the West]]. In October 1863, Wood was transferred to [[Louisville, Kentucky]] where he remained for the remainder of the war.<ref name="Medical"/> He was brevetted lieutenant colonel, colonel and brigadier general on March 13, 1865, for "gallant and meritorious service during the war". Following the end of the war, Wood was stationed at [[Fort Adams]] until September 1867 when he was ordered to [[New York City]] for board duty as he was put on the list of retired officers where he retired in February 1869 before dying a month later from an outbreak of pneumonia.<ref name="Medical"/>

==See also== *[[List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union)]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Robert Crooke}} [[Category:1799 births]] [[Category:1869 deaths]] [[Category:Military personnel from Newport, Rhode Island]] [[Category:People of Rhode Island in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Union army colonels]] [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:Union army surgeons]] [[Category:American neurologists]] [[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New York City]] [[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]]