Charles Erskine Scott Wood
Encyclopedia
Charles Erskine Scott Wood (or C.E.S. Wood) (February 20, 1852 – January 22, 1944) was an author, civil libertarian, soldier, and attorney. He is best known as the author of the 1927 satirical bestseller, Heavenly Discourse
.
, Wood graduated from West Point in 1874. He served as an infantry
officer and fought in the Nez Perce War
in 1877. He was present at the surrender of Chief Joseph
of the Nez Perce. It was Wood who translated, and perhaps embellished, Chief Joseph's famous speech, which ended with: "My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." The two men became close friends.
, where he often defended labor unions and "radicals" including birth control
activist Margaret Sanger
. He began to write, became a frequent contributor to Pacific Monthly
magazine, and was a leader of Portland's literary community.
In 1896, Wood was Oregon’s sole representative on the national committee of the National Democratic Party
, known as the Gold Democrats. The party, which had the blessing of Grover Cleveland
, championed defense of the gold standard
and free trade
.
Like many Cleveland Democrats, including his long-time friend Mark Twain
, Wood joined the American Anti-Imperialist League
. The League called for the United States to grant immediate independence to the Philippines
and other territories conquered in the Spanish-American war
.
. His politics verged upon anarchism
. He wrote articles for radical journals such as Liberty, The Masses
, and Mother Earth
.
Wood was unflagging in his opposition to state power. He advocated such causes as civil liberties for anti-war protesters, birth control, and anti-imperialism. In 1927, he wrote in Heavenly Discourse that the "city of George Washington is blossoming into quite a nice little seat of empire and centralized bureaucracy. The people have a passion to 'let Uncle Sam do it.' The federal courts are police courts. An entire system with an army of officials has risen on the income tax; another on prohibition. The freedom of the common man, more vital to progress than income or alcohol, has vanished.”
, in a house named "The Cats."
During his lifetime, he numbered among his friends Chief Joseph, Emma Goldman, Ansel Adams
, Robinson Jeffers
, Clarence Darrow
, Childe Hassam
, Margaret Sanger, and John Steinbeck
.
Wood was the father of Nan Wood Honeyman
, Oregon's first U. S. congresswoman
.
in the TV movie I Will Fight No More Forever
. In the film, he is a United States
captain who fights in the Nez Perce War
.
Heavenly Discourse
Heavenly Discourse is a collection of satirical essays by Charles Erskine Scott Wood, published in 1927.It is written in the form of plays or discussions between such characters as God, Jesus, Mark Twain, Tom Paine, Robert Ingersoll, Billy Sunday, and Theodore Roosevelt...
.
Early life
Born in Erie, PennsylvaniaErie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
, Wood graduated from West Point in 1874. He served as an infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
officer and fought in the Nez Perce War
Nez Perce War
The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict between the Nez Perce and the United States government fought in 1877 as part of the American Indian Wars. After a series of battles in which both the U.S. Army and native people sustained significant casualties, the Nez Perce surrendered and were relocated...
in 1877. He was present at the surrender of Chief Joseph
Chief Joseph
Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, popularly known as Chief Joseph, or Young Joseph was the leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho...
of the Nez Perce. It was Wood who translated, and perhaps embellished, Chief Joseph's famous speech, which ended with: "My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." The two men became close friends.
Oregon politics
Following his service he became a prominent attorney in Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, where he often defended labor unions and "radicals" including birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
activist Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
. He began to write, became a frequent contributor to Pacific Monthly
Pacific Monthly
Pacific Monthly was a magazine of politics, culture, literature, and opinion, published in Portland, Oregon, United States from 1898 to 1911, when it was purchased by Southern Pacific Railroad and merged with its magazine, Sunset...
magazine, and was a leader of Portland's literary community.
In 1896, Wood was Oregon’s sole representative on the national committee of the National Democratic Party
National Democratic Party (United States)
The National Democratic Party or Gold Democrats was a short-lived political party of Bourbon Democrats, who opposed the regular party nominee William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Most members were admirers of Grover Cleveland. They considered Bryan a dangerous man and charged that his "free silver"...
, known as the Gold Democrats. The party, which had the blessing of Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, championed defense of the gold standard
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
and free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
.
Like many Cleveland Democrats, including his long-time friend Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, Wood joined the American Anti-Imperialist League
American Anti-Imperialist League
The American Anti-Imperialist League was an organization established in the United States on June 15, 1898 to battle the American annexation of the Philippines as an insular area...
. The League called for the United States to grant immediate independence to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and other territories conquered in the Spanish-American war
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.
Politics
As a lawyer during the early twentieth century, Wood represented dissidents such as Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
. His politics verged upon anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
. He wrote articles for radical journals such as Liberty, The Masses
The Masses
The Masses was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the U.S. from 1911 until 1917, when Federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later The New Masses...
, and Mother Earth
Mother Earth (magazine)
Mother Earth was an anarchist journal that described itself as "A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature," edited by Emma Goldman. Alexander Berkman, another well-known anarchist, was the magazine's editor from 1907 to 1915...
.
Wood was unflagging in his opposition to state power. He advocated such causes as civil liberties for anti-war protesters, birth control, and anti-imperialism. In 1927, he wrote in Heavenly Discourse that the "city of George Washington is blossoming into quite a nice little seat of empire and centralized bureaucracy. The people have a passion to 'let Uncle Sam do it.' The federal courts are police courts. An entire system with an army of officials has risen on the income tax; another on prohibition. The freedom of the common man, more vital to progress than income or alcohol, has vanished.”
Later years
From 1925 until his death in 1944 he lived with his second wife, Sara Bard Field, in Los Gatos, CaliforniaLos Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
, in a house named "The Cats."
During his lifetime, he numbered among his friends Chief Joseph, Emma Goldman, Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
, Robinson Jeffers
Robinson Jeffers
John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Most of Jeffers' poetry was written in classic narrative and epic form, but today he is also known for his short verse, and considered an icon of the environmental movement.-Life:Jeffers was born in...
, Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
, Childe Hassam
Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam was a prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums...
, Margaret Sanger, and John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
.
Wood was the father of Nan Wood Honeyman
Nan Wood Honeyman
Nan Wood Honeyman was an American politician from the state of Oregon. A native of New York, she was the daughter of author and attorney Charles Erskine Scott Wood. After growing up in Oregon, she served in the Oregon House of Representatives and the Oregon State Senate...
, Oregon's first U. S. congresswoman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
.
Film
Wood was portrayed by Sam ElliottSam Elliott
Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott is an American actor. His rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache, and deep, resonant voice match the iconic image of a cowboy or rancher, and he has often been cast in such roles.-Early life:Sam Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training...
in the TV movie I Will Fight No More Forever
I Will Fight No More Forever
I Will Fight No More Forever is a 1975 made-for-television movie starring James Whitmore as General Oliver O. Howard and Ned Romero as Chief Joseph. It is a dramatization of Chief Joseph's resistance to the U.S. government's forcible move of his Nez Perce Indian tribe to a reservation in Idaho...
. In the film, he is a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
captain who fights in the Nez Perce War
Nez Perce War
The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict between the Nez Perce and the United States government fought in 1877 as part of the American Indian Wars. After a series of battles in which both the U.S. Army and native people sustained significant casualties, the Nez Perce surrendered and were relocated...
.
Books by C.E.S. Wood
- Heavenly Discourse (Reprint: Kessinger Publishing, 2005) ISBN 1-4179-1765-2
- A Masque of Love (W.M. Hill, 1904) ASIN B00086BIH0
- Too Much Government (Vanguard PressVanguard PressThe Vanguard Press was a United States publishing house established with a $100,000 grant from the left wing American Fund for Public Service, better known as the Garland Fund. Throughout the 1920s, Vanguard Press issued an array of books on radical topics, including studies of the Soviet Union,...
, 1931) ASIN B00085T49U - Heavenly Discourse (Vanguard Press, 1927) ASIN B00085SZEK
- The Poet in the Desert ASIN B00085YKLW
- A Book of Indian Tales (Vanguard Press, 1929)
- Earthly Discourse (Vanguard Press, 1937) ASIN B00085SZEK
Articles by C.E.S. Wood
- The Pursuit and Capture of Chief Joseph. Appendix in Chester Anders Fee, Chief Joseph: The Biography of a Great Indian, Wilson-Erickson, 1936. Retrieved from pbs.org 2008-04-08.
- Among the Thlinkits in Alaska, The Century , vol. 24, issue 3 (July 1882)
- Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce,The Century vol. 28, issue 1 (May 1884).
- Famous Indians, The Century , vol. 46, issue 3 (July 1893).
- An Indian Horse Race, The Century , vol. 33, issue 3 (Jan 1887)
Books about C.E.S. Wood
- George Venn, Soldier to Advocate: C.E.S. Wood's 1877 Legacy (La Grande: Wordcraft of Oregon, LLC, 2006) ISBN 1-877655-48-1
- Robert Hamburger, Two Rooms: The Life of Charles Erskine Scott Wood (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998) ISBN 0-8032-7315-0
- Edwin Bingham and Tim Barnes (eds.), Wood Works: The Life and Writings of Charles Erskine Scott Wood (Corvallis: Oregon Sate University Press, 1997) ISBN 0-87071-397-3
- Edwin R. Bingham, et al., (eds.), Charles Erskine Scott Wood (Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, 1990) available online via Western Writers Series Digital Editions ISBN 0-88430-093-5
- Erskine Wood, Life of Charles Erskine Scott Wood: A Renaissance Man (Vancouver, Washington: Rose Wind Press, 1991) ISBN 0-9631232-0-3
Articles
- David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896–1900," Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555–75.
- George Venn, "Soldier to Advocate: C.E.S. Wood's 1877 Diary of Alaska and the Nez Perce Conflict", Oregon Historical Quarterly Spring 2005 (12 November 2005)
- Ted Mahar, "Oregon icon who fought conventional wisdom", Special to The Oregonian newspaper (9 February 2008)
Audio Visual
- Oregon Experience, "C.E.S. Wood", A documentary by Oregon Public BroadcastingOregon Public BroadcastingOregon Public Broadcasting is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of Oregon as well as southern Washington. With its headquarters and television studios in Portland, OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF translators, and over...
(11 February 2008) A video preview.
External links
- The Oregon Encyclopedia entry on C.E.S. Wood
- The Oregon Blue BookOregon Blue BookThe Oregon Blue Book is the official directory and fact book for the U.S. state of Oregon copyrighted by the Oregon Secretary of State and published by the Office of the Secretary's Archives Division. As Governor Ted Kulongoski notes in his introduction for the 2005–2006 edition, it "provides...
entry on C.E.S. Wood - The Lewis & Clark College's Digital Collections of C.E.S. Wood