Thomas J. Wood
Encyclopedia
Thomas John Wood was a career United States Army
officer and a Union
general during the American Civil War
.
, the son of George Thomas Wood, an army officer, and Elizabeth Helm (through his mother, he was a cousin of Confederate general Benjamin H. Helm). He was an 1845 graduate of the United States Military Academy
, finishing 5th in a class of 41 cadets. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers
.
In 1846, Wood joined General Zachary Taylor
's staff for a few months as the Mexican–American War
erupted. He soon transferred at his request to U.S. 2nd Dragoon
s and was cited for valor at the Battle of Buena Vista
in February 1847. After the war, he served in a succession of cavalry postings on the open frontier
in the American Old West
. Wood traveled in Europe
from 1859 until early 1861 on a leave of absence from the army.
. In October 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general
of Indiana volunteers. The following month, he married Caroline E. Greer of Dayton, Ohio
.
Wood commanded a brigade in the Tennessee and Mississippi campaigns at the beginning of the war. He commanded a division in the Army of the Ohio
, then in the Army of the Cumberland
. Wood was present at second day of the Battle of Shiloh
. Wood was wounded during the Battle of Murfreesboro in December 1862. He suffered controversy at the Battle of Chickamauga
, where he was blamed for contributing to William S. Rosecrans's defeat. A breakdown in situational awareness by Rosecrans and poor staff work resulted in Wood receiving a seemingly senseless order that, if literally obeyed, required him to pull his division out of the line to the support of another division further to his left, dangerously creating an unprotected gap in the right of the line. Instead of verifying his commander's actual intent, Wood elected to regard the order as imperative and moved his division out of its position.
Historian Peter Cozzens wrote:
Less than 30 minutes after Wood moved his division, Confederate
Lt. Gen. James Longstreet
's men poured through the resulting gap and cut Rosecrans's army in two. Rosecrans was eventually relieved from command of the Army of the Cumberland following this Union defeat, while Wood retained his division.
Cozzens finds fault with Wood "for letting petty bitterness get the better of him" and Rosecrans for "not checking the order to make sure it reflected his intent. Rosey was tired and it showed."
Wood redeemed himself during the successful assault on Missionary Ridge
and at the Battle of Lovejoy's Station, where despite a badly shattered leg, he stayed on the field encouraging his men. He commanded the IV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland
at the Battle of Nashville
, and pursued John Bell Hood
's Confederates after the Union victory. President Abraham Lincoln
appointed Wood to the grade of major general
of volunteers on February 22, 1865, to rank from January 27, 1865. On February 14, 1865, the U.S. Senate had confirmed the President's January 30, 1865 nomination of Wood's appointment. Wood was mustered out of the volunteers on September 1, 1866.
with the occupation army. Frustrated with administrative duty with the Freedmen's Bureau and the politics of Reconstruction, he retired from the service in June 1868, having achieved the same rank in the regular army. His old war wounds prevented him from achieving his desire of returning to active duty on the frontier.
He moved to Dayton and became active in the Grand Army of the Republic
, a social organization for Union Army veterans. He also served as a member of the board of visitors at the Military Academy. Before he died in 1906, Wood was the last survivor of his West Point class.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
officer and a Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
general during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Early life and career
Wood was born in rural Munfordville, KentuckyMunfordville, Kentucky
Munfordville is a city in and the county seat of Hart County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,563 at the 2000 census.-History:The city was once known as Big Buffalo Crossing. The current name came from Richard Jones Munford, who donated the land for development in 1816...
, the son of George Thomas Wood, an army officer, and Elizabeth Helm (through his mother, he was a cousin of Confederate general Benjamin H. Helm). He was an 1845 graduate of the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, finishing 5th in a class of 41 cadets. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
.
In 1846, Wood joined General Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
's staff for a few months as the Mexican–American War
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the First American Intervention, the Mexican War, or the U.S.–Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S...
erupted. He soon transferred at his request to U.S. 2nd Dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
s and was cited for valor at the Battle of Buena Vista
Battle of Buena Vista
The Battle of Buena Vista , also known as the Battle of Angostura, saw the United States Army use artillery to repulse the much larger Mexican army in the Mexican-American War...
in February 1847. After the war, he served in a succession of cavalry postings on the open frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
in the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. Wood traveled in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
from 1859 until early 1861 on a leave of absence from the army.
Civil War service
During early days of the Civil War, Wood helped organize, train, and equip several volunteer regiments in IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. In October 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
of Indiana volunteers. The following month, he married Caroline E. Greer of Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
.
Wood commanded a brigade in the Tennessee and Mississippi campaigns at the beginning of the war. He commanded a division in the Army of the Ohio
Army of the Ohio
The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...
, then in the Army of the Cumberland
Army of the Cumberland
The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.-History:...
. Wood was present at second day of the Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
. Wood was wounded during the Battle of Murfreesboro in December 1862. He suffered controversy at the Battle of Chickamauga
Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign...
, where he was blamed for contributing to William S. Rosecrans's defeat. A breakdown in situational awareness by Rosecrans and poor staff work resulted in Wood receiving a seemingly senseless order that, if literally obeyed, required him to pull his division out of the line to the support of another division further to his left, dangerously creating an unprotected gap in the right of the line. Instead of verifying his commander's actual intent, Wood elected to regard the order as imperative and moved his division out of its position.
Historian Peter Cozzens wrote:
Less than 30 minutes after Wood moved his division, Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
Lt. Gen. James Longstreet
James Longstreet
James Longstreet was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse." He served under Lee as a corps commander for many of the famous battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the...
's men poured through the resulting gap and cut Rosecrans's army in two. Rosecrans was eventually relieved from command of the Army of the Cumberland following this Union defeat, while Wood retained his division.
Cozzens finds fault with Wood "for letting petty bitterness get the better of him" and Rosecrans for "not checking the order to make sure it reflected his intent. Rosey was tired and it showed."
Wood redeemed himself during the successful assault on Missionary Ridge
Battle of Missionary Ridge
The Battle of Missionary Ridge was fought November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Missionary Ridge and defeated the...
and at the Battle of Lovejoy's Station, where despite a badly shattered leg, he stayed on the field encouraging his men. He commanded the IV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland
Army of the Cumberland
The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.-History:...
at the Battle of Nashville
Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Tennessee under...
, and pursued John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness...
's Confederates after the Union victory. President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
appointed Wood to the grade of major general
Major general (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...
of volunteers on February 22, 1865, to rank from January 27, 1865. On February 14, 1865, the U.S. Senate had confirmed the President's January 30, 1865 nomination of Wood's appointment. Wood was mustered out of the volunteers on September 1, 1866.
Postbellum career
After the Confederates surrendered, Wood was assigned to duty in MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
with the occupation army. Frustrated with administrative duty with the Freedmen's Bureau and the politics of Reconstruction, he retired from the service in June 1868, having achieved the same rank in the regular army. His old war wounds prevented him from achieving his desire of returning to active duty on the frontier.
He moved to Dayton and became active in the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
, a social organization for Union Army veterans. He also served as a member of the board of visitors at the Military Academy. Before he died in 1906, Wood was the last survivor of his West Point class.
See also
- List of American Civil War generals (Union)