Leonard Wood - Major General, United States Army

He was medically trained and was awarded the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars while serving as an Assistant Surgeon in the Apache Campaign of the Summer of 1886.

In 1895, he was the White House Physician to President Grover Cleveland. He began his long friendship with Theodore Roosevelt during his years in Washington. During the Spanish-American War he was the commander of the First Volunteer Cavalry (The Rough Riders) – Roosevelt was his second-in-command.

Following the war, he served as Military Governor of Cuba until 1902. As a Brigadier General he fought the Moros during the Philippine Insurrection in 1904 and less than a year later he was named Army Chief of Staff by President William Howard Taft (who he knew in the Philippines where Taft served as Civilian Governor). In less than a decade, he had jumped from a Captain in the Medical Corps to the highest post in the Army.

He resigned that position in 1914. When World War I broke out, he became a vocal advocate for preparedness. He hoped to be Secretary of War, but was not appointed. In 1927 he returned home from Manila to seek medical attention of a tumor resulting from an earlier head injury. He died on the operating table of a Boston hospital on August 7, 1927. He is buried in Section 21 of Arlington National Cemetery.

His wife, Louise Adriana Wood (1869-1943), his son, Leonard Wood, Jr. Captain, Infantry, United States Army, 1892-1931, his daughter, Louise Barbara Wood (born at Havana, Cuba – 1900-1960), and his son, Osborn Cutler Wood, Colonel, United States Army (20 January 1897-8 February 1950), are buried with him.

November 28, 1960 – Louise B. Wood, daughter of the late Major General Leonard Wood, died of a heart attack yesterday morning at her home at 70 Haven Avenue, New York. Her age was 60. She had a summer home at Pocasset, Massachusetts.

Miss Wood’s father was Colonel of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, the Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War. She was born in Cuba, when her father was military governor of the island. In World War I she did relief work in France.

After her father was an unsuccessful candidate for the 1920 Republican Presidential nomination, Miss Wood went with him the next year to the Philippines, where he was governor-general until his death in 1927.

WOOD, LEONARD SR
MAJ GEN US ARMY RETIRED
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown

DATE OF DEATH: 08/06/1927
DATE OF INTERMENT: 08/09/1927
BURIED AT: SECTION SPEC SITE LOT NO 1
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

WOOD, LEONARD JR
CAP CAV
VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown

DATE OF DEATH: 08/27/1931
DATE OF INTERMENT: 08/31/1931
BURIED AT: SECTION SPEC SITE 10
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

WOOD, LOUISE B D/O LEONARD SR

DATE OF BIRTH: 03/29/1900
DATE OF DEATH: 11/26/1960
DATE OF INTERMENT: 01/21/1960
BURIED AT: SECTION 21 SITE S-10
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
DAUGHTER OF LEONARD WOOD SR – MAJ GEN

WOOD, LOUISE W/O LEONARD

DATE OF DEATH: 01/28/1943
DATE OF INTERMENT: 02/01/1943
BURIED AT: SITE 810
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
WIFE OF LEONARD WOOD – MAJOR GEN USARMY RET

WOOD, OSBORN CUTLER
COL, USA

VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown
DATE OF BIRTH: 01/20/1897
DATE OF DEATH: 01/30/1950
DATE OF INTERMENT: 02/08/1950
BURIED AT: SECTION 22 SITE S-10
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

WOOD, LEONARD

Rank and organization: Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army. Place and date: In Apache campaign, summer of 1886. Entered service at: Massachusetts. Birth: Winchester, New Hampshire. Date of issue: 8 April 1898.

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.

leonard-wood-rough-riders-photo — Leonard Wood As A Young Officer

lwood — Portrait Courtesy of the U.S. Army Center For Military History

7 August 1929:
Those assembled at the tomb of Leonard Wood, in Arlington National Cemetery, include Raphael Alunan (to the left of the wreath),
Hiram Bingham (behind and to the right of the wreath), Manuel Roxas (to the right of the wreath),
and Camelo Osias (to the right of the tomb).

ocwood — Osborne C. Wood, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

lwood-nara06 — Spanish-American War Records

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Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard