MAJOR GENERAL LEONARD WOOD

1860-1927

Quick Facts on MG Wood

Graduated Harvard Medical School at 23

Joined the Army as a contract surgeon to fight

in the last of the Apache Wars in 1885.

Awarded a Medal of Honor in 1898 for valor

after the Apache Wars.

Commanded the “Rough Riders” with

Theodore Roosevelt.

Helped reform Cuba as governor after the

Spanish-American War

First and only medical officer to serve as the

Army’s Chief of Staff

Governor General of the Philippines.

Maj. Gen. Wood in the twilight of his career. His last command,

Governor General of the Philippines from 1921-1927

Hours of Operation:

0800-1600 Monday - Friday

1000- 1600 Saturday

Closed Federal Holidays

Free of Charge, Open to the Public

Address:

Fort Leonard Wood Museum

14296 South Dakota Avenue

Building 1607

Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473

Telephone: 573-596-0780

LT Wood proved himself a worthy soldier in the Apache Wars

Early Life and Career

Leonard Wood was born to

Charles Jewett Wood and Caro-

line; wealthy New Englanders,

on 9 October 1860, in Winches-

ter, New Hampshire. The Wood

family soon settled in the Cape

Cod area of Massachusetts where

Leonard attended the Pierce

Academy. At the age of 20,

Wood entered Harvard Medical

School. He graduated in 1883

and spent several years practicing

medicine in Boston and New

York City. Eventually, Wood

found private medicine to be unfulfilling and took the Army

Medical Entrance Exam in 1885. Of the 59 hopeful medical

officers, Wood scored second highest on the exam. Eager to

begin his army career, Lieutenant Wood accepted orders to

Fort Huachuca, Arizona. He excelled in the brutal climate and

terrain of the southwest and quickly earned the respect of his

more experienced comrades. During the campaign against Ge-

ronimo, Wood served as a medical and line officer with gal-

lantry and excellence and was awarded a Medal of Honor in

1898 for these actions

Spanish-American War

In the late 1890s, Wood headed to Washington, DC,

where he served as the personal physician to Presidents

Grover Cleveland and William McKinley and their fami-

lies, the last medical position of his career. Leonard

Wood met and became good friends with Theodore Roo-

sevelt during this time. The relationship led to the crea-

tion of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, led by Colo-

nel Wood and Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt.

Wood commanded the “Rough Riders” pragmatically and

proactively. He ensured his soldiers had the best equip-

ment for the job by working harder than the members of

the bureaucracy in place at the time. Colonel Wood com-

manded his regiment in Cuba successfully, but only brief-

ly. He shortly received a field promotion to Brigadier

General after his superior became ill. Wood assumed

command of the 2nd Brigade, Cavalry Division for the

remainder of the war.

General Wood received his regular promotion to Briga-

dier General at the end of hostilities and served as the

Military Governor of Cuba from 1900 to 1902. In this

position, he used his medical experience to improve the

medical and sanitary conditions of the country. He also

instituted political, social, and educational reforms.

Leonard Wood after graduating

from Harvard

Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and Colonel Wood at the regimental training camp in San Antonio, May 1898

Contributions as CSA

General Wood was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army

in 1910 and remains the only medical officer to ever hold

the position. It was in this position that Wood made his

greatest contributions to the Army and the Nation. He

strengthened the General Staff and firmly established the

Chief of Staff as the senior officer of the Army. He also

reduced the influence of the old bureau system which had

hindered military reforms. He was instrumental in devel-

oping the Maneuver Division and the Mobile Army con-

cept. As a result, the Army formed its first truly combined

arms divisions. This allowed the American Army to fight

as a force in the battles and campaigns of the Great War,

WWI.

Later Life and Death

Following the war, Wood made a bid for the Republican

nomination for the election of 1920. Even with supporters

of his old friend Theodore Roosevelt, Wood lost the nomi-

nation to Warren Harding. His decision to stop campaign-

ing and go to Gary, Indiana, to quell a steel strike, left him

outmaneuvered by the party professionals. Retiring from

the Army in 1921, Wood was appointed by Harding as

Governor General of the Philippines, a post to which he

was ideally suited. In May 1927 he returned home from

Manila and sought medical attention for a tumor caused

by a head injury a quarter century earlier. He quietly en-

tered the Brigham Hospital in Boston and died there on

August 7, 1927.