USS WILLIAM M. WOOD DE-557

WILLIAM MAXWELL WOOD

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, February 2016

William Maxwell Wood, born in about 1809 in Baltimore, Md., was appointed assistant surgeon on 16 May 1829 and, between 1830 and 1838, served with the West Indies and Home Squadrons, as well as with the Army during the Seminole wars.

He became fleet surgeon with the Pacific Squadron in 1844 and, upon completion of his tour, was about to return to the United States when relations between that country and Mexico became decidedly strained. The commander of the Navy’s Pacific Squadron, Commodore John D. Sloat, consequently entrusted certain dispatches to Wood to carry back to the United States with him. Wood volunteered to travel through Mexico and report upon conditions there. Accompanied by the American consul from Mazatlan, Mexico, the former fleet surgeon commenced his journey across Mexico.

Arriving at Guadalajara on 10 May, Wood and his companion found the town “in a high state of agitation” owing to the reception there of the news of the battles between American and Mexican forces at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, on the Rio Grande River. The surgeon immediately wrote a dispatch to Sloat at Mazatlan, and it was delivered in five days, an exceptional occurrence in those days. His message that hostilities with Mexico had actually commenced was the first tidings of that nature that Sloat had received.

Wood meanwhile continued on his journey across Mexico and subsequently arrived at Mexico City to be “startled and shocked by hearing newsboys crying through the streets ‘Grand victory over the North Americans.’ ” He later learned through a trusted friend of the Mexican minister of war that General Zachary Taylor’s men had, in fact, annihilated the Mexican Army’s choice regiment. Surgeon Wood remained in Mexico City not less than a week and gathered moreinformation which he sent off to Commodore Sloat, apprising him of the situation, via Guadalajara.

Wood continued his mission, as he had since the beginning of it, in civilian clothes, running the risk of being apprehended as a spy, and, while posing as an Englishman, inspected the defenses of the castle at Chapultepec. Continuing on to Veracruz, the surgeon carefully took notes on Mexico, its condition and resources. Ultimately, the physician reached a neutral man-of-war and was taken to the flagship of the American blockading squadron. Sailing on a vessel especiallydetached for the purpose, Wood carried the vital intelligence information to Washington.

Meanwhile, Commodore Sloat took action. As he later recorded in a letter to Wood, “The information you furnished me at Mazatlan from the City of Mexico, via Guadalajara, (at the risk of your life) was the only reliable information I received of that event, and which induced me to proceed immediately to California, and upon my own responsibility to take possession of that country, which I did on the 7th of July, 1846.”

Sloat considered the performance of Wood’s journey through Mexico “as an extraordinary feat, requiring great courage, presence of mind, and address. How you escaped from the heart of an enemy’s country . . . has always been a wonder to me.”

Following the Mexican War, Wood served in the receiving ship at Baltimore and later went to the steamer Michigan, operating on the Great Lakes. He again served as fleet surgeon, this time with the East India Squadron, from 1856 to 1858, and took part in Commodore Andrew H. Foote’s attack upon the Chinese Barrier Forts of “enormous strength . . . built of large blocks of granite . . . heavily armed.” at Canton, China, in response to Chinese attacks upon American shipping.

Wood subsequently served a second tour in Michigan before he became fleet surgeon for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. While thus serving, Wood witnessed the historic battle of the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (the former USS Merrimack) in Hampton Roads; and later took part in the assault and capture of Sewall’s Point.

After the Civil War, Wood served at Baltimore in 1866 and 1867 and was President of the Naval Examining Board in 1868 before he became Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in 1870. Appointed medical director on 3 March 1871, Wood retired later that same year and died in Baltimore on 1 March 1880.