Dr. William Maxwell Wood

Wabash Valley profiles : a series of tributes to hometown people and events that have shaped our history

Description:	One typed page including photograph; biography of William Maxwell Wood, the first Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy. ABASH VALLEY WP R O F I L E SA series of tributes to hometown heroes who have made a difference.Dr. William Maxwell Woodhough his family is entrenched in local history, the exploits of pioneer Terre Haute physician William Maxwell Wood, the first Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy, are rarely noted. Crew members who served on the USS William M. Wood (DD715), one of two American destroyers named after Dr. Wood, have not forgotten him. The USS William M. Wood Association is lobbying to have a third destroyer named in his honor. Though he was the oldest child of John and Charlotte (Abbot) Wood, born in Baltimore on May 27, 1809, Maxwell was not the first Wood family member to locate in Terre Haute. While he was stalking Caribbean pirates with a naval squadron, brother Charles came to Vigo County in late 1834 to work on the National Road with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and implored his widowed mother to join him. She obliged, bringing daughters Sarah (who died of typhoid in 1838), Charlotte, Martha, Matilda, Frances and Margaret. Maxwell came several months later with his wife, the former Hannah Saxton Moore, and child Elizabeth, and promptly acquired considerable real estate. Daughter Margaret, probably born in Terre Haute, died on Nov. 4, 1836, before her first birthday. Brother John came west after finishing medical school. On Aug. 27, 1837--while Maxwell was accompanying Minister George Dallas on an overseas mission aboard the USS Independence--Hannah died in Vigo County. Upon receiving a commission as Navy surgeon, Maxwell resigned from the Navy effective March 7, 1838, to return to Terre Haute and united in a partnership with Dr. Septer Patrick, which was dissolved in 1841. By 1844 Dr. Wood was back in the service as fleet surgeon for the Pacific Squadron under Commodore John Drake Sloat. While traveling incognito in Mexico during May 1846, Wood heard about military clashes along the Rio Grande River and, at great risk, notified Sloat. Unaware that the U.S. was at war, Sloat seized Monterey without bloodshed on July 7, 1846. With the gratitude of the nation, Congress belatedly feted Dr. Wood in 1855 for saving California. In March 1862 he was fleet surgeon aboard the frigate Minnesota, witnessing the battle of first ironclads between the Monitor and the Merrimack. In 1869 President Ulysses Grant appointed Dr. Wood as Chief of the Department of Navys Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, officially designating the post Surgeon General. Charlotte Wood was revered in Terre Haute until her death at age 88 on Aug. 3, 1875. Charles Wood became Chauncey Roses confidante and a corporate officer of the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad. Dr. John A. Wood was a prominent Terre Haute physician. Nathaniel Preston and his wife, the former Charlotte Wood, acquired the notable Dewees residence on Bloomington Road. Martha married lawyer Samuel R. Hamill of Sullivan; Matilda wed druggist Pierre M. Donnelly; Frances married pharmacist Dr. John R. Cuningham (sic); and Margaret wed Terre Haute retailer Moses Warner Williams. In 1849 Dr. Wood married Rose Mary Carson and the couple raised eight more children before his death in Owings Mills, Md., on Sept. 1, 1880. The first Destroyer Wood (DD-317) was launched May 28, 1919; it was decommissioned in 1930. Destroyer William M. Wood (DD-715) was launched July 29, 1945 and decommissioned Dec. 1, 1976.TAlways Close to Home812-238-6000EQUAL HOUSING LENDER MEMBER FDICSign up now for FREE* online banking atwww.first-online.comEQUAL HOUSING LENDER MEMBER FDIC*One-time sign-up fee is $5.95File name: Dr. William Wood profileDate Published: June 2, 2005
Origin:	2005-06-22
Created By:	McCormick, Mike
Publisher:	Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/vchs/id/652
Collection:	Vigo County Historical Society
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Wood, William Maxwell, 1809-1880 Physicians People Wars & Conflicts

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