Leonard Wood

Leonard Wood, painting by John Singer Sargent (1903)

Leonard Wood as a military doctor during the Indian Wars

Staff of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War in Florida

Leonard Wood, 1919

Leonard Wood (born October 9, 1860 in Winchester , Cheshire County , New Hampshire , †  August 7, 1927 in Boston , Massachusetts ) was a major general in the US Army and from 1910 to 1914 Chief of Staff of the Army and later Governor General of the Philippines .

Studies and military career

After completing his medical studies and obtaining his doctorate in medicine (MD) from Harvard Medical School in 1884 , he first worked as an internist at Boston City Hospital . In 1885 he joined the army as a doctor and took part in the campaign against the chief of the Apaches , Geronimo , in 1886 as a deputy field doctor . For his achievements there he was awarded the " Medal of Honor " in 1898 . This was followed by other military uses.

From 1895 to 1898 he was the personal physician of the US Presidents Grover Cleveland and William McKinley . At this time a friendship developed with the then Deputy Minister of the Navy and later President Theodore Roosevelt .

Spanish-American War, Cuba and Philippines

Together with Roosevelt, after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he founded the 1st Cavalry Regiment " Rough Riders ", which was made up of volunteers. Wood was so successful as regimental commander that after the brigade commander fell ill, he was promoted to brigadier general of the Volunteer Army and commander of the 2nd Brigade of the Cavalry Division of V Corps.

From 1898 to 1899 he was first military governor of Santiago de Cuba and then until 1902 military governor of Cuba . During this time he helped to improve the medical and sanitary conditions in Cuba and was promoted to brigadier general of the regular army shortly before the end of his tenure in Cuba .

In 1902 Wood took over command of the US divisions in the Philippines and shortly afterwards of the American units in the Far East . In 1903 he was promoted to major general and at the same time appointed governor of the province of Moro. He held this office until 1906. During this time, Major General Wood was responsible, among other things, for some bloody campaigns against Muslim rebels , such as on March 10, 1906 at the Bud Dajo massacre , which was sharply criticized by Mark Twain in The Moro "Battle" (1906).

Chief of Staff of the Army

Major General Wood was named Chief of Staff of the Army in 1910 by President William Howard Taft, elected a year earlier .

Wood, who had met Taft during his tenure as Governor General of the Philippines, has remained the only medical officer to this day in the post of Chief of the Army Staff. As such, he initiated some military programs such as the predecessor of the "Reserve Officer Training Corps" and the "Operational Readiness Movement," a campaign for comprehensive military training and war-time conscription. From this, shortly before the beginning of the First World War, the military drafting and selection system emerged. In addition, he founded the General Staff Corps and developed the mobility of the army.

On April 22, 1914, Wood was replaced as Chief of Army Staff by William Wallace Wotherspoon , as his policy of mobilization opposed the neutrality policy of US President Woodrow Wilson .

First World War

With the beginning of the USA's entry into the First World War on April 6, 1917, Wood should be appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Western Front at the endeavors of the Republican Party . These efforts failed, however, at the then Secretary of War Newton Diehl Baker , who preferred General John J. Pershing to this post. However, Wood himself was appointed as commander with the formation of the US 10th Infantry Division and later the US 89th Infantry Division.

Unsuccessful presidential candidacy and the Philippines

In 1920, Maj. General Wood, from 1919 to 1921 in command of the VI. US Corps was unsuccessful for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Reasons for his defeat at the Republican National Convention were - besides internal party rivalries - his obvious political inexperience and his strong support for the anti-communist campaign of the Democratic Justice Minister Alexander Mitchell Palmer . Warren G. Harding, who was later elected president, emerged victorious from the nomination convention.

After retiring from the army, he was appointed Governor General of the Philippines on October 15, 1921, succeeding Charles Yeater . In this office, which was characterized by harsh and unpopular decisions, he remained in Boston until his death on August 7, 1927.

Major General Wood was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Publications

• "The Military Obligation of Citizenship", 1915
• “Our Military History”, 1916

Awards and honors

In 1898 he received the Medal of Honor of the US Congress .

After him were Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri , in which among other things also ABC units Bundeswehr are trained in special courses, the troop transport USS Leonard Wood and the Leonard Wood Institute of the US Army named.

The story of the " Rough Riders " was filmed in 1997 as "Rough Riders - The Fearless Regiment".

Web links

Commons : Leonard Wood  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official Biography (English)
• Biography and oil portrait on the homepage of the US Army (English)
• Newspaper article about Leonard Wood in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fort Leonard Wood
2. ^ USS Leonard Wood
3. ↑ Leonard Wood Institute of the US Army ( Memento of the original dated August 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ "Rough Riders - The Fearless Regiment"