Leonard Woods

Leonard Woods 1774-1854, American Congregational theologian, b. Princeton, Mass. He was prominent in upholding orthodox Calvinistic views in the controversy over Unitarianism as presented by William Ellery Channing, Henry Ware , and others. He was professor of theology at Andover Theological Seminary (1808-46) and published (1885) a history of that institution. Among his works are A Reply to Dr. Ware's Letter to Trinitarians and Calvinists (1821) and Remarks on Dr. Ware's Answer (1822).

Wood, Leonard (1860–1927) U.S. army officer and military governor. Born in Winchester, New Hampshire, Leonard Wood received his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School in 1884. Two years later he secured an army appointment as a lieutenant and assistant surgeon in Arizona Territory, and took part in the campaign against Geronimo and his Apaches. Wood was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his performance as both a medical and line officer. In 1895 Wood became White House physician, eventually forming a close friendship with assistant secretary of the navy Theodore Roosevelt. They organized the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, known as the “Rough Riders,” for the Spanish-American War (1898). Wood was colonel in command, but in Cuba he quickly moved up to take over a brigade. He served as a military governor in both Cuba and the Philippines in the years after that conflict, accomplishing many needed reforms while earning promotions up to major general by 1903. In April 1910 he became chief of staff of the army. He firmly established that position by breaking the power of entrenched bureau chiefs, and was a strong advocate for preparedness. He worked around official channels to establish civilian training camps at Plattsburg, New York, which caused some friction with President Woodrow Wilson and the War Department. Though he was the senior officer in the army, Wood spent World War I training units in the United States. After the war he dabbled in politics and was unsuccessful in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He accepted an appointment as governor-general of the Philippines in 1921, and was serving in that position when he died in Boston following surgery.

Wood, Leonard (1860–1927), army officer and colonial administrator.Educated at Harvard and Harvard Medical School, Wood joined the army as a contract surgeon in 1885. Although he entered the line in 1898 as the colonel in command of his friend Theodore Roosevelt's First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (the “Rough Riders”), Wood was considered an outsider by most career officers. Remaining in Cuba after the Spanish‐American War, Wood, as a brigadier general, was appointed military governor and implemented a program of wide‐ranging progressive reforms. Later, in the Philippines, as governor of the Moro province, he directed the bloody campaign to pacify the Moros. In 1910, President William H. Taft appointed Major General Wood army chief of staff.

Wood sought to modernize the U.S. Army. As chief of staff (1910–14), he worked to break the authority of the War Department bureau system, to reform the General Staff, and to reorganize the field army. He also encouraged the formation of the Army League, a supportive group of business, foreign policy, and education elites. After war broke out in Europe in 1914, Wood became, with former President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the chief architects of the “Preparedness” movement, advocating compulsory, short‐term military training for all able‐bodied young men, as well as reserve officer training to prepare a mass reserve army. Wood's highly visible role in the controversial Republican‐led campaign to drum up popular support for military preparedness did little to endear him to Democratic President Woodrow Wilson. Established as a partisan figure, the army's senior general spent the period of U.S. involvement training recruits in Kansas.

Resentment at having been denied command in France during World War I pushed Wood further into politics. Afterward, he claimed Roosevelt's mantle as leader of the Republican Party's progressive wing, yet also ran a “law and order” campaign for the presidential nomination in 1920 while on active duty. The convention chose Senator Warren Harding, who after election sent Wood to the Philippines as governor general, a position that he held until his death from a brain tumor.

Wood's restless energy and monumental ambition made him an innovator who adapted the progressive spirit of the age to military affairs. He was also a maverick, ruthlessly attacking anything that thwarted his ambitions, and exempting himself from traditional strictures excluding professional soldiers from politics.
[See also Army, U.S.: 1900–41; Philippine War.]

Bibliography

Hermann Hagedorn , Leonard Wood: A Biography, 2 vols., 1931.
Jack C. Lane , Armed Progressive: General Leonard Wood, 1978.

Andrew J. Bacevich