Frustrations Of Leonard Wood, The

Army, Sep 2003 by Ossad, Steven L

He was a Harvard Medical School graduate, Medal of Honor winner, pursuer of Geronimo, friend and physician to Presidents, commander of the Rough Riders, hero of the Spanish-American War, military governor of Cuba, sponsor of Walter Reed, governor of Moro Province, Army Chief of Staff, spokesman for preparedness, organizer of the Plattsburgh Training Camps, University of Pennsylvania provost, governor-general of the Philippines, and premier American proconsul.

There are few soldiers in our history who rose as high, or achieved as much, as Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood. In just one decade, he climbed from obscure captain in the Medical Corps to the highest post in the Army, jumping over hundreds of more experienced and senior officers. In spite of this stunning ascent, the positions he wanted most: a major field command in World War I, appointment as Secretary of War and the Presidency of the United States, all eluded him. If success is measured by what someone wants most and was working towards throughout a lifetime, then Wood must be counted-at least partly-as a failure. How did so much achievement and even greater promise end in frustration and rejection?

Leonard Wood was born in Winchester, N.H., on October 9,1860, the son of Caroline (Hagar) and Charles Jewett Wood, a successful doctor who served in the Civil War. Brought up at the seashore where his father sought relief from malaria contracted during his military service, Leonard led an athletic, outdoor life of frugality and simplicity. He was imbued with the traditional New England values of respect for the nobility of labor, moral accountability and fervent patriotism.

Frustrated in his desire for an appointment to West Point or Annapolis, he enrolled at Harvard Medical School in 1880. He received a medical degree in 1884 but was soon dismissed from Boston City Hospital after running afoul of the rigid strictures governing medical practice by young doctors. It was early evidence of Wood's impatience with conventional rules and his compressed timetable for recognition. Dissatisfied with the limitations of private practice, he decided almost on a whim to compete for a rare appointment in the Army Medical Corps. After passing the extremely rigorous examination, he was assigned to the Arizona Territory, arriving at Fort Huachuca in the midst of a savage guerrilla war against the Chiricahua Apaches. Energetic, intense and drawn up like a predator ready to strike, Wood was described as "bluff, his long face accented by a short mustache, [and he] carried his average, portly figure rigid and straight, combed his short, dark hair back from a high forehead, and fixed his features in a perpetual scowl." In May 1886, after a year of hard frontier service, Wood was personally selected by famed Indian fighter and future commanding general of the Army, Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, to accompany Capt. Henry W. Lawton on his pursuit of the war chief Geronimo.

The now legendary 3,000-mile journey was fraught with peril and Wood suffered greatly. At one point, a tarantula bit him, and he repeatedly lanced the wound to arrest the effects of the venom and reduce the swelling of his leg. In silence, he endured excruciating pain and high fever, and weakened rapidly. Lawton, who observed the young surgeon's awful suffering with sympathy and fear for his life, would not, however, allow the pace of the march to slacken. To everyone's relief, eventually Wood rallied and recovered. His heroic and stoic performance was lauded by both Lawton. and Miles, and many years later Wood received the Medal of Honor-the only member of the expedition thus cited-for carrying dispatches through dangerous territory and voluntarily commanding a detachment of infantry.

This recognition for his courageous service led to tremendous resentment among many Regulars, especially West Pointers, who saw in it unacceptably blatant political interference by Wood's Washington sponsors, especially Miles, whose antipathy to Academy graduates was well known. These men felt the award was a reminder of the shameful treatment of the other heroes of the Geronimo campaign, especially West Point graduate Lt. Charles B. Gatewood. A protege of Miles' predecessor and rival Brig. Gen. George B. Crook, Gatewood had persuaded Geronimo to surrender-he was never captured-but received no official recognition and died a decade later in obscurity.

The intensely ambitious Wood, who had gone west with few prospects for a promising military career, was now poised for success. He received a Regular Army commission as lieutenant and assistant surgeon at the end of 1886 and over the next several years served in several frontier posts. In 1890 he married Louisa A. Condit Smith, a well-connected Washingtonian, and one year later was promoted to captain. Soon afterward, he was assigned to the White House as assistant attending surgeon, where his duties included responsibility for the medical treatment of senior government officials, including Presidents Cleveland and McKinley, the Secretary of War, and their families.