b. 09/10/1860 Winchester, New Hampshire. d. 07/08/1927 Boston, Massachusetts.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 1886 Arizona Territory.
Leonard Wood MOH
A Harvard Medical School graduate, he began his Army career as a medical officer on the southwestern frontier, receiving the Medal of Honor in 1886 for his role in the campaign against Geronimo and the Apaches. During the Spanish-American War (1898), Wood and his friend Theodore Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of the Navy, organized and commanded the famous “Rough Riders” (1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment). After the war, Wood became military general of Cuba (1899-1902). He served in the Philippines as governor of Moro Province (1903-1906) and as commander of the Army’s Department of the East (1906-1908), amidst ongoing rebellions by Filipino nationalists. President William H. Taft appointed Wood chief of staff of the Army in 1910. His last appointment, after he ran unsuccessfully for the 1920 Republican presidential nomination, was governor general of the Philippines (1921-1927).
MOH CITATION:
Voluntarily carried dispatches through a region infested with hostile Indians, making a journey of 70 miles in one night and walking 30 miles the next day. Also for several weeks, while in close pursuit of Geronimo’s band and constantly expecting an encounter, commanded a detachment of infantry, which was then without an officer and to the command of which he was assigned upon his own request.
BURIAL LOCATION: ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA.
SECTION 21, GRAVE S-10.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNITED STATES ARMY ENGINEERS MUSEUM, FORT LEONARD WOOD, MONTANA.
