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(1825 - 1890)
Home State: New York
Education: Jefferson Medical College, Class of 1851
Branch of Service: Medical
Unit: 66th New York Infantry
Before Antietam
In 1860 he was a 36 year old physician practicing in Greene, Chenango County, NY. He enrolled on 8 March 1861 in Alexandria, VA and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon, 66th New York Infantry on 21 March.
On the Campaign
He treated wounded soldiers at a field hospital at Antietam in September 1862.
The rest of the War
He was promoted to Surgeon in January 1863, treated wounded soldiers at Chancellorsville, VA in May, and was chief surgeon of the 1st Division, 2nd Corps hospital at Gettysburg from 2 through 20 July 1863:
Surg. Wood, who was left in charge of the division hospital, informs me that about 800 of our wounded & 200 of the enemy's were cared for in our division hospital -- that he performed 120 capital operations, 150 operations in all and handled more than 200 cases ...He mustered out of the regiment on 22 September 1863 to accept appointment as Surgeon, US Volunteers. He was Post Surgeon at the Presidio in San Francisco, VA in September and October 1865, was honored by brevet to Lieutenant Colonel, USV for faithful and meritorious service on 6 October, and mustered out on 7 October 1865.
After the War
In October and November 1865 he was a weather observer (!) at the Presidio. By 1868 and to at least 1880 he was a practicing physician in New York City, and lived there for the rest of his life.
References & notes
His service basics from the State of New York1 and Heitman.2 At least one of his Antietam medical cases, that of Private Sperber of Company A, is in the MSHWR.3 The Gettysburg quote from Medical Director Richard C. Stiles' Report; thanks to Tom Elmore for the pointer. Personal details from family genealogists, notably Harriet Weeks Wadhams Stevens' Wadhams Genealogy (1913), the US Census of 1860-1880 and US Veterans' Census of 1890, Glen Conner's History of Weather Observations: The Presidio of San Francisco, California 1847—1892 (2005) [pdf], and his obituary in the New York Herald of 12 February 1890. His gravesite is on Findagrave.
The National Library of Medicine has a fine engraved c. 1877 portrait of him.
He married Mary Townsend Dederer (1833-1865) in December 1858 and they had 2 children; the second, son Charles, was born in Sacramento, CA in May 1864. He married again, Cynthia Ann Munson (1839-1917) in May 1866 and they had 4 more; 2 died young.
More on the Web
A set of his surgical instruments [finding aid] and his uniform dress coat [finding aid] are in collection of the Litchfield Historical Society.
Birth
02/27/1825; Litchfield, CT
Death
02/01/1890; New York City, NY; burial in West Cemetery, Litchfield, CT
1 State of New York, Adjutant-General, Annual Report of the Adjutant General of the State of New York [year]: Registers of the [units], 43 Volumes, Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer, 1893-1905, For the Year 1901, Ser. No. 27, p. 914 [AotW citation 31334]
2 Heitman, Francis Bernard, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, 2 volumes, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1903, Vol. 1, p. 1054 [AotW citation 31335]
3 Barnes, Joseph K., and US Army, Office of the Surgeon General, The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, 6 books, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1870-1883, Volume 2, Part 1, p. 275 [AotW citation 31336]