author
John Taylor Wood
1830–1904
A naval officer who served first in the U.S. Navy and then became one of the Confederacy’s best-known sea fighters, he later rebuilt his life in Canada as a businessman. His story stretches from the Mexican War and the clash of the CSS Virginia and USS Monitor to a quieter final chapter in Halifax.
1 Audiobook
Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War
by Basil Wilson Duke, Thomas Henry Hines, Frank E. Moran, William Pittenger, A. E. (Adolphus Edwards) Richards, W. H. (William Henry) Shelton, Orlando B. Willcox, John Taylor Wood
About the author
Born at Fort Snelling in 1830, John Taylor Wood was the son of army surgeon Robert Crooke Wood and a grandson of Zachary Taylor. He entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1853, and served at sea before the American Civil War.
When the war began, Wood resigned from the U.S. Navy and joined the Confederate Navy. He became closely associated with some of the conflict’s most famous naval actions, including service aboard the CSS Virginia in its battle with the USS Monitor, and he earned a reputation for daring work on the water. Several historical sources also note his family connection to Jefferson Davis through marriage.
After the Confederacy collapsed, Wood escaped abroad and eventually settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There he lived for decades as a merchant and insurance broker, raising a large family and spending the rest of his life far from the battlefields and ships that had made his name.