The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-04-03
.lE lNRRD WOODS
" :STERu CAREER
Won Congressional Medal Of
tioU, in Apache Campaign.
Sent to Washington.
Ry JOHN G. HCLME.


ambition He wanted to enter the
navy, but chances for advancement IN
the service were Inesger, and adven-
ture bee ,snet' mi the form of an arctic
expedition. Re had decided to become
an explorer when lis father, DR.. wood,
took III son into his study one DAY
and advised him 10 follow his own
profession. that Of medicine. me re-
: suit was that Leonard wood entefec
| tie Harvard Medical School in 1851,
! graduating four years later. With the
{ aid of & hard-earned scholarship, ne
| worked Ills own way through college
lie tutopcd students.and picked up otn-
Ell odd jobs to pay expenses.
The struggle 10 get q start was bit
ter. After serving AS an inferno in one
I of the Boston hospitals and practicing
for several months in one of the poor
! er sections Of Boston, where the peo-
! pie were too poor to pay much, II any
/ thing. for medical attendance, young
! Or. Wood, with 1ifty-nine other physl-
! Clans, took an examination for army
surgeons, passing second in the class
He WAS asked if he would accept a po-
7 sitiOn as contract surgeon at 500 per
( month
Yes. if ! can go West and see &C
! tive service" answered Wood,
! The examining officer smiled and as
sured Wood that he would see plenty
of active service. This proved to be no
idle talk
4 The summons came in June, 1852
DR.. Wood was ordered to report for
duty TO General Crook at Fort Hun
chuca. Ariz. in command of operations
against the Apache Indians under
Geronimo Wood arrived at Fort Hua'
chuca on the Fourth Of July Soldiers.
COWBOYS. Indians and frOntierSmen
were celebrating tle day with gunpoW-
der and red liquor. The 'ten9arfoot'
was assigned to the Fourth Cavalry,
commanded by Captain Henry ". Law
tc.i, who became famous in the span
ish-American War as a Major-General.
The latter looked at his visitor and
said:
what the hell are you doing out
here?"
Il want to get into the line as soon
as possible"
Lawton chuckled and slapped Wood
on the back and said:
"I'll see that you'll get into the line. "
Rode an "Outlaw"
There was a column of Indian fight
ers starting off the following morning,
and Wood was ordered to go along.
An old sergeant brought him mount.
"A very special horse, sir" he remark
ed as he handed Wood the reins. The
latter mounted and rode off. He soon
found ont that his special horse" was
in reality an outlaw" half-broke and
mean-tempered. Its gait was so vi
cious that even the veteran troopers
Stunned It, Wood rode the animal
thirty-flve miles. that day and was not
thrown. He was biistered, for the sun
! was hot and the ''outlaw" was rough
but Wood stayed with the troopers
! and, in the language of the army. ne
"healed in the saddle" The campaign
lasted for fourteen months, leading
/ over thousands Of miles Of wilderness
was one of the few men that went
through she whole campaign. Early ir
the pursuit, after a twenty-five mile
"A march, he rode seventyfour miles b,
night, carrying dispatches through thu
Indian lines, and on the following da!
~ htufr xryffh trnn
When Geronimo sent word to thu
Americans that he was ready to sur
render. Wood was one'of the four Off
GERS who went intp the Apache camI
to negotiate, This was in old Mexico
The American officers accompanied thu
Indians for two weeks as they marched
III a parallel column with the Ameri
can troops into United States territor,
for formal capitulation At one tim,
during the march the two columns los
contact. and Wood, with his brothe
officers. was left at the mercy OF TIL
Reds.
Geronimo, observing Woods ney
Hotchliss rifle. asked to examine II
, 81 must confess / fell little nervous,
, General Wood said in telling the story
''but made no objections, and let hin
| have the rifle and showed him how Il
? use it, Geronimo fred MT mark an,
Vi Just missed one of his men. This h
, regarded as huge joke, rolling on tn
, ground in high glee and saying: Goo
} gun Good gun" The Indians trie'
b no treachery and surrendered as the
! had promised to do.
} Twelve years later Wood was give
the Congressional Medal OF Honor, tn
: nations highest military reward, $50
distinguished service in the campaig
] against tie Apache Indians in 1SS
while serving as medical and line off
Ger in Captain Lawton's expedition
Wood spent several years in tn
Southwest. He was General Miles
chief assistant In surveying Arizona
He studied military SCIENCE and fel
maneuvers with such devotion that b
was soon acknowledging, he thol
| oughly competent line officer. Nor di
! ne neglect his surgical profession. Ger
I \ ,-ry,1 t,,x% y