Thomas J . Wood Thomas John Wood ( September 25 , 1823 – February 26 , 1906 ) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War . Early life and career . Wood was born in rural Munfordville , Kentucky , the son of George Thomas Wood , an army officer , and Elizabeth Helm ( through his mother , he was a cousin of Confederate general Benjamin H . Helm ) . He was an 1845 graduate of the United States Military Academy , finishing 5th in a class of 41 cadets . He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers . In 1846 , Wood joined General Zachary Taylor ' s staff for a few months as the Mexican – American War erupted . He soon transferred at his request to U . S . 2nd Dragoon s and was cited for valor at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847 . After the war , he served in a succession of cavalry postings on the open frontier in the American Old West . Wood traveled in Europe from 1859 until early 1861 on a leave of absence from the army . Civil War service . During early days of the Civil War , Wood helped organize , train , and equip several volunteer regiments in Indiana . In October 1861 , he was promoted to brigadier general of Indiana volunteers . The following month , he married Caroline E . Greer of Dayton , Ohio . Wood commanded a brigade in the Tennessee and Mississippi campaigns at the beginning of the war . He commanded a division in the Army of the Ohio , then in the Army of the Cumberland . Wood was present at second day of the Battle of Shiloh . Wood was wounded during the Battle of Murfreesboro in December 1862 . He suffered controversy at the Battle of Chickamauga , where he was blamed for contributing to William S . Rosecrans ' s defeat . On September 19 , 1863 , a breakdown in situational awareness by Rosecrans and poor staff work resulted in Wood receiving a seemingly senseless order that , if literally obeyed , required him to pull his division out of the line to the support of another division further to his left , dangerously creating an unprotected gap in the right of the line . Instead of verifying his commander ' s actual intent , Wood elected to regard the order as imperative and moved his division out of its position . Historian Peter Cozzens wrote : Less than 30 minutes after Wood moved his division , Confederate Lt . Gen . James Longstreet ' s men poured through the resulting gap and cut Rosecrans ' s army in two . Rosecrans was eventually relieved from command of the Army of the Cumberland following this Union defeat , while Wood retained his division . Cozzens finds fault with Wood " for letting petty bitterness get the better of him " and Rosecrans for " not checking the order to make sure it reflected his intent . Rosey was tired and it showed . " Wood redeemed himself during the successful assault on Missionary Ridge and at the Battle of Lovejoy ' s Station , where despite a badly shattered leg , he stayed on the field encouraging his men . He commanded the IV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Nashville , and pursued John Bell Hood ' s Confederates after the Union victory . President Abraham Lincoln appointed Wood to the grade of major general of volunteers on February 22 , 1865 , to rank from January 27 , 1865 . On February 14 , 1865 , the U . S . Senate had confirmed the President ' s January 30 , 1865 nomination of Wood ' s appointment . Wood was mustered out of the volunteers on September 1 , 1866 . Postbellum career . After the Confederates surrendered , Wood was assigned to duty in Mississippi with the occupation army . Frustrated with administrative duty with the Freedmen ' s Bureau and the politics of Reconstruction , he retired from the service in June 1868 , having achieved the same rank in the regular army . His old war wounds prevented him from achieving his desire of returning to active duty on the frontier . He moved to Dayton and became active in the Grand Army of the Republic , a social organization for Union Army veterans . He also served as a member of the board of visitors at the Military Academy . Before he died in 1906 , Wood was the last survivor of his West Point class .