Death of Wood

For nearly a year Major General Leonard Wood had been suffering from poor health, yet he steadfastly refused to allow anyone to hint that he would give up his post as Governor General of the Philippines.

Last week in Boston not many miles from where his paternal ancestors disembarked from the Mayflower he met death following an operation for a tumor which had been removed 17 years ago and had regrown involving the bone of his skull. He was buried with full military honors at the Arlington National Cemetery alongside the graves of the “Rough Riders,” heroic young fighters whom Theodore Roosevelt had asked him to command in the Cuban campaigns.

Leonard Wood, born in 1860 in Winchester, N. H., entered the U. S. Army as a surgeon, carved his niche in history as an administrator.When Military Governor of Cuba he led the fight to stamp out yellow fever, put a turbulent island in order, ready for independence in 1902. When Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army he became the “Father of Plattsburg,” the creator of civilian military training camps, a staunch friend of “preparedness.”

After losing the Republican nomination for President in 1920 he accepted the thankless job of Governor General of the Philippines. His administration was highly efficient, productive — though Filipinos clamoring for independence called it harsh. Said Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippine Senate, long a foe of Governor General Wood’s administration: “He was always courteous to me. He was a hard working chief executive and always determined in his purpose to do the right thing as he saw it.”

Said Theodore Roosevelt: “He has been an intimate friend of the familysince the days when I was only eight or nine years old and when he and my father used to take all of us children on walks with them on Sundays.”

Said the New York Herald-Tribune: “General Wood was the most eminent American soldier since the Civil War.”