John Taylor Wood

John Taylor Wood was born on August 13, 1830, at Fort Snelling in the Northwest Territory, near present-day St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the first child of Robert Crooke Wood, an army surgeon from Rhode Island, and Ann Mackall Taylor, the eldest daughter of Zachary Taylor, a future U.S. president and hero of the Mexican–American War. Wood was also a grandson of President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Mackall Smith. Through his maternal lineage, he was a nephew of Sarah Knox Taylor, the first wife of Jefferson Davis, who would become the President of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.

The Wood family resided at Fort Snelling until 1832, after which they moved to Fort Crawford at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. During this period, Wood was raised amid frontier conditions and experienced the Black Hawk War. He is believed to have been the first white child born in Minnesota.

John Taylor Wood attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating second in his class in 1852. He began his naval career as a midshipman in 1847 aboard the USS Brandywine, participating in voyages to Brazil and later serving on USS Ohio during the Mexican–American War. During this conflict, he engaged in land combat operations and participated in the capture of the port of Mazatlán in Mexico.

In the years following the Mexican–American War, Wood served in California during the Gold Rush period and later participated in efforts suppressing the African slave trade off the coast of Africa, notably commanding USS Porpoise on missions that involved capturing Spanish slave ships. His successful voyage to Liberia and subsequent landings against local authorities demonstrated his leadership and confidence at age 21.

During his naval service, Wood also served aboard USS Cumberland and USS Wabash, gaining experience in the Mediterranean and Atlantic theaters. He married Lola Mackubin in 1856; the couple had eleven children, including Zachary Taylor Wood, who later became Acting RCMP Commissioner, and Charles Carroll Wood, who served and died in the Boer War.

With the onset of the Civil War, Wood's southern sympathies led to his resignation from the U.S. Navy on April 2, 1861. He subsequently joined the Confederate Navy as a first lieutenant and was assigned to the CSS Virginia. During the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862, he commanded the stern pivot gun and wounded USS Monitor captain Lieutenant John Lorimer Worden. Following the destruction of Virginia, he participated in the defense of Drewry's Bluff and led raids against Union ships.

Promoted to the rank of commander in May 1863 and simultaneously holding the rank of colonel in the Confederate cavalry, Wood played a significant role in Confederate naval operations, including commanding CSS Tallahassee, a commerce raider. In this capacity, he captured 33 Union ships over a ten-day period off the New England coast in August 1864.

As the Confederacy's position deteriorated in 1865, Wood accompanied Jefferson Davis in an attempted escape after the fall of Richmond. He was briefly captured but managed to escape with Davis and fled to Cuba. He later arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he settled with his family and transitioned to a career as a merchant. His wife and children joined him, and they lived the remainder of their lives in Canada.

John Taylor Wood died in Halifax on July 19, 1904. He is buried in Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax.

His legacy includes geographical names such as Tallahassee Avenue, Tallahassee Elementary School, and Taylorwood Lane, which are named in his honor and his ship, CSS Tallahassee.