President Taylor's Grandsons Fought for the Confederacy-- Part 3: John Taylor Wood

Zachary Taylor's daughter, Ann Mackall Taylor Wood, married Robert Crooke Wood, who remained with the Union during the war.  They had two sons and a daughter, Robert Crooke Wood Jr, who I wrote about in the last two posts.  Also there was a daughter, Sarah Knox  Wood (1835-1915).

John Taylor Wood led quite a life and compiled a remarkable record as a Confederate Navy officer during the Civil War.  I will write more about his service in my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy blog.

A  short synopsis is here.

Served in U.S. Navy after graduating from the USNA in 1853.  Resigned his commission, but U.S. Navy dismissed him.  His family relationship with Jefferson Davis (his aunt was the first wife of Davis and the fact he was the grandson of a former president) gave him great influence in the Confederacy.

Was a second lieutenant on the CSS Virginia in the Battle of Hampton Roads and fight against the USS Monitor.  Led surprise attacks on Union ships in the Chesapeake Bay area.  Commanded the CSS Tallahassee on a commerce raiding expedition along the American coast and captured and destroyed 31 union ships, captured the Union warship USS Underwriter at New Bern, N.C..

He was also with Jefferson Davis at his capture in Georgia.  Escaping to Cuba, he then went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and lived there the remainder of his life.

--Old Secesh

President Taylor's Grandsons Fought for the Confederacy-- Part 2: Col. Robert Cooke Wood

Service in the Confederate Army:

1861

Captain in the Confederate States Regular Army

Assistant Adjutant General to Gen. Braxton Bragg  in Pensacola

Resigned his rank as captain on October 15, 1861

*******************

1861-1863

Lt. Col. of Adam's Mississippi Cavalry Regiment

*******************

1862

Captured at Lebanon, Tennessee, on May 5, 1862

Prisoner of War held at Johnson's Island Prison in Ohio

Exchanged in prisoner exchange in September of 1862

*******************

1863-1865

Colonel of Wood's Mississippi Cavalry Regiment

1864-1865

Acted as  Brigade Commander Mississippi Cavalry

1864

Acted as commander of Central Sub-District of Mississippi

1865

Paroled in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 17, 1865

--Old Secesh

President Zachary Taylor's Grandsons Fought for the Confederacy: Robert Crooke Wood, Jr.-- Part 1

Their mother was Ann Mackall Taylor Wood, daughter of Zachary Taylor, president of the United States.  She married Robert Crooke Wood, who was an officer in the United States Army who continued to serve the Union forces in the Civil War.

Their two sons, however, joined the Confederacy, one in the Army and the other in the Navy.

From Find-A-Grave.

COLONEL ROBERT CROOKE WOOD, JR.

BORN:  4 April 1832, Fort Snelling, Minnesota

DIED:  4 December  1900  (aged 68)  , Orleans Parish, Louisiana

BURIED:  Metarie Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana.

His grandfather was President Zachary Taylor,  His uncle by marriage was Jefferson Davis, Confederate president.

Education:  Kentucky Military Institute.  Attended St, Mary's College.  1850-1853 attended USMA, West Point.

1855-1858 served as lieutenant in 2nd U.S. Cavalry.

--Old Secesh

President Zachary Taylor's Children-- Part 2: Ann Mackall Taylor Wood

Find-A-Grave.

ANN MACKALL TAYLOR WOOD

Daughter of Zachary Taylor.

BIRTH:   9 April 1811,  Louisville, Kentucky

DEATH:  27 December 1875, Germany

BURIAL:  Cold Springs Cemetery, Lockport, New York  (Maybe.  Might still be buried in Germany)

Married  Dr, Robert Crooke Wood on September 20, 1829, at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien County, Wisconsin.

Her husband was from Rhode Island and eventually became  brigadier general in the Union Army.  The couple had two sons: John Taylor Wood and Robert Crooke Wood Jr. who were officers in the Confederate Navy and Army.

A Family Split by the War.  --Old Secesh

U.S. Presidents with Confederate Ties-- Part 3: Zachary Taylor's Children

Some of the Civil War split between North and South involved the children of U.S. presidents.

One of President Zachary Taylor's sons, Richard, rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate Army and was a top figure in the Trans-Mississippi theater of the war.  He surrendered his army on May 4, 1865, four weeks after Robert E. Lee.

Another of Taylor's children, Sarah, married future Confederate president Jefferson Davis in 1835 at the age of 21.  At the time, Davis was serving in the U.S. Army under Taylor and Taylor  forbade the relationship, saying, "I will be damned if another daughter of mine will marry into the Army."

Sarah came down with malaria later in 1835 and died.  Taylor, who did in office in 1850, reportedly never forgave Davis for her loss.

In addition, one of Taylor's grandsons, John Taylor Wood,  served on the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in its famed battle with the USS Monitor in Hampton Roads in March, 1862.  He was the son of Taylor's eldest daughter Ann.  He also commanded the CSS Tallahassee in a very successful commerce raid along the U.S. coast.  That ship left out of Wilmington, North Carolina.

He also had a brother who served in the Confederate Army named Robert Crooke Wood, Jr.

--Old Secesh