Roger J. Dostall’s (PCC) Maternal Ancestor:
Private Henry Clay Wood United States Marine Corps
Henry Clay Wood was born in Wales, Maine in 1836; the same
year of Battle of the Alamo took place. Family oral history says that he was
born to an American Indian woman and an unknown father. As a foundling, he was
left on the doorstep of a Protestant minister. No one is sure how he came by
the surname Wood; thought Henry Clay was a prominent statesman of the era.
By the year 1850, at the age of 12, Henry was residing in
Raymond, Maine. Shared genealogical research found the home in which he resided
was apparently that of a Great-great Uncle to Wendell G. Small, a fellow
brother from Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1.
In 1859, Henry’s first wife died during childbirth in Maine.
The following year, in 1860, Henry enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Private Henry Wood’s enlistment papers showed
him as a laborer. He was first assigned to the Marine detachment aboard the USS
Powhatan. The USS Powhatan was the same steam-driven, side paddle frigate that
Commodore Perry used to "open" Japan to trade in the 1850’s.
At the time of Private Wood’s initial assignment, the USS
Powhatan
was commanded by a then Navy Lieutenant named David Dixon Porter. David Dixon
Ported later became Admiral David Dixon Porter. During his military service
Henry was also assigned to the USS Pawnee.
With his Marine service aboard the Powhatan, Henry C. Wood
would have been present at the relief of Fort Pickens, Florida following the
fall in 1861 of Fort Sumter, South Carolina. He also participated in the Gulf
Coast Blockade and the Battle of Mobile Bay.
He saw action along the
Mississippi River, where he participated in a shore raiding party which
destroyed Confederate telegraph lines.
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| Fort Pickens |
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| Battle of Mobile Bay |
During his service, most likely while still aboard the USS
Powhatan, Henry was injured by flying rigging while at sea during a storm off
Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. In 1863 Private Henry Clay Wood was honorably
discharged at the end of his enlistment.
Following his service to the Union, in 1863, he married Miss
Sarah Roach of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Sarah was an Irish immigrant, born
in Galway, Ireland a survivor of the "Great Famine". The couple began
their life together in Maine. Henry and Sarah later moved to the city of
Brooklyn, New York, where Henry worked for the Brooklyn Navy Yard. My mother, who
was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1916, remembered both Henry and Sarah.
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| Brooklyn Navy Yard |
Early in the 20th Century Henry resided for a short time at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Solders in Togus, Maine.
I have visited his grave in the National Veterans’ Cemetery
near what is now the VA Hospital in Togus, Maine. His was the only United
States Marine Corps grave I saw as I walked those hallowed grounds.
Submitted by Roger J. Dostall, PCC
Member - Sons of Veterans of the Civil War
Major General Thomas H. Ruger Camp #1
