Background
He was only four years old at the death of his father, who had been a soldier under General Wayne in the storming of Stony Point.
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John Ellis Wool
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The mother may have died also about this time, for the child was removed to Troy to live with his grandfather, James Wool, of Schaghticoke, N. Y. His formal education was limited to that of a country school, and at the age of twelve he entered the store of a Troy merchant and remained with him six years.
Career
On June 25, 1841, he was made a full-fledged brigadier-general, his rank at the opening of the Mexican War.
On May 15, 1846, he was ordered to Washington, D. C. , whence he was sent to Cincinnati to receive the disorganized volunteers of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi.
Working and traveling incessantly, without a proper staff, he prepared and mustered-in 12, 000 volunteers in six weeks.
On Aug. 14 he arrived in San Antonio to take over his new command for the intended march through Chihuahua.
After traversing 900 miles of thick, unbroken, hostile country, he arrived in Saltillo on Dec. 22, even though his command had been rendered immobile for twenty-seven days by Taylor's unfortunate armistice.
But Wool took advantage of this delay to drill and discipline his men in the wilderness.
When orders were received to proceed, he was on his way in two hours.
Throughout the march, the men had been forced to level hills, fill ravines, construct bridges, scale mountains, and make roads, but because of Wool's watchfulness and preparedness there was little ill-health and no bloodshed.
For sheer audacity and control, his march ranks with that of Xenophon.
His celerity and efficiency were largely responsible for the victory of Buena Vista.
It was he who selected the fine position at La Angostura and who held the Mexicans while Taylor went back to Saltillo.
He was voted a sword and thanks by the Congress "for his distinguished services in the War with Mexico and especially for the skill, enterprise and courage" at Buena Vista.
He was also brevetted a major-general, and was presented with a sword by the State of New York.
From then on he commanded the Department of the East.
At the opening of the Civil War he saved Fortress Monroe by timely reënforcements and was afterwards in command of the Department of Virginia.
On May 16, 1862, he was regularly made a major-general, and was successively in command of the Middle Military Department and the Department of the East until July 1863.
Because of age and infirmity he was retired from active service on Aug. 1, 1863.
Although Wool was a rigid disciplinarian and was superior in organizing ability, he had great personal benignity.
He left a bequest of $15, 000 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
She survived him only four years.
and Democratic Rev. , Nov. 1851; F. B. Heitman, Hist.
Reg.
U. S. Army (1903); John Frost, Am.
Generals (1848); L. B. Cannon, Personal Reminiscences of the Rebellion (1895); Troy Daily Times, Nov. 10, 1869. ]
Politics
From 1848 to 1853 he commanded the Eastern Military Division, and from 1854 to 1857 the Department of the Pacific, where in 1856, by active campaign, he suppressed Indian disturbances in Washington and Oregon.
[H. W. Moulton, Moulton Annals (1906); A. J. Weise, Troy's One Hundred Years (1891); Francis Baylies, A Narrative of Maj. Gen. Wool's Campaign in Mexico (1851); J. H. Smith, The War with Mexico (2 vols. , 1919); W. H. Powell, List of Officers of the Army of the U. S. , 1779 to 1900 (1900); U. S. Mag.
Connections
- Mother:
- James
- child:
- James
- married:
- William
- Wife:
- William
- Grandfather:
- James
In Troy a seventy-five-foot monument on which is an inscription by William Cullen Bryant, was erected to his memory and that of his wife, Sarah Moulton, to whom he had been married on Sept. 27, 1810.
In Troy a seventy-five-foot monument on which is an inscription by William Cullen Bryant, was erected to his memory and that of his wife, Sarah Moulton, to whom he had been married on Sept. 27, 1810.
