WOOD, Fernando, (brother of Benjamin Wood), a Representative from New York; born in Philadelphia, Pa., June 14, 1812; attended the public schools; moved with his father to New York City in 1820; was engaged in business as a shipping merchant in 1831; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1843); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Twenty-eighth Congress in 1842; appointed by Secretary of State John C. Calhoun dispatch agent for the State Department at the port of New York; reappointed to the position by Secretary of State James Buchanan and served from 1844 to 1847; unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York City in 1850 and in 1867; retired as a shipping merchant in 1850; mayor of New York City in 1855-1858, 1861, and 1862; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress in 1864; elected to the Fortieth and to the seven succeeding Congresses and served until his death (March 4, 1867-February 14, 1881); censured by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 15, 1868, for use of unparliamentary language; died before the beginning of the Forty-seventh Congress, to which he had been reelected; chairman, Committee on Ways and Means (Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses); died on February 14, 1881, in Hot Springs, Ark.; interment in Trinity Cemetery, New York City.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]Anbinder, Tyler G. "Fernando Wood and New York City's Secession from the Union: A Political Reappraisal." NewYork History 68 (January 1987): 67-92.
Chalmers, Leonard. "Fernando Wood and Tammany Hall: The First Phase." New-York Historical Society Quarterly 52 (October 1968): 379-402.
A condensed biography of Fernando Wood. Fernando Wood, his forgeries and other crimes. New York: N.p., 1866. Reprint, [New York: N.p., 1875?]
Howard, Oliver Otis. Statement of Br. Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard, before the Committee on Education and Labor, in defense against the charges presented by Hon. Fernando Wood, and argument of Edgar Ketchum, Esq., of counsel for Gen. Howard in summing up the case upon the testimony before the committee. New York: Bradstreet Press, 1870.
Hutchinson, E. A model mayor. Early life, congressional career, and triumphant municipal administration of Hon. Fernando Wood, mayor of the city of New York: Presenting his public speeches and messages, and the principles on which his government is founded. By a citizen of New York. New York: American Family Publication Establishment, 1855.
Ingraham, Abijah. A biography of Fernando Wood. A history of the forgeries, perjuries, and other crimes of our "model" mayor. No. 1. [New York: N.p., 1856].
------. A history of the private, political and official misdeeds and offences of Fernando Wood. [New York?: N.p., 1863?]
MacLeod, Xavier Donald. Biography of Hon. Fernando Wood. New York: O. F. Parsons; 1856.
Mushkat, Jerome. Fernando Wood: A Political Biography. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1990.
Pleasants, Samuel A. Fernando Wood of New York. New York: Columbia University Press, 1948.
Richardson, James F. "Mayor Fernando Wood and the New York Police Force 1855-1857." New-York Historical Society Quarterly 50 (January 1966): 5-40.
"Tammany Hall, Fernando Wood, and the Struggle to Control New York City, 1857-1859." New-York Historical Society Quarterly 53 (January 1969): 7-33.
United States. 46th Congress, 3d session, 1880-1881. House. Memorial addresses on the life and character of Fernando Wood, (a Representative from New York) delivered in the House of Representatives, February 28, 1881. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882.
Wise, Henry A. (Henry Alexander). Correspondence between Hon. Henry A. Wise and Hon. Fernando Wood. N.p., [1866].
Wood, Fernando. An address on the genius, public life, and opinions of Alexander Hamilton. Delivered at Richmond, Va., May 9, 1856, by request of the ladies of the central Mount Vernon Association, and in aid of the purchase of Mount Vernon. New York: E. Childs, printer, 1856.
------. Annexation of Dominica. [Washington: Printed at the Congressional Globe Office, 1871].
------. Government finances: Speech of Fernando Wood, on the bill to provide internal revenue, delivered in the House of Representatives, April 19, 1864. [Washington, D.C.]: McGill & Witherow, [1864?]
------. The national finances and public expenditures. Extravagance and maladministration. Speech of Fernando Wood, of New York, delivered in the House of Representatives, March 7, 1874. [Washington]: Judd & Detweiler, printers, [1874].
------. Refunding the public debt. Financial policy of the Secretary of the Treasury. Can a three-and-a-half per cent. bond be negotiated at par? Speech of Hon. Fernando Wood, of New York, in the House of Representatives, Thursday, March 4, 1880. Washington: N.p., 1880.
------. Speech of Fernando Wood, delivered before the meeting of the National Democratic Delegation to the Charleston Convention, at Syracuse, February 7, 1860. N[ew] Y[ork]: Office of the Daily News, [1860].
