Fernando Wood (June 14, 1812 - February 14, 1881) is famous for being one of the most colorful mayors in the history of New York. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Year 1812 ( MDCCCXII) a leap year started on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 1881 ( MDCCCLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Mayor of New York City is the head of the executive branch of the Government of New York City. The City of New York
Wood was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə His spanish-sounding forename was chosen by his mother, who found it in an english gothic novel written by George Walker, The Three Spaniards (London, 1800). Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. He moved to New York, where he became a successful shipping merchant. He was chairman of the chief young men's political organization in 1839 and was a member of the Tammany Society, which he used as a vehicle for his political rise. Year 1839 ( MDCCCXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Tammany Hall was the Democratic Party Political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants (most notably As a member of the Democratic party, he was elected to Congress in 1841 and served until 1843. For the game see 1841 (board game. Year 1841 ( MDCCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link Year 1843 ( MDCCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common
In 1854 Wood was elected Mayor of New York. Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year The City of New York The state legislature created the New York Municipal Police in 1853, but during Wood's first term as Mayor (1855-1857). He was re-elected in 1857, when the New York gang the Dead Rabbits combed the city's cemeteries for names to add to the voter rolls. The Dead Rabbits was a gang in New York City in the 1850s originally part of the Roach Guards.
In the 1856-57 session, the Republicans at Albany shortened Wood's second term of office from two years to one, and created a Metropolitan Police Force, with Frederick Talmadge as superintendent, to replace Wood's corrupt Municipal Police. Talmadge demanded that Wood disband the Municipal Police, but Wood refused, even in the face of a May 1857 decision by the Supreme Court. Superintendent George W. Matsell, 15 captains and 800 patrolmen of the Municipal Police backed Mayor Wood. George Washington Matsell (1811-1877 was a 19th century American law enforcement officer and the first commissioner of the New York City Police Department.
Captain George W. Walling pledged his loyalty to the new Metropolitan Police and was ordered to arrest Mayor Wood. Wood refused to submit and when Captain Walling attempted force, New York City Hall was occupied by 300 Municipal policemen, who promptly tossed Captain Walling into the street. New York City Hall is located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan between Broadway, Park Row and Fifty Metropolitans in frock coats and plug hats then marched on City Hall with night sticks in hand. The Municipals swarmed out and routed the Metropolitans. Fifty-two policemen were injured in the police riot. A police riot is a term used for the wrongful disproportionate unlawful, and illegitimate use of force by a group of Police against a group of Civilians
The Metropolitan Police Board called out the National Guard, and the Seventh Regiment surrounded City Hall. A platoon of infantry with fixed bayonets marched into City Hall and surrounded Mayor Wood who then submitted to arrest. Mayor Wood was charged with inciting to riot, released on nominal bail and returned to his office.
The feud continued on through the summer of 1857, with constant confrontations between the rival police forces. When a Municipal arrested a criminal, a Metropolitan would come along and release him. At the police station, an arresting officer would find an alderman and a magistrate from the opposing side waiting. A hearing would be held on the spot and the prisoner released on his own recognizance.
The gangs of New York had a field day. Pedestrians were mugged in broad daylight on Broadway while rival policemen clubbed each other to determine who had the right to interfere. Soon the gangs were looting and plundering without interference, but turned on one another in turf wars, which culminated in the Fourth of July gang battle. The Dead Rabbits, the Plug Uglies and several other Five Points gangs marched into the Bowery to do battle with the Bowery Boys and to loot stores. They attacked a Bowery Boys headquarters with pistols, knives, clubs, iron bars and huge paving blocks, routing the defenders. The Bowery Boys and their allies the Atlantic Guards poured into Bayard Street to engage in the most desperate and largest free-for-all in the city's history. The Metropolitans attempted to stop the fighting but were severely beaten and retreated. The Municipals said the battle looked like a Metropolitan problem and was none of their business.
Fernando Wood served a second mayoral term in 1860-1862. Wood was one of many New York Democrats sympathetic to the Confederacy, called 'Copperheads' by the staunch Unionists. The Copperheads were a vocal group of Democrats in the Northern United States (see also Union (American Civil War) who opposed the American Civil During his second mayoral term in January 1861, Wood suggested to the City Council that New York secede and declare itself a free city, to continue its profitable cotton trade with the Confederacy. Wood's Democratic machine was concerned to maintain the revenues (which depended on Southern cotton) that maintained the patronage.
[This article should note that Wood broke with Tammany Hall and formed his own Mozart Hall organization after infighting led to his defeat in the election of 1857 -- E. A. McKay, "NYC in Civil War. " Furthermore, Wood did not head a monolithic Democratic machine at any time, and he suggested that NYC secede only if the wheat states like Illinois and Indiana seceded. Even this suggestion was greeted with considerable derision and was never given serious consideration. Within weeks, after Fort Sumter was bombarded, NYC was swept by a wave of patriotism, the city's archbishop raised the American flag over old St. Patrick's, and the ever duplicitous Wood was raising a regiment to fight for the Union. ]
Wood's brother Benjamin Wood purchased the New York Daily News in 1860, supporting Stephen A. Douglas, and was elected to Congress, where he made a name as an opponent of pursuing the American Civil War. Benjamin Wood (1820–1900 was a nineteenth-century American Politician from the state of New York during the American Civil War. The Daily News of New York City is the fifth most-widely circulated daily Newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 703137 Stephen Arnold Douglas ( April 23, 1813 - June 3, 1861) was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South
Subsequent to serving his second mayoral term, Wood served again in the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1865, then again from 1867 until his death in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
On January 15, 1868, Wood was censured for the use of unparliamentary language. During debate on the floor the House of Representatives, Wood called a piece of legislation "A monstrosity, a measure the most infamous of the many infamous acts of this infamous Congress. " An uproar immediately followed this utterance, and Wood was not permitted to continue. This was followed by a motion by Henry L. Dawes to censure Wood, which passed by a vote of 114-39. Henry Laurens Dawes ( October 30 1816 &ndash February 5 1903) was a Republican United States Senator and United
Notwithstanding his censure, Wood still managed to defeat Dr. Francis Thomas, the Republican candidate, by a narrow margin in the election of that year. Dr Francis A Thomas (1826 - September 28 1899 was a prominent physician and Republican politician in New York City's 19th ward
Wood served as Chairman for the Committee on Ways and Means in both the 45th and 46th Congress (1877-1881). Committee of Ways and Means is the chief Tax -writing committee of the United States House of Representatives.
See also
External links
- Mr. Lincoln and New York: Fernando Wood
- http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/E/E-Wood-Fer.html
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWwood.htm
- Gregory Christiano surveys Fernando Wood, the rival police forces, gang wars and the Panic of 1857: 'Introduction to a turbulent period in New York City history."
- Fernando Wood's recommendation to the city council, January 6, 1861.
- Fernando Wood's Biographical Entry at the Biographical Directory of The United States Congress
References
- Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 1927
- Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1867-1868, pp. 193-196
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