William Maxwell Wood

William Maxwell Wood (May 21, 1809 – March 1, 1880) was an officer and surgeon in the United States Navy in the middle 19th century. He became the First Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy in 1871, with the equivalent rank of Commodore. He rose to President of the Examining Board in 1868 and Chief of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in 1870 following his service in the American Civil War as Fleet Surgeon of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron aboard the USS Minnesota and Medical Officer of the James River Flotilla, participating in several famous Naval battles, and establishing temporary hospitals as needed during the Civil War.

As BUMED Chief, Wood was instrumental in increasing the stature of the Naval Surgeon, championing a bill eventually passed by Congress increasing the rank and compensation of physicians in the Navy, enabling the Navy to attract and recruit more qualified physicians. (The Appropriations Bill of 3 March 1871 created the titles of "Surgeon General of the Navy" and "Medical Director" and "established" a formal corps of Medical Officers. Ever since, the Navy Medical Corps has celebrated this day as its anniversary) During Wood's tenure at the top of BUMED the Naval Hospital at Mare Island, California was completed and opened. Earlier in his career Wood was the personal consulting physician of President Zachary Taylor.

Wood is most remembered in U.S. Naval history for his daring journey through Mexico in 1846 at the onset of the Mexican-American War, where he eluded detection and capture as a U.S. spy in enemy territory and successfully provided vital intelligence leading to the possession of California by the Pacific Squadron, as well as providing intelligence information to the Secretary of the Navy in Washington regarding Mexican fortifications and military operations.

Wood was an accomplished writer, and authored three books chronicling his voyages and missions with the Pacific and East India Squadrons, and his ideas and recommendations on reforming the U.S. Navy, as well as many literary articles for notable publications of his day.