From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
Publ. 1912 - Page 1065-1068
 
CAPT. GEORGE EDWIN WOOD.  The respect which should always be accorded the 
brave sons of the North who left their homes and the peaceful pursuits of 
civil life to give their services, and their lives if need be, to preserve the 
integrity of the American Union is certainly due Capt. George Edwin WOOD, a 
well known citizen of Elkhorn.  He proved his love and loyalty to the 
government on the long and tiresome marches in all kinds of situations, 
exposed to summer's withering heat and winter's freezing cold, on the lonely 
picket line a target for the missile of the unseen foe, on the tented field 
and amid the flame and smoke of battle, where the rattle of the musketry 
mingled with the terrible concussion of the bursting shell and the deep 
diapason of the cannon's road made up the sublime but awful chorus of death.  
To the heroes of the "grand army" all honor is due; to them the country is 
under a debt of gratitude which it cannot pay, and in centuries yet to be 
posterity will commemorate their chivalry in fitting eulogy and tell their 
knightly deeds in story and song.  To this rapidly vanishing host into the 
phantom army of the silent land belongs the subject, still left with us to 
thrill us with reminiscences of those stirring times in the early sixties.
 
Captain WOOD was born at Hartford, Vermont, August 19, 1842.  He is the son of 
Lucius and Juletta (MORSE) WOOD, the mother a daughter of Hiram MORSE and 
wife.  Mrs. Hiram MORSE was in Boston during the Revolution, and the subject 
remembers her telling him of seeing the British enter that city.  She lived to 
be ninety-nine years of age.  One of her sons, Washington MORSE, was a 
prominent Seventh-Day Adventist and lived to be one hundred and one years 
old.  Another brother of Julette MORSE was S. F. B. MORSE, famous for 
inventing the telegraph.
 
Lucius WOOD, father of the subject, was left an orphan at an early age, at 
Brookfield, Vermont.  He grew to manhood and was educated in his native state, 
and began life for himself by teaching school there, later in life becoming a 
tanner.  Upon his marriage he moved to Bradford, where he had a tannery, and 
there his wife died, leaving the following children: Lucy, who married Luther 
C. HULL, of Lynnfield Center, Massachusetts; Lucinda married William H. 
McCAUSLAND, at one time chief inspector of detectives in Boston, and they died 
at Wakefield, Massachusetts; James R. WOOD was a celebrated scout and a 
prominent officer in the government's secret service during the Civil war.  He 
was one of two scouts who took a secret message from General Grant to 
President Lincoln from the battle of the Wilderness, the President showing his 
appreciation of the hazardous service by embracing the scouts.  He and his son 
ran a detective agency in Boston from 1879, and he has been succeeded by his 
son.  Elizabeth WOOD died in Lowell, Massachusetts, May 14, 1850, of cholera; 
she was the third child in order of birth, James R. WOOD being the fourth; the 
next was Charles P., who was born on June 18, 1840, and died in Seattle, 
Washington, in 1902.  He was a soldier in the Civil war, serving in the First 
and the Fourteenth Vermont Volunteer Infantry.  He was with the troops at 
Gettysburg which received Pickett's famous charge.  For many years he was in 
the fire department in Boston.  George Edwin, of this sketch, was next in 
order of birth; Pamelia J., the youngest, was born February 8, 1846, married 
Walter C. WIGFALL and she lives at Providence, Rhode Island.
 
The father of the above named children was for years connected with the police 
department of Boston, and his death occurred there on November 11, 1864.  Two 
of his step-sons, children by a former marriage of his wife, were also in the 
Union army.
 
Capt. George E. WOOD, of this sketch, spent his boyhood in Boston chiefly, 
where he attended the public schools, also went to a military school at 
Norwich, Vermont, being a student in the latter institution at the 
commencement of the Civil war.  On May 9, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, 
First Vermont Volunteer Infantry, at Rutland, Vermont, to serve three months, 
and he was mustered out on August 15th following, but on September 19th of the 
same year re-enlisted, and was at once elected sergeant of Company B, Sixth 
Vermont Volunteer Infantry.  His military record is one to be proud of and he 
saw much hard service, proving a most gallant soldier and faithful officer, 
according to his comrades.  His regiment was in the battles of Warwick Creek, 
Lee's Mills and Williamsburg, Virginia, in the spring of 1862.  On June 14th 
of that year he was promoted to second lieutenant.  On June 27th and 28th he 
was in the battle of Golding's Farm, and on June 29 that of Savage Station, 
where he was wounded and taken prisoner.  After seven days under guard he was 
confined in Libby Prison and from there was paroled on July 17th, and on July 
23d he was promoted to first lieutenant.  He was in the great battle of 
Antietam, September 17, 1862, although his wound was still open and running.  
After that battle he was made a staff officer and from then on until the end 
of the war he was away from his regiment, but was in every battle that engaged 
the Army of the Potomac, and they were many and bloody.  From November 1862, 
Captain WOOD served on the Second Division, Sixth Corps staff, under Gen Albin 
P. HOWE and later under Gen. George W. GETTY.  In December 1863, he was 
promoted to the Sixth Corps staff under John G. SEDGEWICK and later under 
command of Gen. H. G. WIRGHT.  He served on the Sixth Corps staff until June 
1865, except two months, when he was temporarily on Gen. Phil Sheridan's 
staff.  On October 29, 1864, he was commissioned captain of company A, of his 
regiment, but continued to serve as a staff officer until the close of the 
war.  He was present at Lee's surrender and was one of those detailed to bear 
the news of the surrender to other divisions, where he witnessed the never-to-
be-forgotten enthusiasm and elation of both commanders and privates at the 
final victory.  Captain WOOD was highly commended by his superior officers for 
his bravery and fidelity to duty.  He was mustered out on June 26, 1865.
 
After the war Captain WOOD went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania and until 
1889 was engaged in putting down oil wells.  He was very successful in this 
line.  He was married in 1866 to Maria A. McLEAN, of Boston, and her death 
occurred in 1868.
 
Captain WOOD's family have nearly all been engaged in police and detective 
work, and he has been a detective most of the time since the war, proving to 
be a most efficient, faithful, alert and successful one.  From Pennsylvania he 
went to Michigan in 1869, where he assisted in breaking up a very bad gang of 
notorious outlaws.  Like nearly all detectives from habitual training, he 
seldom talks of his work or tells of his adventures, but enough is known that 
we may be sure he could give a very interesting account if he were disposed to 
do so.  In 1896 he went to Haney, Crawford county, Wisconsin, and there filed 
claim to some land that for some reason or other still belonged to the 
government.  He located there and made Haney his home until he came to 
Elkhorn.  For many years he has taken a great interest in horse racing, and 
buying and selling fast horses, and has made a business of it.  He came to 
Elkhorn first in 1901, but did not locate permanently until 1903.  In that 
year his second marriage occurred, when he espoused Eva S. TUBBS, sister of 
Willis J. TUBBS, a record of which family is to be found on another page of 
this work.
 
The Captain now makes his home in Elkhorn, and is thoroughly identified with 
the county's affairs.  He was for many years a member of the American 
Detective Association.  He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic.  He is 
now a justice of the peace and is discharging his duties in this office in a 
manner that elicits the praise of all concerned.
 
Submitted by Carol