Speaking of William Wood...

[Laurie Verge]

So much has been mentioned about William Wood in the previous posts regarding his sojourn with Dr. Mudd that I thought he needed a thread of his own. He's quite an interesting figure that tends to get shoved to the background of the assassination story.

Did most of you know that his main job during the last years of the Civil War was in anti-counterfeiting? The first such law enforcement efforts were started in late-1863 by the Solicitor (chief lawyer) of the Treasury, Edward Jordan, who convinced Treasury Secretary Chase to issue an order for all detectives and other persons employed by that department to report to Jordan for instructions on controlling counterfeiting. Chase also convinced Stanton to assign Col. Lafayette Baker, then head of the War Department's National Detective Police, to Jordan also.

Col. William P. Wood of Old Capitol Prison was included in that detail and was part of the unit that swept through the Midwest in late-1864 and made great success in rounding up and prosecuting people involved in counterfeiting U.S. Treasury notes. Lafayette Baker got in trouble with Secretary Stanton at some point during this sweep, and Wood stepped to the forefront. He bragged about making significant arrests and bringing many people back to the Old Capitol Prison. When in Washington, he also was good at spying on Marylanders - and even made friends with Mary Surratt's older brother. This friendship was brought up during Mary's trying times.

Wood had been a hero during the Mexican War for his military intelligence projects, and Solicitor Jordan depended more and more on his help. One claim was that he was particularly suited for clandestine activities and was adept at sweating his prison inmates for juicy information. It appears that he was a master at all the brutal "enhanced interrogation techniques" of his day.

It was such talents that caused Stanton to bring Wood back from his counterfeiting sweep in Cincinnati immediately upon the assassination of Lincoln. Wood was assigned to surveil and interrogate Dr. Mudd, and he and several other detectives actually occupied the Mudd home. Wood's chief assignment (in addition to assisting in tracking down Booth) appears to have been to find possible links between the Confederate high command and Booth.

NOTE: The above information was sent to me years ago by a Surratt from Texas, who was a retired banker as well as a stamp collector. He had found much of this history on a website dedicated to the latter.

Right now, I'm tracking down the source of a statement within this piece declaring that Wood "...secured from Dr. Mudd in Maryland the first and only statement that Booth ever made concerning his part in the matter." I'll let you know if I find anything.

Also, Wood resigned his post with Old Capitol Prison on June 1, 1865, while his infamous inmates were still in cells there. He also offered $10,000 to Jefferson Davis's private secretary N.M. Young "for any letters he might furnish showing complicity between President Johnson and Davis." That last sentence comes from William Crook's book.