Zachary Taylor Wood (1861 – 1915)

Zachary Wood was born in Annapolis, Maryland to John Taylor and Lola Mackubin Wood. He was the great-grandson of Zachary Taylor, the twelfth president of the United States, and great-grandnephew of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. His father was an instructor at the United States Naval Academy and then fought for the Confederates. The family moved to Halifax after the war. Zachary attended the Royal Military College of Canada at Kingston, Ontario and was appointed to the supernumerary staff of the customs service in Winnipeg in 1883. He went west as a lieutenant in the 90th (Winnipeg) Battalion of Rifles and fought in the battle of Batoche during the North-West Rebellion. In 1885, he was appointed an inspector in the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP). He served under Superintendent Sam Steele on an expedition to control a threatened Kutenai uprising in 1887 and 1888, after which he was given a number of independent commands in the west.¹⁾

In 1897, Wood was ordered to leave Calgary to deliver men and stores to Skagway and then return home. He travelled with the Interior Minister Clifford Sifton and Commissioner James Walsh on the government vessel Quadra and they arrived in Skagway on 8 October. At Skagway, Wood was ordered to take supplies over the Chilkoot Pass. On 20 October, Walsh summoned Wood back to the Quadra and told him to relieve McIllree, who was in poor health, at Skagway. He was to find provisions and boats to enable Walsh's party to reach Dawson. When Walsh was at Bennett, he placed Wood in command of a district stretching from the international border to Fort Selkirk but also expected him to keep to his old duties of receiving supplies at Skagway.²⁾

In February 1898, Wood was instructed to report to Commissioner Walsh at Big Salmon. Wood and thirty-two non-commissioned officers, forty-three pack horses and nine dog teams left Skagway on 3 February. They arrived at Bennett on 6 February and Wood organized three parties of ten men and ten horses to haul freight to Tagish and Laberge ready to be set down river in the spring. Wood then left Bennett with a small number of men who would be left at Lower Laberge to build boats. On 4 June, Sergeant George Pulham arrived in Bennett with $27,487 in customs collection and an order for it to be taken outside. Wood volunteered and he and two constables left Bennett on 9 June with $130,000 in gold and notes. A stop at the Chilkoot summit gave him an additional $94,000. The trip was through Dyea and Skagway and Wood circulated the rumour that he was merely being transferred back to the prairies, having closed the office in Skagway. Soapy Smith caught wind of the real project and Wood was nearly robbed but for the intervention of the Royal Navy Reserve on the boat Tartar.³⁾

Wood was transferred to the Yukon in 1897 and was soon joined by his wife and family. He was promoted to superintendent in 1898.⁴⁾ The Yukon NWMP was reorganized in the summer of 1898. Steele commanded “B” division in Dawson and Superintendent Wood commanded “H” Division in Tagish. When Superintendent Perry was recalled to Regina early in 1900, he was replaced as head of the Yukon NWMP by Superintendent Wood. Frederick White was concerned about friction caused by the relationship between the Commissioner in Regina and the force in the Yukon. On 1 July 1902, Superintendent Wood was promoted by Order in Council to the rank of Assistant Commissioner for the Yukon.⁵⁾

In September 1904, Congdon performed some illegal actions during a plebiscite to withdraw Dawson's charter.⁶⁾ Commissioner Congdon had a number of liquor inspectors and special constables who were paid from North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) funds but were not controlled by the Police. When Assistant Commissioner Wood dismissed NWMP officer Falconer, Congdon had him sworn in as a Special Constable. Wood was instructed to put Falconer on the Secret Service for a time and later he was requested to pay Falconer an extra per diem. Falconer's job seemed to be to extract money for Congdon's political hopes. Gamblers paid $125 a week to be left in peace. As the 1904 election drew near, Falconer hired two ex-policemen and produced reports on the dance hall that contradicted police infraction reports. He was accused in the press of taking protection money from gamblers. Wood finally mounted a series of raids and eventually forced the gamblers out of business. The rift between Assistant Commissioner Wood and Commissioner Congdon now escalated to open hostility. In October, Congdon resigned as Commissioner to run in the 1904 federal election.⁷⁾

In 1910, Wood was transferred to Regina to the position of second in command of the Canadian RNWMP. He suffered from ill health including very bad rheumatism. He was awarded the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, a British order of chivalry, in 1913. Wood died two years later while on sick leave in North Carolina.⁸⁾