Charles Carroll Wood

Charles Carroll Wood (19 March 1876 - 11 November 1899) was a Canadian army officer, a lieutenant who was the first Canadian to die in the Second Boer War in South Africa. He is the namesake of Chaswood, Nova Scotia. Charles Carroll Wood was the youngest of eleven children of Captain John Taylor Wood and his wife. A former US Navy officer, John Wood had sympathized with his grandmother's southern family. After the American Civil War began, he resigned his commission and became a Captain in the Confederate States Navy. He was the great-grandson of Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (1849-1850).
Wood's family were based in Bedford, England for a number of years and Wood was educated at the Bedford Modern School in England (1886-89). He then enrolled at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.<ref name=roh/> His student number at RMC Kingston was 352 and he graduated in 1896.
Wood joined the army and served with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He died on 11 Nov 1899 of wounds suffered in action during the South Africa Anglo Boer War. He was the first Canadian Officer to fall in battle during the Boer War. He is commemorated on the RMC Memorial Arch.
His oldest brother, Zachary Taylor Wood CMG (1860-1915) was acting Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) and Commissioner of the Yukon Territory of Canada. His nephew Stuart Taylor Wood later served as Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

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