John Taylor Wood : Sea Ghost of the Confederacy

The scion of America’s military and political leadership, John Taylor Wood was the grandson of Zachary Taylor and the nephew of Jefferson Davis. While his father and mother remained loyal to the Union, Wood himself resigned his commission at the U.S. Naval Academy and received a lieutenant’s commission in the Confederate navy. He was best known for his raids against enemy ships. In one three-week period, he captured over thirty Union merchant vessels off the north Atlantic coast. Between raids he served on President Davis’s staff, and was captured with Davis in May 1865. He escaped, made his way to Cuba and eventually settled in Nova Scotia.