Fernando Wood (14 June 1812-14 February 1881) was Mayor of New York City (D) from 1 January 1855 to 31 December 1858 (succeeding Jacob Aaron Westervelt and preceding Daniel F. Tiemann) and from 1 January 1860 to 31 December 1862 (succeeding Tiemann and preceding George Opdyke). He was also a member of the US House of Representatives (D-NY 3) from 4 March 1841 to 3 March 1843 (preceding Jonas P. Phoenix), from NY 5 from 4 March 1863 to 3 March 1865 (succeeding William Wall and preceding Nelson Taylor), from NY 9 from 4 March 1867 to 3 March 1873 (succeeding William A. Darling and preceding David B. Mellish), from NY 10 from 4 March 1873 to 3 March 1875 (succeeding Clarkson Nott Potter and preceding Abram Hewitt), and from NY 9 from 4 March 1875 to 14 February 1881 (succeeding Richard Schell and preceding John Hardy.
Biography[]
Fernando Wood was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1812, the brother of Benjamin Wood, and he was named after a character in the gothic novel The Three Spaniards. He became a successful shipping merchant in New York City and became a member of the Tammany Hall machine, which facilitated his election to the US House of Representatives in 1841. In 1854, he was elected Mayor of New York City, and he sought to fight the massive corruption of the police force. Even though the Dead Rabbits gang combed the city's cemeteries for names to add to the voter rolls, Wood lost re-election in 1858 by a slim margin of 3,000 votes. He received a second mayoral term from 1860 to 1862, and he was affiliated with the Democratic Copperheads during the American Civil War, expressing Confederate sympathies. He opposed the "black Republicans" who supported the abolitionist cause, and, in January 1861, he suggested to the city council that New York secede and declare itself a free city to continue its profitable cotton trade with the American South. He also helped to provoke the July 1863 New York draft riots by claiming that the Union was implementing the draft to "kill off" Democratic voters and enfranchise African-Americans. While serving in the House again, he opposed the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, blocking the measure in the House when it first came up for a vote in June 1864. He served in the House until his death in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1881.