Sterling Alexander Martin Wood

Birth Date

1823-03-17

Death Date

1891-07-26

Gender

Race Description

White

Entity Type

Person

Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama, lawyer, politician, and soldier. Florence, Alabama native. Married to Lelia E. Leftwich Wood on April 10, 1849. Father of William J. Wood, Rosa E. Wood, Lilla E. Wood, Beulah H. Wood, Lelia E. Wood, and Sam Wood. Graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Bardstown, Kentucky in 1841. Lawyer in Florence, Alabama in 1850. Lawyer in Florence, Alabama in 1860. Owned ten enslaved persons in Florence, Alabama in 1860. Served as attorney of Alabama’s fourth judicial circuit from 1851 to 1857. Served in the Alabama state legislature from 1857 to 1860. Editor of the Florence Gazette newspaper in Lauderdale County in 1860. Served in the 7th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment (C.S.A.) as captain and colonel from April 3, 1861 to January 1862. Served as brigadier general in the Confederate Army from January 7, 1862 to October 17. 1863.

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Florence, p. 290A. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Population Schedules, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Florence, p. 33. Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Alabama, Lauderdale County, Florence, p. 13. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama, NARA RG 109, Microfilm Series M319, Roll 170. Dodd, Jordan R., comp., Early American Marriages: Alabama, 1800 to 1920, p. 349. Find A Grave, "Sterling Alexander Martin “S. A. M.” Wood (1823-1891)," Memorial #11114, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11114# (accessed December 20, 2018). Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959), 344-345.

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