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Fernando Wood 1812–81, American politician, b. Philadelphia. He became a successful shipping merchant in New York City and a leader of Tammany Hall. Wood was elected mayor in 1854 and was reelected in 1856, but he displeased the other Tammany leaders in dispensing patronage and was ousted in 1857. He formed Mozart Hall, a rival organization, and won reelection in 1859. Pro-South, Wood suggested in Jan., 1861, that New York establish itself as an independent city. He was defeated for reelection in that year. During the Civil War he was a leading Peace Democrat. As a Congressman (1841–43, 1863–65, 1867–81) he reflected the views of the city's moneyed interests.
See biography by S. A. Pleasants (1948).
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