Wool, John Ellis (1784–1869)

US soldier. Born in Newburgh, New York, he raised a company of volunteers in Troy, New York, in the War of 1812 and fought so well that he was commissioned a colonel in the regular army in 1816 and made inspector general. When the war with Mexico began in 1846, he organized another large group of volunteers in Ohio. He then led an epic 900-mile march of 1,400 troops from San Antonio, Texas, and effectively ensured the US victory at Buena Vista. He continued to hold important commands in the peacetime army, and after the American Civil War broke out, he kept Fort Monroe from falling to the Confederates in August 1861 (at the age of 77). In 1862 he occupied Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, when the Confederates evacuated them. He held other major staff commands until retiring in July 1863.