This work combines a biography of John Taylor Wood and three of his memoirs published in Century magazine between 1885 and 1898. The biography gives special attention to Wood's youth, such as his harrowing experiences in Florida during the Seminole Wars, his service in the U.S. Navy during and after the Mexican War, his experiences in California during the Gold Rush, and his leading role among the members of the little-known postwar Confederate naval colony in Halifax, Nova Scotia, organized to fight the Fenian forces for the British in 1866. His writings about the war and other literary activities, and his friendship with William Hall, the first African American to win the Victoria Cross, are covered as are his service on the CSS Virginia, the cruise of the CSS Tallahassee (of which he was the commander), and his gutsy escape from the South as the Confederacy collapsed.