Who is Captain Leonard Wood from The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and what is their importance?

Wood receives as appointment in Washington the same time that Roosevelt becomes assistant secretary of the navy. The two young men become close, with their shared philosophies of military strategy.

Wood and Roosevelt enlist in the same cavalry, later known as the rough riders. Superiors in the army offer the colonelship to Roosevelt. Seeing that time is of the essence, Roosevelt suggests Wood instead, serving as the other man's second. Due to Wood's illness in Cuba, however, Roosevelt gains the colonelship after only a few months.