Wood helped build and maintained Fort Henry at the falls of the Appomattox in present-day Petersburg.
The fort also provided protection for the native Appomattoc tribe which had grain fields and fished in the Appomattox River near the falls, with whom Wood traded.
Colonel Wood of Virginia... from the years 1654 to 1664 discovered at several times several branches of the great rivers Ohio and Mesechaceba (unknown current name).
In 1673 Wood sent his friend James Needham and his indentured servant Gabriel Arthur on an expedition to find an outlet to the Pacific Ocean.
Shortly after their departure Needham and Arthur encountered a group of Tomahitan Native Americans, who offered to conduct the men to their town across the mountains.
While en route back to the Tomahitan town Needham was killed by a member of the trading party with whom he was traveling.
[18] Arthur lived with the Tomahitans for almost a year, accompanying them on war and trading expeditions as far south as Spanish Florida[19] and as far north as the Ohio River.
[1] Later, he was appointed major general but lost this position in 1676 after Bacon's Rebellion either because of infirmity or political differences with Governor William Berkeley.
[1] Bacon's rebel forces attacked the Appomattoc Indians on both sides of the river, killed many and dispersed the rest, after burning their town.
[22] Wood retired to patent more plantation land in 1680 west of the fort, in what had been Appomattoc territory, notwithstanding it being disallowed by the House of Burgesses.