Wood was paid £100 for a series of London newspaper articles, his first published work. He was disappointed not to be made a major-general, despite lobbying by the Queen and Wolseley. This may well have been deliberate blocking of Wolseley's proteges from promotion by the Duke of Cambridge. Wood recommended Redvers Buller for his VC after the Zulu War. On 15 December 1879 Wood took up a brigade command at Belfast, and in that role was again given the local rank of brigadier-general, this time on the staff in Ireland in December 1879.