Transylvania Medical Alumni Served Both Sides During the Civil War Charles T

Home , Transylvania University

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications Genetics

Spring 2011 Transylvania Medical Alumni Served Both Sides during the Civil War Charles T. Ambrose University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits oy u.

Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub Part of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, and the Medical Humanities Commons

Repository Citation Ambrose, Charles T., "Transylvania Medical Alumni Served Both Sides during the Civil War" (2011). Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications. 57. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub/57

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Transylvania Medical Alumni Served Both Sides during the Civil War

Notes/Citation Information Published in Transylvania Treasures, v. 4, no. 1, p. 8-11.

The opc yright holder has granted the permission for posting the article here.

This article is available at UKnowledge: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub/57 :

By Charles T. Ambrose ~~~~~~·ch~ ~ 27 If!.·;~~ n the several decades before the J Civil War, most of the doctors 1 practicing in the South and the 1 far West had trained at Transylvania 1 University's medical school. Through 1857 this school had enrolled 6,456 students and granted 1,881 medical degrees.1 Founded in 1799, it was the fifth medical school in the U.S., follow ing that of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (1765), King's College in New York City (now Columbia, 1767), Harvard (1783), and Dartmouth (1797). repeated largely verbatim in the second graduates returned to their home states For a decade or so during the 1820s-30s year), write a short thesis (medical to practice medicine, some went west. Transylvania's Medical Department dissertation), and pass two oral exams. 2 rivaled Philadelphia's -then the largest everal factors led to the demise of in the country and judged its best. Alumni ofTransylvania's Medical the Medical Department, which Transylvania's prominence was due to Department were represented by three closed after its 1858-59 term. By its richly endowed medical library and groups: graduates whose theses are the late 1830s rival medical schools had its respected medical faculty. extant, graduates for whom no theses been established in Louisville and are available today, and those who took Cincinnati. The advent of steamboat Initially, Transylvania medical students courses for only one or more sessions traffic on the Ohio River in the 1820s were taught by preceptorship, or one-on without graduating but later worked as accounted for the gradual economic one instruction. In 1817 scheduled successful physicians.3 Transylvania's eclipse of Lexington by these two classes began with the reorganization Special Collections library preserves growing cities. Louisville had the Marine of the faculty to include five medical theses of about 1,770 graduates. These Hospital, where medical students could professors, each of whom gave three lec documents are a rich source of informa obtain clinical training, while Lexington tures a week per term. A term lasted four tion about what early nineteenth-century students had no comparable hospital. months, beginning on the first Monday physicians in the Ohio River Valley in November and ending the frrst Up through the nineteenth century, thought and taught concerning the Saturday in March. To earn a degree, stu anatomical studies filled a greater part of \' diseases and medical conditions dents were required to take two the medical curriculum than today. In they encountered. years of courses (first-year lectures were 1834 the Kentucky legislature rejected a The Medical Department attracted 37 bill that would have allowed the bodies pupils during its 1819-20 term. The of executed criminals to be delivered to number rose to 281 in 1825-26 and chartered colleges for dissection and remained at this level for a decade experiment? Medical students were thus or so.5 Medical students from obliged to procure their own anatomical 11 Southern states numbered subjects by robbing fresh graves or 262 of the 282 matriculat buying bodies from "resurrectionists." ing in 1828-29 and 200 of Cadavers for anatomical study likely the 203 enrolled in 1820- were more readily obtained from the 30.6 While most latter sources in the river towns.

The insignia 011 tbe jro11t rif tbis U11ion An11y cap illdi cates that it belo11ged to a member rif tbe Medical Service. TRANSYLVANIA TREASURES

Left: The city ofLe xington claimed Right: This traveling apothecary the Medical Hall after the belonged to Benjamin Dudley, pro Transylvania M edical Department fessor of anatomy and surgery in the closed in 1859. City authorities gave Transylvania M edical Department professor Robert Peter permission to from 1817-SO.A w idely recognized use itfor a "course of Experimental surgeon, D udley helped bring the Lectures to the Young Ladies of the college to nationalprominenc e and Female schools" before the Union trained mmzy of the physicians w bo command took it over as a hospital served in tbe Civil War. in1862. When the building burned in1863, all the sick and wounded photo by Mollie Eblen were evacuated safely.

Menzies, Samuel Garber; Ky.; 1828/30; dysentery MEDICINE DuRING TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY Miller, Samuel F.; Ky.; 1835/37; cholera MEDICAL GRADUATES WHo THE CIVIL WAR Mills,John; Ky.; 1848; none SERVED IN THE UNION ARMY Mills, John A.; Ky.; 1849; iretis, ophthalmology \ In 1859, fights erupted in Listed by name, bome state, begimzing yearIs at Montmollion,James; Ky.; 1858-59; none Philadelphia between Northern Tramylva11ia, a11d thesis subjectls: Moore, James; Ala., 1829/32; emmenagogues abolitionists and Southerner Murphy, Alexander M.; Ind.; 1843; congestive fever Adam, Samuel L.; Ky.; 1855/57; cholera Neil, Alexander; S.C.; 1825; none sympathizers. Among the latter Anderson, William; Ky.; 1834/ 44; leukorrhea, Parker, John T.; Ky.; 1819-20; none were many students who rebelled gynecology Pearson, Charles D.; Ky.; 1840; none at the idea of being taught by Armstrong,}. A.; Ky.; 1843-44; E. perfoliatum Phillips, William H .; Va., 1848; tuberculosis Bailey, Jonathan R.; Ky.; 1835-36; lobelia, botany Pinkerton, L. L.; Ky.; 1841; medicine's progress abolitionist-minded professors. (Baldwin, William Owens, a Columbia University Richardson, Edward; Ky.; 1848-49; tuberculosis On Dec. 22 a trainload of 244 medical graduate) Rogers, Ed,vin; Tenn.; 1828; none angry medical students left the Black, James R.; Ky.; 1820/23; conception, obstetrics Sanders, Thomas; Va.; 1822-23; cholera Blackburn, Luke P .; Ky.; 1833-34; burns, surgery Scott, John H.; Tenn.; 1835; none city to complete their education Brown, John R.; Ky.; 1834-35; none Scott,John W.; Ky.; 1839-41; local injuries at the Medical College of C ampbell,} ames M.; Tenn.; 1837; none Scott, Wm. F.; Ky.; 1848-49; tuberculosis Virginia in Richmond, which (?)Campbell, Wm.; Ky.; 1824; none Sharp, William S.; Ky.; 1842-43; phrenitis infantilis (?)Campbell, Wm.; Tenn.; 1837-38; none Smith, C. C.; Ky.; 1844; none welcomed them with free tuition. Cartmell, Simon M .; Ky.; 1837; none Smid1, C harles James; Va.; 1823; none Had Transylvania's Medical Casde,A. B.; Ohio; 1843/47; none Smith, John R.; Ky.; 1832; none Department still been in opera Casdeman, Alfred Lewis; Iowa; 1843; none Smith, Lionel].; N.Y.; 1843; none Cloak, Burkitt; Ky.; 1838/49; dysentery Smith, Robert K.; N.C.; 1825; none tion, some of these students Cooper, S.; S.C.; 1842; none Smith, Thomas C.; Ky.; 1854; lobar pneumonia might have enrolled and perhaps Davis, B. F.; S.C.; 1846; tuberculosis Smith, William A.; Ky.; 1834/57; none helped in its survival. This dra Davis,Jo seph W.; Ky.; 1833/37; tuberculosis Smith, William F.; Ga.; 1855; typhoid fever Duncan, James R.; Ky.; 1849; typhoid fever Smith, William H.; Ky.; 1827-28; none matic migration of medical (Dunlap, Albert; a University of Maryland Smydth, W.C.; Ind.; 1839; none students has been viewed by medical graduate) Sparks, James B.; Ky.; 1855/57; obstetrics Dunn, Williamson D.; Ind.; 1841; fever some historians as the beginning Spilman, ChariesT.; Ky.; 1842-43; cinchona, malaria Field, Nathaniel; Ind.; 1847; dyspepsia Stevenson, Benjanlin F.; Ky.; 1839-40; skin. of the story of Civil War Fishe.r, Elias; Ky.; 1829/31; smallpox Stewart, William}.; Ky.; 1856/58; pneumonia medicine.8 Gray,}. M.; Ala.; 1841; opium Stone, William D.; Tenn.; 1835; none Hensley,James W.; Ky.; 1841-44; tuberculosis Sullivan,John; Ky.; 1841-42; none hen the War Between Houston, William M.; N.C.; 1833; none Sweeney, John; Ky.; 1834/36; purgatives Hunt, William; Tenn.; 1837-38; heat on body Taylor, Augustus B.; La.; 1.842-43; none the States erupted in Jaquess, Geo. D.; Ind.; 1847; remittent fever Taylor, John L.; N.C.; 1832-33; intermittent fever the spring of 1861, Johnson, Thomas}.; Ky.; 1821; none Taylor, Samuel W.; Ky.; 1850; obstetrics the U.S. Army included 131 Jones, James H . T.; Ala., 1832; none Taylor, William; Ga., 1839; none Jones, John H . W.; Ala., 1848; typhoid fever Thompson, James H .; Tenn.; 1835; none physicians, who were termed " Jones, Lewis}.; Ky.; 1855; none Walker, William H.; Ky.; 1833; none either surgeons or assistant sur Jones, William Henry; Ky.; 1855; none Welch,John C.; Ky.; 1845; menstruation geons. Twenty-four resigned to Knight, William; Ky.; 1819; none Wilcox, Thomas E.; Ky.; 1834-35; none Lawrence,JasperW.; Ga.; 1833-35; leukorrhea, William,JA.; Ga; 1843; none join the Confederate gynecology (?)William, John H.; Tenn.; 1838; none States of America. Lewis, John M.; Ky.; 1844; none (?)William, John H.; Ky.; 1840; none Lloyd, Frederick; Ky.; 1846; intermittent fever Williams, Thomas; S.C.; 1830-31; intermittent fever Lyde, Francis; Tenn., 1839; none Wilson, James; Ky.; 1828-29; prolepsis uteri Maguire, Samuel; Ky.; 1839; none Wilson, John C.; Ky.; 1832; none continued 011 page 10 McCann, James; Ky.; 1850-51; pleuritis Wilson, John P.; Ky.; 1826; none McPheeters,Joseph G.; Ky.; 1837/39; bandages Young, John; S.C.; 1828; none

VoL. IV, N o . 1, SPRING 2011 M ost of tbe tbeses tbat mrvivefr om Tramylvania's M edical D epartment just bef ore tbe Civ il War f om s on infectious diseases, including this 1853 dissertation on yellowfeve r by j ohn W Caldwell and an 1833 paper by james Andrews on malaria.

Together, the two armies suffered 618,000 fatalities, two of their theses, which Confederate States of America as sur thirds of them preceded the Civil geons, assistant surgeons, and acting from infectious War. Because no theses are listed assistant surgeons (contract civilian diseases such for two pairs of like-named students, it is physicians). The largest group came from as typhoid, uncertain which of the following served: Virginia, and the number from Kentucky dysentery, typhus, and malaria. Wm. Campbell of Kentucky, 1824, or of is not accurately known. Transylvania medical graduates' Tennessee, 1837; and John H. William of familiarity with these diseases can be ambrecht identified 62 Tennessee, 1838, or of Kentucky, 1840. In gleaned from their medical dissertations. Transylvania medical alumni the table on Page 9, both pairs of these I[ who served the Southern forces THE NoRTHERN ARMY names are listed but indented together. as physicians. Comparing this list with a MEDICAL CoRPS The largest number ofTransylvania med master list of medical students at Various accounts give estimates of ical alumni in the Union Army were from Transylvania, I found that the largest 11,000-13,000 doctors having served in Kentucky and Tennessee. Seven were number serving in the Southern army the Union Army, but a roster compiled by from Northern states (Indiana, Ohio, and were from Kentucky (20), followed by N. A. Strait and published in 1882 listed New York.), but, surprisingly, 21 were Tennessee (11), and other southern states 7,106 entries. Because many worked in from slave states, including five from (27), but also two Northern states (New successive regiments, the total number of Alabama and six from South Carolina. York and Delaware). All 62 names are surgeons and assistant surgeons was only Of these 89 Transylvania surgeons, 44 are represented by medical dissertations in around 6,280. 9 Strait's roster listed the immortalized in the Special Collections the Transylvania Special Collections. names by regiment. New York provided by their student medical dissertations. Their subjects involve various areas of the largest contingent of surgeons T he theses reviewed various medical medicine, but again most notably infec (around 900), while about 260 served the topics, of which half concerned infectious tious diseases: typhoid (1 ), dysentery (3), 72 Kentucky regiments. diseases: typhoid (3), dysentery (2), malaria (1), and various other fevers (20). \ cholera (3), tuberculosis (6), and other To identify Transylvania alumni who CAVEAT fevers (10). Four discussed botanical A served in the Union Army, I compared medicines or other remedies. It is unlikely that either of the lists of Strait's roster of the Union regimental Transylvania alumni serving as army surgeons and assistant surgeons with a THE SouTHERN ARMY doctors is complete. According to list compiled by Transylvania Special MEDICAL CoRPS Hambrecht, Strait's roster of Union Collections Librarian B.]. Gooch of Many of the records concerning Army physicians contains very few acting those having attended the Transylvania Confederate medical personnel were assistant surgeons (contracted civilian Medical Department and found 89 destroyed near the end of the war to keep physicians, some of whom might have names common to both. Among them, them from falling into enemy hands, and trained in Lexington). five names corresponded to five pairs of countless government records were lost in identically named Transylvania students. dditionally, among the Union the fires that swept over Richmond, the The correct member of three such pairs Army surgeons, 44 of the 89 Confederate capital, in April1865. could be distinguished based on the dates ! Transylvania alumni are repre-

PAGE TEN TRANSYLVANIA TREASURES

sented by a thesis in the Special and Molecular Genetics at the University of 8.J. M. Schmidt and G.R. Hasegawa (editors). Yrars of Chnngf nnd Suffering: Modfrn Pmputivts on Civil Wnr Collections and 45 have no extant thesis. Kentucky College ofM edicine. In recent years, Mdicine. Roseville, Minn.: Ed inburgh Press, 2009, p. 3. he has published widely on medical history. A comparable ratio would be expected 9. Rost

Gaith er, William N.; Ky.; 1839/42; hydrocele TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL GRADUATES Garner, Henry C.; Ky.; 1848-49; medical profession, 1850 WHo SERVED IN THE CoNFEDERATE ARMY Gillespie, Benjamin S.; Ky.; 1856-57; inflammation Listed by name, home state, beginning year/sat Tra11sylvania, Gorham, Boswell T. P.; Ky.; 1856-57; pneumonia and thesis subject/s: Hall, Allen M.; Tenn.; 1845-47; stricture of uretlua Harrison, Gabriel; Ga.; 1835-36; syphilis Akin, Joseph William; Ky.; 1834/50-51; effect of the mind on disease Head, James Marshall; Tenn.; 1838/40; fever Avent, Benjamin Ward; Tenn.; 1832-33; scarlatina Howze, Horace Lafayette; Miss.; 1846-47; causae morbi (causes of illness) Baldwin, William 0.; Ala.; 1835-36; puerperal fever (see Union roster) Hughes, James Neville; Ky.; 1826/31; puerperal fever Barton, Welborn!Wilbern; S.C.; 1844-45/48; syphilis Hugh es, William; Ky.; 1851/53/56; obstructive labor, 1856 Beale, AndrewJackson ; Ky.; 1854; dysentery Humphreys, W illiam F.; Tenn.; 1853; hypertrophy of the heart Benton, Charles H .; Ky.; 1858-59; inflammation Jameson, T homas Y. T.; Tenn.; 1853; dysentery Johnson, Leander B.; N.C.; 1850; fever Jones, W illiam E.; M ich.; 1840-41; mania Blackburn, Luke Pryor; Ky.; 1833-34; cholera King, John William; Ala.; 1840; typhoid fever Latham, Edward; La.; 1850; rubeola (measles) Luke Pryor Blackhum (1816-87} rendered aid in many Lewis, Richmond Addison; Ky.; 1845-46; chiasma nervorum opticorum yellow fever outbreaks after the war. H e served as gover Long, John; S.C.; 1838-39; phlebotomy (bleeding) nor ofK enhukyfrom 1879-83. H is signature McDowell, Joseph Nash; Ky.; 1825-26; dependence of function accomplishments were in the area ofpenal reform, and Moore, George H.; Ala.; 1843; water as a remedy the Blackbum Correctional Complex, a mi11imum-secu Owen, Joseph Richardson Nimmo; Ala.; 1836-37; procidmtia uuri rity penalfacility near L exington, is named in his honor. Rice, Cornelius Attwood; Miss.; 1855; pneumonia Scott, James T.; Ky.; 1838/40/ 43; gastritis Sheppard, David; S.C.; 1844-45; intermittent fever Blair, James M.; Tenn.; 1846-47; tuberculosis Shomo, Joseph Weatherford; Ark.; 1855; pneumonia Bouchelle, Ezra F.; S.C.; 1836; puerperal fever Smith, George N.; Miss.; 1840; fever in Mississippi Boyd, Montgomery W.; (?); 1843; climate Swanson, Edward; Ark.; 1825; yellow fever Boykin,James Owen; Ga.; 1840-42; intermittent fever Taliaferro, Edward/Edwin T.; Tenn.; 1842-43; gastritis Bronaugh, George W.; Ky.; 1841-42; endermic medication Taylor, Charles M.; Ky.; 1854-55; abortion .. Brown, Bedford Jr.; Mo.; 1846-47; local disease Cabaniss, Alfred B.; Ala.; 1831-32; cutaneous diseases Todd, George Roge.rs Clark; Ky.; 1845-47; Cochran John Lynch; Miss.; 1844-45; proof of pregnancy young physic Coffey, Ephraim McDowell; Ky.; 1851; congestive fever Coombs, Samuel William; Ky.; 1823-24; power of passions on disease George R ogers Clark Todd (1825-1902} was the Cooper, William H.; Mo.; 1844-45; genital organs brother of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Core,Jesse G .; Tenn.; 1840-41; variola Abraham Lituoln. This is the only known photograph Crockett, Greenbury F. H.; Del.; 1820-21; asthma ofhim . Dabbs, Christopher Hunt; Ala.; 1827/29; sedatives Dulaney, Joseph D .; Tenn.; 1854; dysentery Dunlap, Albert; Ark.; 1850; malaria (see Union roster) Duvall, Benjamin F.; Ky.; 1855-56; blood letting, phlebotomy Tompkins, Frank/Franklin A.; S.C.; 1851; intermittent fever Fox, Henry T homas; Calif.; 1855-56; bandages Tracy, James Wright; N.C.; 1849; bilious remittent fever Frierson,James White Stevenson; Tenn.; 1821-23; Willingham, Benjamin Vaughan; Ga.; 1836/44; inflammation fashions in female health Winston, John Dudley; Ky.; 1825-26; injuries to integument of the head

VoL. IV, No. l , S PRING 201 1