William Alexander Hammond, M.D.
Born: August 28, 1828
Birthplace: Annapolis, Maryland
Father: Dr. John Wesley Hammond 1804 – 1879
Mother: Sarah Pinckney 1804 – 1850
1st Wife: Helen Nisbet 1830 – 1885
(Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York)
2nd Wife: Esther Dyer Chapin 1853 – 1925
(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)
Children:
Somerville Pinckney Hammond 1853 – 1874
(Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York)
Dr. Graeme Monroe Hammond 1858 – 1944
(Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York)
Clara Nisbet Hammond Lanza 1859 – 1939
(Buried: Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York)
Education:
1848: Received his Medical Degree from New York University Medical School at the Age of 20.
Occupation before War:
1849 – 1860: Assistant Surgeon in United States Army
Visited Military Hospitals in Europe
1857: Awarded Prize by American Medical Association
Collector of biological specimens at Fort Riley
1859: In his leisure time, he was known to collect snake venoms for toxicology with Dr. S. Weir Mitchell for a paper they co-wrote and had published
1860: On October 31, Resigned from the United States Army after 11 years of service
1860 – 1861: Chairman of Anatomy, University of Maryland Medical School
Civil War Career:
1861: On May 28, Hammond Re-Joined the United States Army, without credit for any of his previous service to the Army, he was entered at the bottom of the list of Assistant Surgeons.
1861: Helped design a new medical ambulance with Letterman
1862: Appointed Surgeon General of United States Army on April 25 by Abraham Lincoln, against the advice of Secretary of War Stanton. Also, Promoted to Brigadier General of United States Army at the same time
1862: Founded and helped build Satterlee General Hospital, the largest Union Army hospital during the American Civil War, located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1862: Hammond directed medical officers in the field to collect "specimens of morbid anatomy...together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed" and to forward them to a new Army Medical Museum of Hammond's founding, for study.
1863: Banned calomel from U.S. Army Medical Supplies, as he believed it to be neither safe nor effective to make debilitated patients vomit. This led to a "Calomel Rebellion" among Army Doctors, and gave Stanton the opportunity to remove him.
1863: He was ordered to go on Inspection tour of the South, effectively removing him from his post as Surgeon General
1864: Demanding to be reinstated as Surgeon General, or court martialed… Hammond was Court martialed, convicted of ungentlemanly conduct, and dismissed over irregularities in the purchase of medical furniture (Secretary of War Stanton "used false data" to get this judgement)
1864: Hammond was dismissed from the United States Army on August 18th
Occupation after War:
Professor of nervous and mental disorders at Bellevue Hospital
Co – Founder of Post Graduate Medical School of New York
1874: One of the founders of American Neurological Association
Gravestone of Surgeon General William A. Hammond
Author of many books on medical issues and practices
1878: Congress approves a bill authorizing restoration to service if justice is so indicated. Accordingly Hammond was restored and placed on the retired list with the grade of Brigadier General
Died: January 5, 1900
Place of Death: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Fatty degeneration of the heart and dilation of heart
Age at time of Death: 71 years old
Burial Place: Section 1, Grave 465, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
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