List of U. S. Navy Medical Officer
Exam Applicants 1863
PART ONE
As you progress through the various Union Navy
Medical Department exams below, note how much the educational background varied
between applicants. Their education
levels and immaturity are reflected in the thoroughness and content of the answers.
Remember, all of these applicants were born before 1850, were not
necessarily well-off financially, and were very young by today's
standards for graduate medical professionals.
Many of these young
men graduated into the medical profession while still in their
early twenties with only two years of formal medical education and
basically no surgical experience. Unlike the medical world in
which we live, these individuals were only capable of the most basic
medical procedures when entering the Navy or taking this exam. The answers by the
seasoned Assistant Surgeon applicants in the group, show how a few years
in the real medical world can enhance the level of practical medical
knowledge, not to mention the ability to bone-up on subjects that would
be on the next exam. There are applicants who are fresh out of
medical school, some with a few years experience, more than a few with
service time in the Navy or Army, and some without a clue. It's a
window into the education and experience of a physician/surgeon who was
fresh out of medical school and volunteering to go to war for his
country.
A word about a bias
factor for this group of 93 candidates below. As you will
notice, most of the applicants in this 1863 group were tested at the
Charlestown Naval Yard and were from Boston, Massachusetts and
surrounding New England states. This would account for the
heavy presence of Harvard trained applicants. The same
bias prevailed in earlier years (1861) when most testing took
place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and many applicants attended New
York City medical schools, such as Physicians and
Surgeons, University of New York Medical Department and Bellevue
Hospital Medical School. And, for the Philadelphia Navy Asylum
(1861 - 1862), significant numbers were from Philadelphia or the
surrounding areas and were graduates of schools such as University
of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson Medical College.
tRegarding
our sample size compared to that of the Officers of the Continental
and US Navy during the Civil War... there were about 650 Navy
medical officers (AAS, AS, PAS, Surg, Medical Inspectors and Medical
Directors. This project and study is in possession of 121 Navy
surgeons exams. Based on the data so far, we would tend to
hypothesize that the candidates in 1864 & 65 were much the same
caliber as the 1863 group (young, green and wet behind the ears).
If you have additional information or images for any of these
doctors, please
contact us.
Click on the last names to go to the doctor's
full application transcript
Additional information on each doctor in
lower columns
PART ONE
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