Kevin Loughlin
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

As the American Revolution began in 1775, the practice of medicine in the colonies was still in its nascent stages. There were only two medical schools in North America: the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1765 by John Morgan and William Shippen, Jr., and Columbia, founded in 1767 by Samuel Bard, a graduate of King’s College.

Most American physicians of that era received their training by apprenticeship with practicing physicians in the colonies or in Europe, most often at the University of Edinburgh or in Paris. Of the 1,400 medical practitioners who served in the Continental Army, only about ten percent had formal medical degrees.¹ Much of the practice of military medicine was still grounded in the work of Sir John Pringle, who had transformed medical care in the British army a generation earlier by emphasizing order, cleanliness, and ventilation in military hospitals.¹

There was no knowledge of germ theory at the time. It would be almost another century, in the 1860s, until French chemist Louis Pasteur and British surgeon Joseph Lister would promulgate the foundations of germ theory and promote the use of carbolic acid to decrease surgical wound infections.^2,3

The prevailing understanding of disease was still grounded in the imbalance of the four humors in the body: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. The most common method to rebalance these humors was through bleeding and purging through various teas and medicines.⁴ In fact, George Washington was essentially bled to death by having thirty-two ounces of blood removed over two days because of a sore throat.⁵ No less an observer than Thomas Jefferson commented that “while surgery is sealed in the temple of the exact sciences, medicine has scarcely entered its threshold.”⁴

Physician Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Of the fifty-six Signers of the Declaration of Independence, twenty-four were lawyers, eleven were merchants, nine were farmers, and five were physicians. The personal risk that each Signer assumed by publicly committing to the independence of the colonies cannot be overstated. They were, by and large, well-known and prominent members of their communities.

Of the Signers, five were imprisoned by the British, twelve had their homes ransacked and burned, two of their sons were killed in combat, and two others had sons who were captured. Nine fought in the war and died of their wounds.⁶

Four of the Signers were practicing physicians: Benjamin Rush, Josiah Bartlett, Matthew Thornton, and Lyman Hall. A fifth, Oliver Wolcott, had completed an apprenticeship with his physician brother, but never practiced medicine.

Of the five, Rush was, by far, the most prominent. Arguably, his reach was unequaled by any but a very few of the Founders. Besides being a Signer of the Declaration, he was a confidant and adviser to Thomas Paine, a provocateur of the Boston Tea Party, an early abolitionist and women’s rights advocate, a father of American psychiatry, and a friend of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.⁷ It was Rush who read a draft of a polemic written by Thomas Paine, which was originally titled Plain Truth. Rush liked the work, but suggested changing the title to Common Sense and helped Paine find a publisher.⁷ In fact, on the occasion of Rush’s death, Adams in a letter to Jefferson wrote, “No man would apologize for me if I should say that in the estimation of unprejudiced philosophy, he has done more good in the world than Franklin or Washington.”⁸

Josiah Bartlett was one of ten children and was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in 1729. After a five-year medical apprenticeship, he moved to Kingston, New Hampshire at the age of twenty-one and began his own practice. He was one of the first physicians to use quinine to treat diphtheria. As his medical practice grew, so did his neighbors’ respect and his involvement in local politics. He was held in such high regard that he was known as “the man who treated the patients instead of the disease.”⁹ He became a member of the New Hampshire colony’s Provincial Assembly and in 1775 was elected to the Continental Congress. He was the second person to sign the Declaration of Independence after John Hancock, who was the President of the Continental Congress.⁹ Bartlett would later serve as Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and was later the first governor of the state.

Lyman Hall was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1724, the fourth of eight children. He graduated from Yale College in 1747 and initially was a member of the clergy. However, by 1753, he had abandoned the ministry for medicine. He moved to South Carolina in 1757 and to Georgia in 1760.¹⁰ He was an early leader in the Revolutionary movement and was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775. He signed the Declaration in 1776 and after the war, resumed his medical practice. In 1783, he was elected governor and had an important role is establishing the University of Georgia in 1785. Hall County is named after him.

Matthew Thornton was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland in 1714. When he was three years old, his family emigrated to America, settling in what would become the state of Maine.¹¹ After his childhood home was burned by native tribes, the family moved to Worcester, Massachusetts. Thornton completed his medical studies in Leicester and established a medical practice in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

Thornton served as a surgeon for the New Hampshire militia and contributed to the writing of the first state constitution. He was elected to represent the state at the Continental Congress and although he did not arrive in Philadelphia until November 1776, he was granted permission to sign the Declaration of Independence four months after the formal signing in July.¹¹ Thornton was one of only eight Signers who had not been born in the colonies.¹² He later served in the New Hampshire legislature.

Oliver Wolcott was born in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1726 as the youngest of ten children. He graduated from Yale College in 1747 and soon after studied medicine as an apprentice to his brother, Alexander. However, he never practiced medicine and became a merchant. He was chosen as a Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress and served as a brigadier general and later as a major general in the Connecticut militia. After the Revolutionary War, he continued to be active in state politics and became the Connecticut governor in 1796.¹³

Samuel Prescott, the third horseman

Paul Revere’s ride to Lexington and Concord has been immortalized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.¹⁴ However, what many Americans do not realize is that Revere never reached Concord, as he was captured by the British before completing his ride.

Joseph Warren had dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawes to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were staying there, that the British were on their way to arrest them. The plan was for them to continue on to Concord, as the British intended to destroy the armaments that had been collected there by the militia.

Revere and Dawes left Boston by separate routes but met in Lexington around midnight on April 18, 1775. They warned Adams and Hancock of the British plans and then continued on to Concord to complete their mission.

Samuel Prescott, a physician who lived in Concord, was returning home when he encountered Revere and Dawes on horseback at around 1 AM on April 19. Prescott joined Revere and Dawes and warned the residents of the adjoining town of Lincoln of the impending arrival of the British. However, as they neared Concord, they were intercepted by a British patrol who captured Revere, but both Prescott and Dawes were able to escape. Dawes was thrown from his horse and never reached Concord, but Prescott did. Prescott alerted the sentry of the Concord First Parish Church, and the residents of the town were warned of the approaching British troops. It was Doctor Prescott alone who completed the charge of Joseph Warren.¹⁵ He alerted the minutemen and militia companies of Concord and word spread to several nearby towns. The collected militia joined together and marched to Concord in time to engage the British troops at the Old North Bridge and other locations along the road to Boston. It was Samuel Prescott, and he alone, who delivered the warning to the colonists gathered at Concord. One can only speculate what the outcome of that night would have been, and perhaps of the entire Revolutionary War, without the efforts of Prescott.¹⁵

Doctors Warren and Church: One hero, one scoundrel

Joseph Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1741. He was the son of a successful farmer and graduated from Harvard College in 1729. After graduation, he apprenticed with a leading British doctor, James Lloyd, and soon began building his own successful medical practice in Boston.¹⁶

Warren was apparently occupied by his medical practice and raising his family until the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 by Parliament. He was outraged by a tax of a legislative body that included no representation by the colonists. He commented in a letter to a friend that “the strange project of levying a Stamp Duty… has roused their jealousy and resentment.”¹⁷ In the years that followed, he became increasingly involved in the colonists’ resistance to British rule. This resistance, felt by many Bostonians, reached a climax on March 5, 1770, after British soldiers fired upon a group of colonists, killing five. Warren provided medical care to some of the wounded. Many historians argue that this event galvanized the colonists against the British occupation and was the real beginning of the American Revolution.

In order to commemorate the Boston Massacre, the colonists inaugurated an annual oration on its anniversary to be delivered by a prominent Boston resident. Evidence of the esteem in which Warren was held is demonstrated by the fact that he was selected to deliver the oration in both 1772 and 1775.¹⁸ Warren’s role as a patriot leader continued to grow. On the evening of December 16, 1773, several dozen Bostonians dressed as Mohawk warriors boarded British ships and dumped their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor. Although Warren was not one of them, he was intimately involved in the planning of the activity.^18,19

As previously mentioned, Warren initiated the ride of Revere and Dawes in April 1775. What has been overlooked by some, is that Warren also joined the fighting that day and a musket ball came so close to him that it took off a lock of his hair.¹⁸

However, Warren’s participation in the Revolution would culminate on June 17, 1775, at the Battle of Bunker/Breed’s Hill. On the night of June 16, one thousand men gathered in Cambridge in preparation for the inevitable confrontation with the British on the Charlestown Peninsula the following day. Warren had been appointed a major general by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress three days earlier and confided to a friend, Elbridge Gerry, that he planned to go into battle himself. Gerry tried to persuade him against participating because of the danger involved.^18,20 Warren responded with a quote from the Roman poet Horace: “Dulce et decorum pro patria mori,” or “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.”²¹

As the fighting commenced, Warren crossed the narrow neck of land leading from Charlestown to Bunker Hill. He met General Putnam, who offered Warren command of the battle. He refused and just asked where he could be of the most use. As the fighting intensified, Warren continued to advance and late in the afternoon, was shot through the head. It was several days before his actual fate was confirmed, when the British found, identified, and defiled his body. The impact of Warren’s death on the Revolution cannot be overestimated. He is the only person known to have had a role in the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the ride of Paul Revere, and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Given Warren’s youth, education, bravery, and passion, it is tempting to speculate on what might have been. Peter Oliver, former Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, provides the possibility that if Warren had lived, “Washington would have remained in obscurity.”²²

Benjamin Church was born in Boston in 1734 and attended Boston Latin School and Harvard College. He went to England to study medicine and married an English woman there.²³ He returned to the colonies and began practicing medicine in Boston.

Like Warren, Church became involved in the patriot cause and soon became one of its leaders. Church met with Paul Revere, John Hancock, and John Adams regularly. He was so well respected that, like Warren, he was given the honor of delivering one of the Boston Massacre Orations. In fact, on the night of the Boston Massacre, Church was the first physician on the scene.²³

In retrospect, it would appear that since at least 1772, Church had been in contact with the British governor, Thomas Gage. This motivation may have been due to his British wife and to contribute to the costs of keeping a mistress in Boston.

There were events that began to raise suspicions regarding Church’s loyalty to the colonial cause. At times, he was observed to have received income that could not be explained through his medical practice. Once, Paul Revere had been informed that Church had been seen leaving Thomas Gage’s house, unimpeded. Although Revere became increasingly suspicious of Church, other colonial leaders, like Warren, did not.

However, Church was ultimately caught. Coded letters from him to the British officials were found and deciphered. Church’s mistress identified him as the person who had asked her to be the courier.²³

Church was arrested, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He became ill while imprisoned and was then released, put on a boat, and exiled to the West Indies.²⁴ However, the ship, the crew, and Church were never heard from again. His family was rumored to have received a pension from the British government.

The impact of the physicians of the Revolution

The impact of the physicians of the Revolution extended well beyond the practice of medicine. Five were Signers of the of the Declaration of Independence, three became state governors, one completed the ride of Paul Revere, and one died in battle. Unfortunately, there is evidence that one was a traitor.

One can argue persuasively that without these physicians, the history of the Revolutionary period would have been markedly changed and, in fact, independence from the British might not have been achieved.

References

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