William Alexander Hammond
Encyclopedia
William Alexander Hammond, M.D.
(August 28, 1828 – January 5, 1900) was an American
neurologist
and the 11th Surgeon General of the U.S. Army (1862–1864). In addition to his pioneering work in neurology and his military service, especially during the Civil War
, he founded the Army Medical Museum (now called the National Museum of Health and Medicine
), co-founded the American Neurological Association
, and gave his name to Hammond's disease, a type of athetosis
which he was the first to describe in 1871. He was also an amateur naturalist, and a species of spadefoot toad (Spea hammondii
) was named in his honor by Spencer Fullerton Baird
of the Smithsonian Institution
.
, Maryland
, but moved to Harrisburg
, Pennsylvania
at the age of five and spent the remainder of his childhood there. He received an M.D.
from the University of the City of New York
at the age of twenty, and after an internship
and a few months in a private practice, he became an Assistant Surgeon
in the U.S. Army in July 1849. His work in the army during his first stint (1849–1860) was primarily in the west
; here Hammond notably served as the medical director of Fort Riley
. In 1857, he won an American Medical Association
Prize for his essay Experimental Research Relative to the Nutritive Value and Physiological Effects of Albumen
Starch
and Gum
, when Singly and Exclusively Used as a Food, which Hammond had researched and compiled over the course of several years with the army.
On October 31, 1860, Hammond left the Army and accepted chairship of anatomy
and physiology
at the University of Maryland, Baltimore
medical school. Here he taught and worked until the beginning of the Civil War.
, who was then stationed in West Virginia. The Sanitary Commission
, which was dissatisfied with the current medical administration, as well as several other advocates including Major General George B. McClellan
, eventually successfully lobbied to have William Hammond appointed as Surgeon General. After the incumbent Clement Finley
was dismissed, President Abraham Lincoln
appointed Hammond as Surgeon General of the United States Army with the rank of Brigadier General
on April 25, 1862, less than one year after having rejoined the Army.
Hammond immediately began instigating reforms. For instance, entrance to the Medical Corps
was reorganized and expectations for new recruits were increased. He founded the National Museum of Health and Medicine
and Satterlee Hospital
in 1862, and suggested many increases of the presence of medicine in Washington, including the establishment of a permanent hospital corps, a permanent general hospital, and a medical laboratory for the military. These recommendations were all manifested eventually, but at the time many of them led to dissent within the Army medical community. In the late summer of 1863, Hammond was ordered to leave Washington and instead oversee operations in New Orleans
, Louisiana
, while Joseph K. Barnes assumed the position of Surgeon General in Hammond's place. Hammond demanded either to be reinstated in his office in place of Barnes, or to be sent to trial by court-martial
. The latter eventually took place, and in a questionable verdict, Hammond was found guilty of "irregularities" concerning the purchase of medical supplies and was relieved of duty on August 18, 1864.
, where he began to focus more on neurology
. He became professor of nervous and mental diseases at the Bellevue Medical College
in 1867, and took on a professorship on the same subjects at the University of the City of New York
in 1874, as well as occasionally teaching at the University of Vermont
and the Post Graduate Medical School of New York. In December 1874, Hammond founded the American Neurological Association (ANA) along with six others. Besides the ANA's journal Annals of Neurology, Hammond was also responsible for the creation or editorship of several other medical journals.
In 1878, Congress exonerated Hammond, and he was restored to the list of retired army personnel on August 27, 1879, though he remained without allowances or pay. In 1888, he moved back to Washington, D.C., where he founded a sanatorium
. He spent the remainder of his life there and died on January 5, 1900 at his home due to heart problems. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery
, where he lies in section 1, grave 465.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(August 28, 1828 – January 5, 1900) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
neurologist
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
and the 11th Surgeon General of the U.S. Army (1862–1864). In addition to his pioneering work in neurology and his military service, especially during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he founded the Army Medical Museum (now called the National Museum of Health and Medicine
National Museum of Health and Medicine
The National Museum of Health and Medicine is a museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., USA. An element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the NMHM is a member of the National Health Sciences Consortium....
), co-founded the American Neurological Association
American Neurological Association
The American Neurological Association, is a professional society with a mission of educating neurologists and physicians as well as increasing knowledge and enhancing treatment of diseases of the nervous system. It was founded in June 1875.-Officers:...
, and gave his name to Hammond's disease, a type of athetosis
Athetosis
Athetosis is a symptom characterized by involuntary convoluted, writhing movements of the fingers, arms, legs, and neck. Movements typical of athetosis are sometimes called athetoid movements. Lesions to the brain are most often the direct cause of the symptoms, particularly to thecorpus striatum...
which he was the first to describe in 1871. He was also an amateur naturalist, and a species of spadefoot toad (Spea hammondii
Spea hammondii
The Western Spadefoot Toad is a relatively smooth-skinned species of spadefoot toad. Its eyes are pale gold with vertical pupils. It has a green or grey dorsum often with skin tubercles tipped in orange, and it is a whitish color on the ventrum. It has a wedge-shaped black spade on each hind foot...
) was named in his honor by Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird
Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
.
Early life and career
William Hammond was born in AnnapolisAnnapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, but moved to Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
at the age of five and spent the remainder of his childhood there. He received an M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
from the University of the City of New York
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
at the age of twenty, and after an internship
Medical intern
A medical intern is a term used in the United States for a physician in training who has completed medical school. An intern has a medical degree, but does not have a full license to practice medicine unsupervised...
and a few months in a private practice, he became an Assistant Surgeon
Medical Corps (United States Army)
The Medical Corps of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an MD or a DO degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.The MC traces its earliest origins...
in the U.S. Army in July 1849. His work in the army during his first stint (1849–1860) was primarily in the west
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
; here Hammond notably served as the medical director of Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...
. In 1857, he won an American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
Prize for his essay Experimental Research Relative to the Nutritive Value and Physiological Effects of Albumen
Egg white
Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around either fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks...
Starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
and Gum
Natural gum
Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large viscosity increase in solution, even at small concentrations. In the food industry they are used as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers...
, when Singly and Exclusively Used as a Food, which Hammond had researched and compiled over the course of several years with the army.
On October 31, 1860, Hammond left the Army and accepted chairship of anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
and physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
at the University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore, was founded in 1807. It comprises some of the oldest professional schools in the nation and world. It is the original campus of the University System of Maryland. Located on 60 acres in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, it is part of the University System of Maryland...
medical school. Here he taught and worked until the beginning of the Civil War.
Civil War
After working as a surgeon in the Baltimore Infirmary, Hammond rejoined the Army on May 28, 1861, a month and a half after the beginning of the war. Though he began in a position lower than that which he had previously held, he was soon promoted to be the inspector of camps and hospitals for General William RosecransWilliam Rosecrans
William Starke Rosecrans was an inventor, coal-oil company executive, diplomat, politician, and United States Army officer. He gained fame for his role as a Union general during the American Civil War...
, who was then stationed in West Virginia. The Sanitary Commission
United States Sanitary Commission
The United States Sanitary Commission was a private relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the U.S. Army during the American Civil War. It operated across the North, raised its own funds, and enlisted thousands of volunteers...
, which was dissatisfied with the current medical administration, as well as several other advocates including Major General George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
, eventually successfully lobbied to have William Hammond appointed as Surgeon General. After the incumbent Clement Finley
Clement Finley
Clement Alexander Finley , was the 10th Surgeon General of the United States Army, May 15, 1861 – April 14, 1862.-Early life:...
was dismissed, President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
appointed Hammond as Surgeon General of the United States Army with the rank of Brigadier General
Brigadier general (United States)
A brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
on April 25, 1862, less than one year after having rejoined the Army.
Hammond immediately began instigating reforms. For instance, entrance to the Medical Corps
Medical Corps (United States Army)
The Medical Corps of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an MD or a DO degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.The MC traces its earliest origins...
was reorganized and expectations for new recruits were increased. He founded the National Museum of Health and Medicine
National Museum of Health and Medicine
The National Museum of Health and Medicine is a museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., USA. An element of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the NMHM is a member of the National Health Sciences Consortium....
and Satterlee Hospital
Satterlee Hospital
Satterlee U.S.A. General Hospital, which existed from 1862 to 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was one of the largest Union Army hospitals of the Civil War....
in 1862, and suggested many increases of the presence of medicine in Washington, including the establishment of a permanent hospital corps, a permanent general hospital, and a medical laboratory for the military. These recommendations were all manifested eventually, but at the time many of them led to dissent within the Army medical community. In the late summer of 1863, Hammond was ordered to leave Washington and instead oversee operations in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, while Joseph K. Barnes assumed the position of Surgeon General in Hammond's place. Hammond demanded either to be reinstated in his office in place of Barnes, or to be sent to trial by court-martial
Courts-martial in the United States
Courts-martial in the United States are criminal trials conducted by the U.S. military. Most commonly, courts-martial are convened to try members of the U.S. military for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice , which is the U.S. military's criminal code...
. The latter eventually took place, and in a questionable verdict, Hammond was found guilty of "irregularities" concerning the purchase of medical supplies and was relieved of duty on August 18, 1864.
Post-army career
After leaving the Army, Hammond moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he began to focus more on neurology
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
. He became professor of nervous and mental diseases at the Bellevue Medical College
Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...
in 1867, and took on a professorship on the same subjects at the University of the City of New York
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in 1874, as well as occasionally teaching at the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
and the Post Graduate Medical School of New York. In December 1874, Hammond founded the American Neurological Association (ANA) along with six others. Besides the ANA's journal Annals of Neurology, Hammond was also responsible for the creation or editorship of several other medical journals.
In 1878, Congress exonerated Hammond, and he was restored to the list of retired army personnel on August 27, 1879, though he remained without allowances or pay. In 1888, he moved back to Washington, D.C., where he founded a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
. He spent the remainder of his life there and died on January 5, 1900 at his home due to heart problems. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
, where he lies in section 1, grave 465.
Selected works
- (1857) Experimental Research Relative to the Nutritive Value and Physiological Effects of Albumen Starch and Gum, when Singly and Exclusively Used as a Food
- (1863) Treatise on Hygiene, with Special Reference to the Military Service
- (1866) On Wakefulness: With an Introductory Chapter on the Physiology of Sleep
- (1869) Sleep and Its Derangements
- (1871) Physics and Physiology of Spiritualism
- (1871) Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System (much of this work was drawn from lectures given by Jean-Martin CharcotJean-Martin CharcotJean-Martin Charcot was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...
, and it was also the earliest American treatise about neurology) - (1883) A Treatise on Insanity in its Medical Relations (readable online from Google Books)
- (1886) "Tales of Eccentric Life" William A. Hammond and Clara Lanza. D. Appleton & Co., {Dr. Hammond wrote several other novels all published by D. Appleton & Co. These include "Lal", "Dr. Gratton", "Mr. Oldmixon, and "A Strong Minded Woman; or, Two Years After".}
See also
- List of American Civil War generals