Clement Finley
| Clement Alexander Finley | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
May 11, 1797 Newville, Pennsylvania |
| Died | September 8, 1879 (aged 82) West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Buried at | Woodlands Cemetery, The Woodlands, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1818–1862 |
| Rank |
 Brigadier General
|
| Unit | Army Medical Department |
| Commands held | Surgeon General of the United States Army |
| Battles/wars |
Black Hawk War |
| Relations |
|
Black Hawk War
2nd Seminole War
Mexican–American War
Clement Alexander Finley (May 11, 1797 – September 8, 1879), was the 10th Surgeon General of the United States Army, May 15, 1861 – April 14, 1862.
Clement Finley was born at Newville, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. His father, Samuel Finley, (April 15, 1752 – April 2, 1829) served in the Virginia cavalry during the Revolutionary War attaining the grade of major. President George Washington appointed him receiver of public moneys in the northwest, which position took him to Chillicothe, Ohio, about 1796, where he received a large allotment of land for his Revolutionary War service. Here Clement spent his childhood and youth and obtained his early education.
With the educational facilities of Chillicothe exhausted, he was sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, near his birthplace, to Dickinson College where he was graduated in 1815. He then went to Philadelphia where in 1818 he was given the degree of M.D. by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
His father's military service attracted him to the army, which had recently emerged from the War of 1812, and on August 10, 1818, he was commissioned as a surgeon's mate of the 1st Infantry. The forty-three years that intervened before he became Surgeon General were filled largely with routine garrison duty, but included much field service in the wars of the period. His first assignment carried with it four years with his regiment in Louisiana, then two years in what was then the wilds of Arkansas, at Fort Smith. In the years from 1825 to 1828 he served at Fort Gibson. He also serverd in Florida, at Jefferson Barracks Military Post, and at Fort Leavenworth.
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