John Maynard Woodworth
| John Maynard Woodworth | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 1st Surgeon General of the United States | |
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In office 29 March 1871 – 14 March 1879 |
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| Succeeded by | John B. Hamilton |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 15, 1837 Big Flats, New York, USA |
| Died | March 14, 1879 (aged 41) Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Republican |
John Maynard Woodworth (August 15, 1837 – March 14, 1879) was an American physician and member of the Woodworth political family. He served as the first Supervising-Surgeon General under U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant, then changed to Surgeon General of the United States Marine Hospital Service from 1871 to 1879.
Woodworth was born at Big Flats, Chemung County, New York. His family soon moved to Illinois, where Woodworth attended school in Warrenville. He studied pharmacy at the University of Chicago and worked as a pharmacist for a time.
Woodworth was one of the organizers of the Chicago Academy of Science and in 1858 became curator of its museum. In this capacity, he made several trips west of the Mississippi River to collect natural history specimens. He was appointed naturalist by the University of Chicago in 1859 and asked to establish a museum of natural history. Woodworth also spent time working at the Smithsonian Institution over the next few years. He then decided to embark on medical studies, and graduated from the Chicago Medical College in 1862.
Almost immediately upon graduating from medical school, Woodworth was appointed Assistant Surgeon in the Union Army. He was soon promoted to Surgeon and eventually became Medical Director of the Army of the Tennessee. Woodworth served under General William Tecumseh Sherman, and on "Sherman's March to the Sea" he was in charge of the ambulance train, bringing the sick and wounded to Savannah without the loss of a single man.
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