Joseph Lovell

Dr. Joseph Lovell (December 22, 1788 – October 17, 1836) was the 8th Surgeon General of the United States Army, (April 18, 1818 – October 17, 1836),

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of James S. and Deborah (Gorham) Lovell. His father attained the grade of major in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and his grandfather, James Lovell, was an active member of the Whig organization in Boston before the Revolution, and was a member of the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1782. He was one of the prime movers in the scheme to supplant General Washington as commander-in-chief by General Horatio Gates. He was an original member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

Lovell obtained his early education in the Boston schools, after which he entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 1807. He began the study of medicine with Dr. William Ingalls of Boston and graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1811, with the first class to receive the degree of M. D. With the practical certainty of a second war with Britain, Congress passed an act on January 11, 1812 (2 Stat. 671), increasing by thirteen regiments the military forces of the country, and providing a surgeon and two surgeon's mates for each regiment. On May 15, 1812, Lovell was appointed major and surgeon, 9th US Infantry Regiment. With an unusually thorough medical education, he early became an outstanding medical officer. When, late in 1812, the troops were moved to the Canada–US border, general hospitals were established at Plattsburg, New York, and at Burlington, Vermont, Lovell was detached from his infantry regiment and placed in command of the Burlington Hospital. During this time, while the hospitals as a whole came under severe criticism the Burlington Hospital was held up as a model of what a hospital should be. Lovell attracted attention not only as a skilled practitioner but as an officer of marked executive ability. In recognition of his exceptional service he was selected for appointment to the grade of hospital surgeon on June 30, 1814. During the latter part of the war his longest service was in the hospital at Williamsville, New York, which received the casualties for the operations along the Niagara River.

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