Robert Maitland O'Reilly
| Robert Maitland O'Reilly | |
|---|---|
Brigadier General Robert M. O'Reilly,
Surgeon General of the Army, 1902–1909 |
|
| Born |
January 14, 1845 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | November 3, 1912 (aged 67) Washington, D.C. |
| Buried | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1864–1865, 1867–1909 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Unit | US Army Medical Corps |
| Battles/wars | |
Robert Maitland O'Reilly (January 14, 1845 – November 3, 1912) was the 20th Surgeon General of the United States Army, serving from September 7, 1902 to January 14, 1909.
O'Reilly was born in Philadelphia to John and Ellen (Maitland) O'Reilly. He was a descendant of General Alexander O'Reilly who was a captain general of Cuba and one of the Spanish governors of Louisiana. The American branch settled in Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. O'Reilly was educated in the public schools of his native city.
O'Reilly had commenced the study of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania when the Civil War broke out. In August 1862, he was appointed an acting medical cadet and was assigned for duty in Cuyler General Hospital in Philadelphia. Later he served as a medical cadet in a hospital at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in the office of the medical director of the Army of the Cumberland.
With the close of the Civil War, he resumed his medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated 1866. On May 14, 1867, O'Reilly was appointed assistant surgeon in the army and sent to Fort Trumbull, Connecticut. Shortly thereafter he was sent out to California by way of Nicaragua with a shipment of recruits. While en route with recruits from San Francisco to Fort Whipple, Arizona, he was wounded by the accidental discharge of a revolver at Camp Mud Springs, California, and was under treatment for some time at Drum Barracks after which he proceeded to his original assignment in Arizona. He served at Camp Date Creek, Fort McDowell, Camp Renon, Fort Whipple, Camp Halleck, and Fort Union, all in the extreme southwest, until June 1870, during which time he saw considerable field service against Native Americans. Mid-1870 was spent in the field in Colorado with the 8th Cavalry, after which he was assigned for station at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, where he served from May 1871 to July 1874. He participated in the campaign of 1874 against the Sioux and at the conclusion of that campaign he took station at Fort D. A. Russell at Cheyenne, Wyoming. In June 1875 he was ordered east, and given short tours of duty at Fort McHenry, Maryland, and at Fort Hamilton, New York. In November 1875 he was sent to Fort Ontario, New York, which was his station until May 1878. While at this station he was detailed, in 1877, to duty incident to labor disturbances in Pennsylvania, and sustained an injury which incapacitated him to a remarkable extent for two years.
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