Andrew Craigie 1754–1819
Andrew Craigie was appointed by the Committee of Safety of the Province of Massachusetts in April 1775 to care for its medical supplies. He would provide beds, linen and other supplies needed for medical care for the troops gathering around Boston. He is believed to have treated wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Continental Congress in July 1775 created a “hospital” for the Army. Among the personnel specified in the resolution was an apothecary. This “hospital” was the forerunner of the U. S. Army Medical Service Corps. Andrew Craigie was the first Army Apothecary. He defined the role of U. S. Army Service Corps pharmacists and medical logistical officers. Today, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States commemorated Craigie by recognizing federal government pharmacists each year with the Andrew Craigie Award.
James Mann 1759-1832
James Mann was born in the Massachusetts colony in 1759. He earned a degree from Harvard and studied medicine under the President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. At the age of 20, he became a military surgeon in the Continental Army. He was a prisoner of war before returning to the practice of medicine in 1781. At the age of 52, he was appointed as the Medical Director of the Northern Army of the War of 1812. He was called the “most important army surgeon in the field during the War. He established many hospitals in the Northeast. In 1816, he published a Manual of Military Surgery, the only literature on military surgery in which he documents observations on the campaigns of 1812, 1813 and 1814. He felt that documentation should be made, whether they prove correct or not, so that the information could be used by medical professionals in the future. His effective actions saved many lives. At the Battle of Plattsburgh, he moved over 700 patients from the Plattsburgh hospital to a small, uninhabited islan. Wounded of both American and British Armies and Navies were transported to Crab Island where Dr. Mann tended to them, as well. There seems to be no image of him in existence.
Joseph Lovell 1788–1836
Grandson of James Lovell, a member of the Constitutional Congress (1777-1782), Joseph graduated from Harvard College in 1807. He studied medicine, graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1811. In May 1812, he was appointed surgeon of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment. Later that year, he was placed in command of the Burlington Hospital after troops were moved to the U. S. Canadian border during the War of 1812. In May 1818, Congress made permanent the job of the chief of the Medical Department and appointed Joseph the Surgeon General authorizing him to set up an office and required him to submit annual reports of his actions. He got to work reforming the medical department by setting up procedures for the new Army Medical Department which included responsibility for purchasing and distributing medical supplies and equipment, preparing medicines and making medical logistical support the highest priority. During his tenure, he dealt with a cholera outbreak during the Black Hawk War. His requiring all Army posts to collect and submit to him quarterly reports on weather conditions and incidence and causes of disease in their area were the only information of their kind and the beginning of the Weather Bureau. Lovell and his family moved to D.C. while he was the Surgeon General where he built a home for his family in 1824. The Lovell House became the now famous Blair House located only feet from the White House and used as temporary lodging for dignitaries. He served as Army Surgeon General for 18 years. Lovell’s collection of medical literature became the Army Medical Library and in 1956 became the basis of the National Library of Medicine.