11/17/2025
Medical Monday: Jonathan Letterman (1824-1872)
Jonathan Letterman was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on December 11, 1824 - the son of a famous surgeon at the time. His studies were directed by a private tutor until he could be enrolled in Jefferson College. Once he graduated Jefferson College in 1845, he studied and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1849. He received a position as assistant surgeon in the Army Medical Department. He served in Florida during the military campaigns against the Seminole Indians until about 1853, where he would be sent to Fort Ripley, Minnesota. At the start of the Civil War, he was named the medical director of the Department of West Virginia in May of 1862. Within a month, he was appointed as the medical director of the Army of the Potomac by William A. Hammond, Surgeon General of the US Army. Immediately after his promotion, he wanted to reorganize the medical service of the army and gained permission from Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan to do whatever necessary to change and improve the system. After the Seven Days Battles in June 1862, the army realized that they didn’t have the means or the system to take care of all the wounded soldiers. However, by September 1862, following the Battle of Antietam, Letterman created a system of first aid stations and the implementation of triage.
He was the first to implement this and apply management principles to battlefield medicine. He also created mobile field hospitals to be located at division and corps headquarters. The system was connected by the ambulance corps, which was established by Letterman in August 1862, under medical staff control instead of the Quartermaster Corps. He also established an efficient system for the distribution of medical supplies. He proved how well this would work at Fredericksburg, but certain command decisions of general officers in preparation for the Battle of Gettysburg and Mine Run Campaigns compromised Letterman’s medical supplies. His system was adopted by the AoP after Fredericksburg and was established as the proper procedure through an Act of Congress in March 1864. The most casualties for the AoP were suffered at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Prior to Letterman’s system in the 1862 Peninsular Campaign, the mortality rate was 35%. At Gettysburg, it was 2%. No official mention of Letterman in the OR’s. To handle the over 14,000 Union wounded and 6,800 Confederate wounded, Camp Letterman was created northeast of Gettysburg at the George Wolf Farm. In May of 1863, Letterman’s mentor and superior officer, William A. Hammond wanted to get rid of calomel, which was derived from mercury. Although science would eventually prove him correct, he was court-martialed. Thus, Letterman resigned from the army in December 1864. He then moved and worked as a superintendent for “exploring oil” in San Francisco, California, but only lasted for a year. He was then elected as coroner from 1867 to 1872. Following the death of his wife at age 38, whom he had met and married following the Battle of Antietam, he had become depressed. He suffered from several different illnesses until his death on March 15, 1872 at 47 years old. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
