Samuel Crawford: From Surgeon to Soldier
By Jon Caroulis
From the shelling of Fort Sumter to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Samuel Crawford was a witness to history – and an active participant.
S
amuel W. Crawford, M.D. 1850, was about
to enjoy the comforts of civilization on a fine September morning in 1860. An Army surgeon, he’d spent the past 10 years at posts in the “frontier” of the country, such as Texas and New Mexico. But was now he was visiting with friends in Newport, R.I., and was about start breakfast when he received a telegram. It was from the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army directing him to proceed at once to Fort Moultrie, a few miles from Charlestown, South Carolina. Crawford, a captain of the medical staff of the army, immediately left his friends
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