Richard Allison (1757 – March 22, 1816) was Physician General of the U.S. Army, the position that later became Surgeon General, from 1792 to 1796. He was the first physician to set up a permanent practice in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Early life

Allison was born near

Goshen, New York Goshen is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 13,687 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Biblical Land of Goshen. It contains a village also called Goshen, which is the county seat of Orange County ...

in 1757.

Career

During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, he served as a

surgeon's mate A surgeon's mate was a rank in the Royal Navy for a medically trained assistant to the ship's surgeon. The rank was renamed assistant surgeon in 1805, and was considered equivalent to the rank of master's mate/mate. In 1807, first-rate would ha ...

in the

Pennsylvania Line The Pennsylvania Line was a formation within the Continental Army. The term "Pennsylvania Line" referred to the quota of numbered infantry regiments assigned to Pennsylvania at various times by the Continental Congress. These, together with simila ...

of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. He was the senior American military physician in the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

, and became the surgeon general of General

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

's Legion when those troops were organized and defeated the Indians at the

Battle of Fallen Timbers The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United States ...

. On the re-organization of the army in 1789, he was appointed surgeon of a regiment of infantry, and became the ranking medical officer of the U.S. Army up to the time of his resignation. After living for a few years on his farm on the east fork of the

Little Miami River The Little Miami River ( sjw, Cakimiyamithiipi) is a Class I tributary of the Ohio River that flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 26, 2011 through five counties ...

, he returned to the city in 1805, and continued to practice medicine until his death.

Daniel Drake Daniel Drake (October 20, 1785 – November 5, 1852) was a pioneering American physician and prolific writer. Early life Drake was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, to Isaac Drake and Elizabeth Shotwell. He was the elder brother of Benjamin ...

called him the "father of our local profession," and wrote of him that "though not profound in science, he was sagacious, unassuming, amiable and kind."

Death and legacy

Allison died in Cincinnati after a short illness. He was buried in the Wesley Chapel Cemetery on Fifth Street. His body was later moved and now is buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery in Cincinnati.

References

* Mary C. Gillett. "Allison, Richard"; http://www.anb.org/articles/03/03-00004.html; ''

American National Biography Online The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Lea ...

'' February 2000. Access Date: Tue Dec 25 13:05:29 EST 2007

External links

Grave of Richard Allison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Richard 1757 births 1816 deaths American people of the Northwest Indian War 18th-century American physicians Burials at Wesleyan Cemetery, Cincinnati Continental Army officers from Pennsylvania Physicians from Cincinnati Physicians in the American Revolution Surgeons General of the United States Army People from Goshen, New York People of the Province of New York