MEMORIAL 
OF THE 
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 
WITH REGARD TO 
THE RANK OF THE MEDICAL CORPS 
OF THE 
UNITED STATES ARMY. MEMORIAL 
OF THE 
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 
WITH REGARD TO THE 
RANK OF THE MEDICAL CORPS OF THE ARMY. 
Washington, D. C., July 4, 1873. 
De.. 
Dear Sir : 
At the recent meeting of the American Medical Association, at St. 
Louis (May 6, 1873), a letter from the medical officers of the army to 
the President of the Association was presented, which set forth, that in 
the present organization of the army the Medical Staff is not upon an 
equal footing with the other staff corps as regards rank, and that still 
further injustice is done, not only to the Medical Staff, but to the pro- 
fession at large, by the legislation which at present forbids any promo- 
tions or new appointments in the medical department. 
The consideration of this letter having been made a special order of 
business, and the subject having been fully discussed, the Association 
unanimously adopted a series of resolutions, in which it expressed the 
opinion that the rank of the medical officers of the army ought to be 
fully equal to that of the officers of any other staff corps, and that the 
law which prohibits promotions and appointments in the medical corps 
should be repealed. The President was directed to appoint a com- 
mittee of five to memorialize Congress on the subject, and the members 
of the Association pledged themselves that each would make suitable 
representations to the member of Congress from his own district in 
behalf of the objects of the resolutions. 4 
The President appointed the following committee:- 
J. M. Keller, M.D., Louisville, Ky., Chairman. 
»T. A. Murphy, M.D., Cincinnati, Ohio. 
N. S. Davis, M.D., Chicago, Ill. 
H. F. Askew, M.D., Wilmington, Del. 
J. M. Toner, M.D., Washington, D. C. 
This committee has drawn up a memorial which they will present to 
Congress at its next session. The memorial embraces the draft of a 
bill the adoption of which would, it is believed, do justice to the medi- 
cal corps and meet the views of the medical profession of the United 
States, without conflicting with the interests of any other branch of the 
service. 
To comply as far as possible with the wishes of the Association, as 
expressed in the resolutions under which the committee was appointed, 
a copy of this memorial and bill, together with a copy of the letter of 
the officers of the medical corps above referred to, are herewith appended, 
with the request that you will take such steps as may seem wise and 
proper to you in behalf of the objects of the resolutions and the 
memorial. 
Very respectfully, 
J. M. Toner, M.D., 
Secretary of the Committee. 5 
MEMORIAL. 
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives in Congress 
assembled: 
Gentlemen:-Your petitioners respectfully represent, that at the last 
annual meeting of the American Medical Association they were ap- 
pointed a committee to memorialize your honorable body with regard to 
the great injustice done by existing laws to the Medical Corps of the 
United States Army in the matter of rank and pay. 
The Association met at St. Louis, Mo., May 6, 1873, four hundred 
and fifty delegates from all parts of the country being present, and 
during its meeting, after due deliberation, unanimously adopted the 
following resolutions, viz.:- 
" Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Association, the rank of the 
medical officers of the army ought to be fully equal to that of the 
officers of any other staff corps or of the medical corps of the navy ; that 
we learn with regret that this is not the case; and that we regard with 
grave disapproval the odious discrimination thus made against a meri- 
torious body of officers. 
Resolved, That we look upon the law which prohibits promotions 
and appointments in the medical corps of the army as unwise and 
unjust, and that in our opinion it ought forthwith to be repealed. 
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the President to 
memorialize Congress on this subject, and that each member of this 
Association pledges himself to use all his influence with the member 
of Congress from his own district in behalf of the objects of these 
resolutions." 
Your petitioners, having been duly appointed the committee named in 
these resolutions, have examined the laws bearing upon the rank and pay 
of the medical corps, and have obtained the individual opinions of many 
officers of the corps. As the result of their inquiries, it is their duty 
to represent to your honorable body that they believe the medical corps 
to be unjustly dealt with in the present organization of the army. 
In every other corps, whether of the staff or of the line, they find 
that every officer has the prospect of attaining the rank of colonel in a 
reasonable time. An examination of the Army Register of 1873 shows 6 
that the average length of service of all the colonels of the staff and of 
the line (excluding the medical corps and those appointed from the 
volunteer army at the close of the late war) was a little less than 
twenty-five years from the date of their original commissions in the 
army to the date of their promotion to the rank of colonel. The 
average length of service of all the lieutenant-colonels (with the same 
exceptions) was a little less than twenty years from the date of their 
original commissions to the date of their promotion. 
On the other hand, they find that a medical officer having once 
attained the grade of major has, on account of the disproportionately 
small number of medical officers of higher rank authorized by existing 
laws, no further reasonable hope of promotion ; and that in fact there 
are now on the active list no less than twelve medical officers, of the 
rank of major only, who have served thirty years and upwards. As a 
consequence, when old age at length overtakes the medical officer in the 
discharge of his duties, he is retired, in the vast majority of cases, with 
the retired pay of a major, while the majority of his brother officers 
who have served as long are retired as colonels, or at the least as lieu- 
tenant colonels. 
Your petitioners are unwilling to believe that this unjust discrimi- 
nation against the medical corps is intentional, and feel sure that it 
is only necessary for them to direct attention to the matter to secure 
the relief which is asked. Surely, the duties of a medical officer 
require for their proper discharge as much intellect and culture as those 
of any other branch of the service. And it may be asserted, without 
fear of contradiction, that the officers of that corps, as a body, have for 
many years past been recognized both in the army and out, at home and 
abroad, as men who, in character, education, and scientific attainments 
are in every way the peers of their brother officers, with whom they 
have shared the fatigues of every march and perils of every battle. 
They do not ask that fair share of rank which has hitherto been with- 
held, with any desire to interfere with the duties or usurp the command 
which belong to other staff corps or to the line; but increased rank after 
long service is the only way in which they can receive that increase of 
emolument and consideration which ordinarily attends the advancing 
years of educated physicians in private practice. If it is to be under- 
stood these advantages are to be perpetually denied, it is vain to expect 
that medical men of talent will be willing hereafter to devote their 
lives to the arduous and unrewarded duties of the medical corps. 
After consultation with a number of the officers of the corps, your 
petitioners have arrived at the conclusion that the best interests of the 
service, as well as of the corps, would be subserved if the increased 
share of rank here asked for were conferred solely as the reward of 
long-continued meritorious service; and they respectfully petition your 7 
honorable body so to modify existing laws, that those surgeons who 
have served twenty years and upwards shall have hereafter the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel, and those who have served thirty years and upwards 
the rank of colonel. 
In considering this request, your petitioners think it should not be 
forgotten that medical officers of twenty or thirty years' service are, as 
a rule, much older men than their brother officers who have held com- 
missions in the army for the same number of years. The majority of 
the other officers of the army are graduates of the Military Academy, 
educated at the expense of the government, and'usually receive their 
commissions as second lieutenants before they are much over twenty- 
one years of age, while medical officers are selected by a competitive 
examination, the standard of which it is hoped may never be lowered, 
and the majority of those found qualified are considerably older. 
Moreover, their education, which is necessarily costly, is obtained wholly 
at their own expense. As a partial compensation they are commissioned 
at once as first lieutenants; but this does not alter the fact that the 
commencement of their term of service dates, as a ride, from a later 
period in their lives than is the case with other officers. 
Your petitioners have learned with pleasure that by the Act of Con- 
gress of March 8,1871, an increase of rank similar to that they now ask 
for the medical officers of the army has already been granted to the 
medical officers of the navy; the rank of captain, equivalent to that of 
colonel in the army, having been bestowed upon fifteen medical officers 
-that of commander, equivalent to lieutenant-colonel in the army, upon 
fifteen others. Your petitioners heartily approve this just recognition 
of the services of a worthy body of men, and earnestly beg that their 
equally deserving brethren of the army may no longer be neglected. 
Your petitioners have, furthermore, been directed, by the Association 
which they represent, to urge upon your honorable body the immediate 
repeal of so much of the sixth section of the army appropriation bill of 
March 3,1869, as prohibits promotions and appointments in the medical 
corps of the army. Whatever may be thought of the wisdom of the 
temporary adoption of that provision, so far as it affects the medical 
corps, it certainly cannot be justly claimed that there is any reason that 
it should longer be enforced against that corps. 
In consequence of its operation there are now sixty-one vacancies in 
the medical staff, fifty-three of which are in the grade of assistant sur- 
geon. The thirty thousand men which compose our army are scattered 
over the country in over two hundred different posts and stations, not 
including moving detachments, temporary camps, scouting parties, and 
the like. It cannot be reasonably claimed that, even if all the vacancies 
in the medical corps were filled, the number, which would then be two 
hundred and seventeen in all, would be more than barely sufficient for 8 
the proper discharge of the duties which devolve upon the corps. In 
its present depleted condition, the number of separate posts being con- 
siderably larger than the number of medical officers, it is found neces- 
sary to employ temporarily a considerable number of physicians under 
contract, else many posts would be left without any medical attendance 
whatever. 
These facts being duly considered, it must be conceded, that while the 
injudicious economy which saves a few dollars annually by depriving a 
small number of officers of the promotion they have justly earned is 
unworthy of a great hation, the refusal to permit vacancies in the grade 
of assistant surgeon to be filled is prejudicial to the best interests of 
the army at the present moment, as well as to the future usefulness of 
the medical corps. Your petitioners earnestly hope, therefore, that the 
prohibiting clause above referred to may be forthwith repealed. 
In conclusion, your petitioners append a draft of a law which repre- 
sents the wishes of the American Medical Association, and which they 
believe will do justice to the medical corps. The enactment of this law 
would not increase the total number of medical officers as at present 
authorized by law, or even the whole number of those holding a higher 
grade than that of captain, but, by conferring deserved additional rank 
on those officers who have served longest, it will not only do justice to 
their reasonable claims, and place them on their rightful footing of 
ecpiality with their brother officers, but, by showing that long and faith- 
ful service in the medical corps is to have a reasonable reward, will 
secure the filling of existing vacancies in the grade of assistant surgeon 
by our most promising young medical men, and, by increasing in every 
way the efficiency of the medical corps, will subserve, we believe, the 
best interests of all other portions of the army. 
Your petitioners make this prayer not only on their own behalf and 
on the part of the Association, which has entrusted them with the duty 
of memorializing your honorable body, but in the name of the medical 
profession of the whole United States, of which the American Medical 
Association is the representative body. The members of the medical 
profession throughout the land cannot and do not view with indifference 
the injustice with which their brethren have been treated, and we 
speak in their name when we call upon Congress to adopt measures of 
relief. 
J. M. Keller, M.D., Louisville, Ky., 
Chairman of Committee. 
John A. Murphy, M.D., Cincinnati, Ohio. 
N. S. Davis, M.D., Chicago, Illinois. 
Henry F. Askew, M.D., Wilmington, Delaware. 
J. M. Toner, M.D., Washington, D. C., 
Secretary of Committee. 9 
A BILL 
to Increase the Efficiency of the Medical Department of the Army. 
Section I.-Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That so 
much of the sixth section of the act entitled, " An Act making appro- 
priations for the support of the Army and for other purposes," approved 
March 3, 1869, as forbids promotions and appointments in the medical 
department of the army be, and the same is hereby, repealed. 
Sec. II.-And be it further enacted, That the organization of the 
medical department shall be as authorized in the seventeenth section of 
the act entitled, "An Act to increase and fix the Military Peace 
Establishment of the United States, approved July 28,1866. Provided, 
that from and after the passage of this Act, the Chief Medical Purveyor 
and four Assistant Medical Purveyors, now authorized by law,' shall 
have the rank, pay, and legal allowances of colonels; and Provided, 
further, that surgeons who have served thirty years and upwards, from 
the date of their original entry into service, shall have the rank, pay, 
and legal allowances of colonels, and surgeons who have served less than 
thirty and more than twenty years, from the date of their original 
entry into service, shall have the rank, pay, and legal allowance of 
lieutenant colonels, and all other surgeons shall have the rank, pay, and 
legal allowances of majors as now authorized by law, and the rank, pay, 
and legal allowances of assistant surgeons shall be as now authorized by 
law. And Provided, further, that the foregoing provisions of this Act 
shall apply to all officers who may hereafter be promoted in the medical 
department. 
Sec. III.-And be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act shall 
be construed to permit the appointment or promotion of any person in 
the medical department until he shall have passed the examination now 
required by law. 
Sec. IV.-And be it further enacted, That all laws and parts of laws 
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act be, and the same are hereby, 
repealed. 10 
LETTER OF THE OFFICERS OF THE MEDICAL CORPS. 
To the President of the American Medical Association: 
Sir :-It is proposed to present herewith a brief statement, showing 
that the Medical Staff of the United States Army has not been placed 
on an equal footing with the other staff corps of the army as regards 
rank, that they have not had the same consideration shown them in 
this respect as has been accorded to the navy, and that the record of 
services of this meritorious body of officers entitles them to the same 
advantages that have been granted to others. 
When the rebellion broke out, the Medical Staff of the army with a 
total of 115 officers, had but one of higher rank than that of major, 
while in the Quartermaster's Department, with 37 officers, 5 were above 
that rank; in the Commissary Department, with 12 officers, 2 were 
above that rank; in the Adjutant-General's Department, with 14 officers, 
2 were above that rank; in the Engineer's, with 129 officers, there were 
7; in the Pay Department, out of a total of 28, there were 3; and in the 
Ordnance, 2 out of 36. 
The act of Congress of July 28, 1866, defined the " Peace establish- 
ment of the United States," and reorganizing, as it did, with the view 
of permanence, all the various departments of the army, it might have 
been supposed that equal justice in the matter of rank would have been 
meted out to each separate branch of the staff. That this was not the 
case so far as the Medical Department is concerned is shown by the 
following:- 
By its provisions the total number of medical officers was fixed at 
217, 7 of whom were above the rank of major, or 3.22 per cent. The 
Quartermaster's Department was to consist of 76 officers, 17 of whom 
were above that rank, or over 22 per cent.; the Subsistence Department 
of 29 officers, 5 being above that rank, or 17 per cent.; the Adjutant- 
General's Department, of 20 officers, 7 being above that rank, or 35 
per cent.; the Engineers' of 109 officers, of whom 19 were above that 
rank, or over 17 per cent.; the Ordnance of 64 officers, with 8 above 
that rank, or 12.50 per cent.; and the Pay Department of 65 officers, 
5 being above that rank, or 7.50 per cent. It is thus seen that the 
Medical Department was given a smaller proportion of officers of rank 
than any other staff department, being less than one-half of that granted 
to Paymasters, one-quarter of that in the Ordnance, nearly one-sixth of 
that in the Engineers and Subsistence Departments, less than one- 
seventh of that in the Quartermasters, and about one-twelfth of that 
given to Adjutants General. 11 
The medical officer under the present law is accorded the rank of 
Captain after three years' service ; he is promoted to Major by seniority, 
such promotion not ordinarily occurring in less than fifteen years' 
service, and that is the end of his prospects of advancement, unless he 
may be so fortunate as to secure a Medical Purveyorship, which can 
necessarily be within the reach of but very few, those positions being 
but five in number, and vacancies in consequence occurring but very 
seldom. Not only is this a great injustice to those surgeons on the 
-active list, but it operates still more injuriously towards those old and 
meritorious officers, who, having given their best years to the country, 
become disabled by age or infirmity and are desirous of availing them- 
selves of the privileges of the retired list. The Adjutant-General, 
Quartermaster, or Engineer of thirty years' service can almost certainly 
retire with the rank of Colonel, certainly with that of Lieutenant- 
Colonel, while the veteran Surgeon is laid aside with the rank of Major, 
and an income hardly sufficient to support his station as a gentleman, 
or to sustain his family. 
The Medical Department is not willing to be accorded a second 
place in comparison with any other arm of the service. It points with 
pride to its roll of honor during the last war, to the 38 of its members 
wdio were killed in action or died of wounds, to the 12 who were killed by 
accident in the performance of duty, to the -1 who died as prisoners of 
war, to the 73 who were wounded in battle, and to the 271 who died from 
the diseases and exposure of camp life (an array of figures greater than 
can be presented by any other staff corps), as a proof that they were 
always to be found where duty called. 
Without any disposition to make an invidious comparison between 
the Medical Department and other staff corps, it is believed that at least 
as high a grade of intellect, as finished an education, as eminent scientific 
attainments are required to make an accomplished medical officer as 
obtains in any other branch of the service. In the case of the vast 
majority of other staff officers, this education is obtained at the expense 
of the government, which not only furnishes the future Adjutant-Gen- 
eral or Engineer with all the advantages which a scientific school can 
afford, but actually pays him a handsome salary for four years before 
he is sufficiently accomplished to render any service therefor. Not so 
the medical officer. He must obtain his education at his own expense, 
usually spending years in college, in medical schools, and hospitals, 
before he can hope to be sufficiently qualified to pass the ordeal of an 
examining board. 
The government cannot expect to obtain the best class of men in any 
branch of its service unless it offers them equal inducements to those 
found in civil life. So long as medical men of ability and good scien- 
tific acquirements have before them those high prizes which are found 12 
iii private practice, just so long will they refuse to continue in the army, 
when no prospect is held out to them of ever rising above a certain 
grade, or of obtaining beyond a certain amount of income. 
The inducements to engaging in private practice are the prospect of 
increased income and reputation with advancing years. In the army, 
these are represented by rank., not only because increased rank carries 
with it an increase of emolument, but also because to the army officer 
rank is well and properly understood to enhance the dignity of the per- 
son holding it, as well as the respect in which he is held by his com- 
peers and subordinates. 
The rank of medical officers should therefore be no less than that of 
the other staff corps ; they require an equal education and equal abili- 
ties, they perform equally arduous duty, they sustain as great responsi- 
bilities, they are exposed to like dangers, and in the distribution of the 
rewards of the military career, they should be entitled to an equal 
share. That they are not at present on this footing of equality has 
been clearly shown in the foregoing comparisons. 
The principles here urged have already been recognized in the 
recent legislation for the Medical Department of the navy, by which 
fifteen medical officers were given the relative rank of Captain, and 
fifteen that of Commander, corresponding to the rank in the army of 
Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel respectively. It is held that no good 
reason exists why similar promotion should be withheld from the army 
surgeons, when its necessity has been acknowledged by law, for their 
brethren in the navy. 
The British War Office has likewise recognized the importance 
of increased rank for its medical officers, in the new "Army Medical 
Warrant," and has acknowledged the force of the positions taken in 
this paper, by giving such rank in recognition of long and faithful 
service. 
A further injustice has been done not only to the Medical Staff, but 
to the profession at large, by the legislation which at present forbids 
any promotions or new appointments in the Medical Department. To 
the former, because, from the rapid depletion which ordinary casualties 
make in its ranks, it throws increased labor upon those who remain, 
and necessitates the employment of physicians under contract, who, 
having but a temporary tenure of office, cannot be expected to be 
actuated by that single regard for the service, which is a sine qua non 
to the faithful performance of duty. To the profession at large, for it 
prevents many who are desirous of entering the military service from 
doing so, and thus perhaps compels them to abandon a design to the 
accomplishment of which their education may have been especially 
directed. There are now sixty-one vacancies in the medical staff, fifty- 
three of them being in the grade of Assistant Surgeon. Should promo- 13 
tion be restored it would then take at least two years to fill the vacan- 
cies now existing. 
The result of the continuance of the present state of affairs will be, 
that many of the candidates for examination, and no doubt the most 
deserving, will, impatient at delay, seek other channels of usefulness. 
In view of all these facts, it is believed that an appeal made by so 
representative a body as the American Medical Association, numbering 
as it does delegates living in every Congressional district in the United 
States, would not be without its effect, and it is earnestly suggested to its 
members that they will take such action as may seem to them, most 
proper, as will result in placing their professional brethren in the army 
on an equal footing with those of the navy, as well as with the officers 
of other staff corps of the army, and also to throw open, once more, 
the door for admission of the young physicians of the country to the 
ranks of the Army Medical Staff. 
JOHN M. CUYLER, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
WILLIAM J. SLOAN, 
Surgeon, U S. Army. 
THOMAS A. McPARLIN, 
Surgeon, V. S. Army. 
DAVID L. MAGRUDER, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
JOHN MOORE, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
CHARLES C. GRAY, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
CHARLES R. GREENLEAF, 
Assastawa# Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
HENRY R. TILTON, 
Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
WM. M. NOTSON, 
Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
CHARLES SMART, 
Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
JOSIAH SIMPSON, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
JOHN F. HEAD, 
Surgeon, U S. Army. 
JOSEPH B. BROWN, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
BENNETT A. CLEMENTS, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
JOSEPH R. SMITH, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
WILLIAM C. SPENCER, 
Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
JOHN II. JANEWAY, 
Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
ALFRED A. WOODHULL, 
Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army. 
HARVEY E. BROWN, 
Assistant Surgeon, U S. Army. 
ALEX. II. HOFF, 
Assistant Surgeon, U S. Army. 
AND OTHERS. 
Presented May 7, 1873.