Father of Battlefield Medicine

Jonathan Letterman, Medical Director US Army of the Potomac
12/11/1824-3/15/1872
Jefferson Medical College, 1849

Born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Letterman’s father was a well-known surgeon who provided him with an excellent education of private tutors followed by undergraduate and medical degrees from Jefferson College. He was commissioned assistant surgeon in the Army Medical Department in 1849 and served in various campaigns: Florida against Seminole Indians; Fort Ripley, Minnesota; New Mexico against the Apache; and California against the Utes. He was appointed Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac from June 23, 1862 to December 30,
1863. He is credited with bringing order and efficiency to the medical services through improved ambulance service for the wounded, more efficient distribution of medical supplies, and a complete restructuring of the field hospital system. The Medical Times, April 30, 1864, recognized his contribution: “Too much praise cannot be awarded to Dr. Letterman for the patient and intelligent zeal with which he has labored to establish and perfect the present organization of the medical service of the Army of the Potomac. Its conception could only occur to a mind apt in method and organization, and while of comprehensive grasp, yet trained by experience to the study of details.”

The battle of Gettysburg was the first full implementation of what came to be called “the Letterman System,” For the most part it worked as planned, but Letterman’s report after the battle expressed his frustration that medical supply wagons had been held in the rear during the battle. Letterman’s confidence in his own medical staff also made him overly reluctant to accept civilian assistance after the battle. His military career took a downward turn after Gettysburg. He had served under Generals McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker before General George Meade was placed in charge just before the battle of Gettysburg. Letterman’s criticism of General Meade’s decision about medical supplies may have been his undoing. At the end of 1863 he was replaced as Medical Director and served briefly as inspector of hospitals in the Department of the Susquehanna. He resigned his military commission in December 1864 and moved to San Francisco to practice medicine and serve as coroner. After the death of his wife, he became depressed and died of intestinal disease on May 15, 1872.

The photograph of Letterman and his staff was taken in November 1862. Seated left to right are Jonathan Letterman, medical director, Jeremiah B. Brinton, medical purveyor, and Bennett A. Clements, assistant to the director.