Dr John Warren was educated in the medical apprenticeship tradition of mid-18th century Boston, Massachusetts. As a surgeon in the American Continental Army he honed not only his surgical but also his teaching skills by providing continuing medical education to his colleagues in Boston's military hospital. Warren became a driving force in post-war Boston medicine. His organizational talents, zeal for science and vision for Massachusetts medicine led to the creation of Harvard Medical School.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
WarrenE. Life of Warren. Boston: Noyes, Holmes & Co., 1874:1–2, 11
2.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 12
3.
The Harvard Medical School, 1906, quote p. 1. Prepared by the Harvard faculty
4.
CashP. The Professionalization of Boston medicine, 1760–1803. In: AllisFSJr, ed. Medicine in Colonial Massachusetts, 1620–1820, Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1980:44, 77–8; Norwood W. Medical Education in the United States Before the Civil War, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1944:42
5.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 13
6.
NorwoodW(op. cit. ref. 4): p. 32
7.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 13
8.
CashP(op. cit. ref. 4): pp. 70–1
9.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 13, 23
10.
MillerJC. Origins of the American Revolution. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1959:249–51, 269, 309
11.
MillerJC(op. cit. ref. 10): pp. 277–80, 339, 369–71
12.
MillerJC(op. cit. ref. 10): pp. 379, 384
13.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 27, 31–3
14.
FischerDH. Paul Revere's Ride. New York: Oxford, 1994:27–8, 94–99; Cash P. Medical Men at the Siege of Boston. Philadelphia: Philosophical Society of America, 1973
15.
GalvinJR. The Minute Men, 2d edn., Washington: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1989:10
16.
17.
18.
WardC. The War of the Revolution. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Co., 1952:43–4
19.
GalvinJR. The Minute Men. New York: Pergamon-Brassey's International Defense Publishers, 1989:3
20.
CashP(op. cit. ref. 14): p. 19
21.
WardC(op. cit. ref. 18): p. 78
22.
WardC(op. cit. ref. 18): p. 96
23.
John Warren Diary (op. cit. ref. 16): pp. 2–3
24.
WardC(op. cit. ref. 18): pp. 93–94; Duncan LC. Medical Men in the American Revolution, Carlisle Barracks, Medical Field Service School, 1931
25.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 50; Cash P (op. cit. ref. 20): pp. 45, 51
26.
GilletteMC. The Army Medical Department, 1775–1818, Washington, DC, Center of Military History, 1981:26
27.
Ibid.: p. 22
28.
Ibid.: pp. 22–3, 26–8
29.
CashP(op. cit. ref. 14): p. 138
30.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 55
31.
Ibid.: p. 57, first quote p. 58, second quote p. 59
32.
StoneE. An account of the success of the bark of the willow in cure of agues. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society1763; 195:Chapter 33
33.
BellWJ. John Morgan, Continental Doctor. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965:179
34.
Ibid.: pp. 182–87; Warren E (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 60
35.
Ibid.: pp. 60–2
36.
GilletteMC(op. cit. ref. 26): pp. 53, 56
37.
WardC(op. cit. ref. 18): p. 202
38.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 74–5; Warren Diary (op. cit. ref. 16): p. 18
39.
GilletteMC(op. cit. ref. 26): p. 65
40.
GallagherJJ. The Battle of Brooklyn 1776. Edison, NJ: Castle Books, 2002:74; Schecter, B. The Battle for New York. New York: Walker & Co., 2002:74–7
41.
GilletteMC(op. cit. ref. 26): p. 66
42.
SchecterB(op. cit. ref. 40): p. 100
43.
FreemanDS. George Washington, a Biography. Fairfield, NJ: Augustus Kelly Publisher, 1981:4:133
44.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 96–7
45.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 99
46.
Schecter B(op.cit. ref 40): pp. 120–1
47.
Ibid.: pp. 153, 159
48.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 101; Gillette MC (op. cit. ref. 26): p. 67, 69
49.
Schecter B(op.cit. ref 40): pp. 222, 227
50.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 113; Gillette MC (op. cit. ref. 26): p. 69
51.
Ibid.: pp. 33–34
52.
WardC(op. cit. ref. 18): pp. 292–5, 300, 308–11
53.
GilletteMC(op. cit. ref. 26): pp. 35, 37
54.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 141–2
55.
Ibid.: p. 143
56.
Ibid.: pp. 142, 144, 167
57.
CashP(op. cit. ref. 14): pp. 53, 59; Cash P (op. cit. ref. 4): pp. 77, 82. Miles Whitworth was charged with mistreating patriot wounded after the siege of Boston. Imprisoned but never brought to trial, he died in 1779 after his release from Prison. Cash P (op. cit. ref. 14): 59. John Jeffries studied under Lloyd in Boston and received his MD from Aberdeen in 1769; he served with the British Army during the Revolution. Cash P (op. cit. ref. 14): 53
58.
WardC. The War of the Revolution. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Co., 1952:539–40
59.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 194
60.
Ibid.: p. 196
61.
Ibid.: pp. 225–6, 233
62.
Ibid.: pp. 233, quote 234, 235–6
63.
Ibid.: pp. 239–41
64.
HarringtonTF. The Harvard Medical School. Vol. 1. New York: Lewis Pub. Co., 1905:77
65.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 243
66.
HarringtonTF(op. cit. ref. 64): p. 78
67.
Ibid.: p. 109
68.
Ibid.: pp. 80, 84
69.
Ibid.: pp. 83, 84
70.
Ibid.: pp. 84–85
71.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 246
72.
WarrenJ. Lectures Upon Anatomy, 1783–84, Warren Papers, Countway Library, Harvard University, pp. 1, 7–8
73.
The Harvard Medical School(op. cit. ref. 3): p. 1
74.
75.
HarringtonTF(op. cit. ref. 64): pp. 87–88
76.
WarrenJ(op. cit. ref. 16): p. 8
77.
Ibid.: pp. quote 6, 7
78.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 243–4. Dominique Jean Larrey perfected and popularized amputation (disarticulation) at the shoulder joint during the Egyptian Campaigns of 1798–1800. At that time the procedure carried a high mortality rate. Dible JH. Napoleon's Surgeon, London, William Heinemann Medical Books, 1970:125–6
Ibid.: pp. 404–406. For a detailed account of Waterhouse and vaccination in Boston, see: Cash P. Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse: A Life in Medicine and Public Service. Sagamore Beach: Boston Medical Library & Science History Publications, 2006, Chapters 12–15
85.
86.
The Harvard Medical School, 1906:2
87.
WarrenE(op. cit. ref. 1): p. 437–8; HarringtonTF (op. cit. ref. 64): pp. 294–5
88.
Ibid.: pp. 357–8
89.
The Almshouse was opened for clinical instruction in July 1810. Harrington TF (op. cit. ref. 64): pp. 297, 299–300
