Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1952-08-02

Or. Alexander T. Augusta, the
first Negro to serve on the faculty
Of any American medical school. is
featured as the front cover illus
tration Of the July issue of the
Journal of the National Medical
Association. This is the fourth in
the Journals front-cover series
presenting famed medical history
figures.
The historical account by the
editor, DR.. w. MONTAGUE Cobb,
states that DR.. Augusta was also
the first Negro to hold a medical
commission in the United States
Army and the first to hold the
rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
One of the original five faculty
members of the Howard University
Medical Department, and the only
Negro, DR.. Augusta was appoint
ed Demonstration of Anatomy or
September II, 1868, shortly before
the school opened its doors with
eight students. He served as Pro-
fessor of Anatomy, lectured or
diseases of the skin, and from 1870
to 1875 was a member of the staff
of Freedmen's Hospital in the
Division of Dermatology and
Urino-G Genital Diseases. He resign
ed from the Medical School staff
in 1877, although he was offered
the Chair of Materia Medica al
that time.
DR.. Augusta applied for mem
bership in the Medical Society of
the District of Columbia in June
1869. His name was rejected, as
were the names of Dr.. Charles
Burleigh Purvis a fellow faculty
member who made application at
the same time, and Dr.. A. w.
Tucker who applied a few days
later. This rejection precipitated
a bitter controversy on the exclus-
ion Of physicians from medical
/ societies because of color which
ragged in Congress and the Ameri-
can Medical Association and set
the pattern for racial exclusion by
southern medical societies which
/ has uniformly obtained until recent
/ years.
! In 1862, DR.. Augusta was ex-
amined for the volunteer medical
service and in April 1868, appointed
a Surgeon of Colored Troops. He
was assigned to the 7th U. S. Col
ored Infantry and went with them
into garrison at Camp Stanton
near Bryanton, Maryland.
AS senior surgeon among the
Negro troops stationed at Camp
Stanton, he outranked the white
surgeons stationed there. Two of
these addressed a petition to Presi-
dent Lincoln expressing surprise
to find themselves under the com
mand of a Negro, and requesting
that this unexpected, unusual anC
most unpleasant relationship" be
in some way terminated. DR.. Au-
gusta was placed on detached SER
vice examining Negro recruits at
Benedict and Baltimore, Maryland
throughout 1864. and at & recruit
ing service at the Department of
the South thereafter until HOSTILE
ties ended.
From the Autumn Of 1868 to
the Spring of 1864, Major Augusta
was in charge Of the hospital which
in the same year came TO be called
Freedmen's, located at the site call
ed Camp Barker, some distance
from the present location of Freed
mems in Washington, p. C.
DR.. Augusta once found it neces-
sary to advise Senator Henry Will
son of Massachusetts,, that the
Army paymaster at Baltimore had
refused to pay him more thar
seven dollars a month (the pay of
Negro enlisted man after cloth
ing deduction) and that he had re-
| jected this payment. On April 10
1864, Senator Wilson wrote the
Secretary of War and two days
later an order was sent to the
Paymaster General to compensate
the surgeon according to his
rank" Appointed with the rank of
Major in 1868, DR.. Augusta was
breveted a Lieutenant Colonel on