Morgan, John

MORGAN, JOHN. (1735–1789). Medical director of the Continental army. Pennsylvania. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 16 October 1735, Morgan graduated with the first class of the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) in 1757. Almost immediately he enlisted as a lieutenant and surgeon for the provincial troops during the Seven Years' War. In 1760 he undertook a period of study abroad, during which he enjoyed a very successful education in London and Edinburgh. His studies culminated in his election to the Royal College of Physicians and to the Royal Society in 1765. He returned to Philadelphia that year, and played a key role in establishing a medical school at his alma mater, becoming its first professor. In doing so, he acted without consulting other Philadelphia physicians, and thus made a bitter enemy of William Shippen, Jr.

On 17 October 1775 the Continental Congress elected Morgan to be the director-general of hospitals and physician-in-chief of the American army. Joining the army at Cambridge and accompanying it later to New York, he worked skillfully to achieve an efficient organization of his service but, in so doing, made so many enemies that, on 9 October 1776, he was demoted, his directorship being reduced to only those hospitals east of the Hudson River. On 9 January 1777 he was removed even from this reduced authority without explanation and replaced by his old Philadelphia rival, Shippen. Embittered, Morgan published "A Vindication" in 1777, making the inevitable charges of Congressional meddling and the plotting of "a mean and invidious set of men" to remove him. Although he was cleared of any misconduct by Congress in 1779, he considered himself disgraced and withdrew from public life, except to bring charges of fraud against Shippen, who was court-martialed in 1781 and forced to resign. Morgan died in Philadelphia on 15 October 1789.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bill, Whitfield J., Jr. John Morgan: Continental Doctor. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965.

                                revised by Michael Bellesiles