Augustus C. (Augustus Choate) Hamlin

Born in 1829, Augustus Choate Hamlin was a physician and author from Maine whose career reached across medicine, military service, and natural history. During the Civil War he served as a medical inspector in the U.S. Army, an experience that informed his best-known book, Martyria; or, Andersonville Prison (1866).

Hamlin also wrote on mineralogy and gems, including The Tourmaline (1873), a book that paid special attention to the remarkable tourmaline crystals discovered in Maine. That mix of scientific curiosity and firsthand observation gives his writing a distinct character: practical, vivid, and closely tied to the world he knew.

He died in 1905. Though not widely remembered today, his work still offers a striking window into both Civil War history and 19th-century enthusiasm for science and collecting.