author
George Buchanan
1763–1808
Remembered as an early American physician, he studied medicine after the Revolution and became part of the young republic’s medical life in Baltimore and Philadelphia. His surviving record points to a career in practice, teaching, and institution-building rather than to a large body of literary work.
1 Audiobook
Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800 Read before the Cincinnati Literary Club, November 16, 1872
by William Frederick Poole, George Buchanan
About the author
Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, on September 19, 1763, he was the son of Andrew Buchanan and Susanna Lawson Buchanan. Sources on early American medicine describe him as a founder of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and note that he studied first with Dr. John Boyd before continuing his medical education in Edinburgh.
After returning to Maryland, he practiced medicine in Baltimore and took part in the growth of medical institutions there. Accounts from Maryland history sources say he later held a professorship connected with the University of Maryland and was active in the professional world of physicians in both Maryland and Pennsylvania.
He died in Philadelphia on July 9, 1808. Archival records from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia suggest that his papers are connected with some of the organization’s earliest years, including the period of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, which helps place him within the medical debates and emergencies of the early United States.