author
John M. (John Mullin) Batten
1837–1916
A Civil War navy surgeon turned physician and memoirist, he wrote with the eye of someone who had seen history up close. His work blends personal memory, travel, and reflection in a direct, readable style.
1 Audiobook
Reminiscences of Two Years in the United States Navy
by John M. (John Mullin) Batten
About the author
Born in 1837, John Mullin Batten was an American physician and writer whose books drew on a varied life in medicine, war service, and travel. Catalog and library records identify him as John M. Batten and show that he later settled in Pennsylvania as a doctor.
He is best known for Reminiscences of Two Years in the United States Navy, a personal account of his service as an acting assistant surgeon during the Civil War. His published work also included later books such as Random Thoughts, Over the Waters to Edinburgh Town, and To and From Rome, suggesting a writer interested not only in military memory but also in memoir, poetry, and travel.
Batten died in 1916. What makes his writing appealing today is its firsthand quality: it comes from someone who practiced medicine, served in wartime, and then spent years shaping those experiences into reflective, personal books.