author
William A. (William Alexander) Hammond
1828–1900
A bold and sometimes controversial figure in 19th-century medicine, he helped shape both American military healthcare and the early field of neurology. His career ranged from Civil War service to influential medical writing that reached a wide public audience.
2 Audiobooks
Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and Pathology
by William A. (William Alexander) Hammond
Sleep and Its Derangements
by William A. (William Alexander) Hammond
About the author
Born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1828, William Alexander Hammond trained as a physician at the University of the City of New York and entered the U.S. Army as an assistant surgeon soon afterward. He served in military medicine before rising to national prominence during the American Civil War.
Hammond is best known as the eleventh Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, a post he held from 1862 to 1864. During that period he pushed for reforms in army medical practice and helped establish the Army Medical Museum, now known as the National Museum of Health and Medicine. After his army career, he became a leading specialist in diseases of the nervous system and is widely associated with the early development of American neurology.
He also wrote extensively for both professional and general readers, producing medical works on neurology, hygiene, and related subjects. Remembered as an energetic reformer and an important early neurologist, he died in Washington, D.C., in 1900.