Samuel Sexton

Age 27, from Cincinnati, he enrolled as Surgeon's Mate, 8th Ohio Infantry for 3 months' service on 29 April 1861. On 8 July 1861, on the reorganization of the regiment for 3 years' service, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon.

He was with the regiment at Antietam on 17 September 1862. He treated wounded soldiers in the Roulette Farm barn, near Sharpsburg, on the day of the battle, and at the main Division hospital on the Smith Farm near Keedysville in the days after.

By 24 September he was back with his regiment in camp on Bolivar Heights near Harpers Ferry, but he resigned his commission on 23 October 1862.

He had a practice in Cincinnati but moved it to New York City in 1869. He was a well-know ear specialist (otologist) and pioneer in inner ear surgery. From 1877 to at least 1894 he was chief surgeon of the Aural Clinic at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (now of Mount Sinai) in Manhattan.

He was author of an 1881 report for the US Government Causes of Deafness among School Children and its Influences in Education, books including The Ear and its Diseases (1888), and many professional papers such as Deafness and Discharge from the Ear (Journal of the AMA, February 1892).

His service from the State Roster,1 as Samuel S. Sexton, and from Sawyer.2 Personal details from family genealogists, his bio sketch in Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register ... for 1896, and his death notice in The Michigan Alumnus of October-November 1896. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sarah P Stephens (1835-) and they had 5 children between 1858 and 1867; three died as infants.

A collection of his papers are in the Ohio Historical Society, Columbus (Call# MSS 185). These include a wartime diary, news clippings, and letter(s) to his sister Hannah.

See some photographs of the Smith Farm in use as a hospital, over on the blog.

12/31/1833; Xenia, OH

07/11/1896; New York City, NY; burial in Caesar Creek Cemetery, Waynesville, OH