Jonah Franklin Dyer

After graduating from medical school he began a practice in Boston, living with his mother and siblings there in 1850. By 1860 he was a prosperous doctor in Gloucester, MA. He enrolled on 3 August 1861 in Lynnfield, MA and was commissioned Surgeon of the 19th Massachusetts Infantry on 22 August.

He treated wounded soldiers, including Colonel Hincks, on the field at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

In November 1862 he was detailed as Chief Surgeon of the Division (2nd of the 2nd Corps) and served as such for the remainder of his 3 year term of service, but he also generally quartered with his regiment and continued in field medical service. He was discharged on 28 August 1864.

By 1870 he had returned to Gloucester, MA and his medical practice. He was also postmaster, member of the Massachusetts General Court, coroner, medical examiner, school committee member, alderman, and one-time mayor of Gloucester (1878, portrait).

His service from the History 1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1850. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He's often seen as J. Franklin Dyer, and signed his name that way. His wartime letters home were edited and published by Michael B Chesson as The Journal of a Civil War Surgeon (2003).

04/15/1826; Eastport, ME

02/09/1879; Gloucester, MA; burial in Hillside Cemetery, Eastport, ME