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H.H. McGuire

H.H. McGuire

Confederate (CSA)

Surgeon

Hunter Holmes McGuire

(1835 - 1900)

Home State: Virginia

Education: Winchester Medical College, Class of 1855

Command Billet: Medical Director, Army Corps

Branch of Service: Medical

Unit: Jackson's Command

Before Sharpsburg

The son of a prominent and prosperous doctor, he graduated from the medical school his father founded and had additional training in Philadelphia. He taught medicine in Winchester and Philadelphia, In 1860 he was a 24 year old physician living with his parents and siblings in Winchester, VA. He enlisted as a private in the Winchester Rifles (later Company F of the 2nd Virginia Infantry) in April 1861, but was deemed too valuable to serve as a foot soldier when the Confederacy needed trained doctors and was appointed a brigade surgeon on 15 July 1861 and reported to General Thomas J Jackson at Harpers Ferry.

On the Campaign

He was with the Army in Maryland.

The rest of the War

He served in all the major battles of the Army of Northern Virginia as the medical director of the Second (Jackson's) Corps to the end of the war.

After the War

He went to Richmond and was Chairman of Surgery at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) to 1878. He founded St. Luke's Home for the Sick there in 1883 and the University College of Medicine in 1893 (now part of MCV). He remained a staunch supporter of Jackson's reputation and image, writing biographical sketches and giving speeches. He was also president of numerous medical organizations and societies including the American Medical Assocaiation.

He married and fathered 9 children, some of whom followed in his footsteps in pursuing medical careers. He died of complications of a cerebral embolism on 19 September 1900. A statue stands on the Virginia State House grounds in memory of him.

References & notes

His service basics from Dennis E Frye's 2nd Virginia Infantry (1984). Personal details from Jenny Goellnitz's Hunter McGuire site [now gone], family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, a talk Dr. McGuire gave in 1889, and the 1904 memorial address at the unveiling of his monument in Richmond (from the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 34). His gravesite is on Findagrave. Thanks to Margaret McGuire Seiler for her help with his children. His picture from a photograph shared by the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

He married Mary Steel Stuart (1844-1933) in December 1866 and they had 9 children.

His father Dr. Hugh Holmes McGuire (1801-1875) was also a Confederate surgeon, and served at the CS Hospital in Lexington, VA during the war.

Birth

10/11/1835; Winchester, VA

Death

9/19/1900; Richmond, VA; burial in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA