Description:

Lincoln Abraham 1809 - 1865 Archive of documents, including Lincoln and Grant appointments, and medical diplomas of young Assistant Surgeon Charles B. White, Army of the Potomac, who treated wounded Union soldiers at battles including Antietam and Fredericksburg, and who, at least once after being captured at Malvern Hill, pretending to be a Confederate surgeon, treated wounded Confederate soldiers (1)Abraham Lincoln. Partly printed Document Signed"Abraham Lincoln"as Presidentand"Simon Cameron"as Secretary of War, 1 page, 15.75" x 19.5". Washington, D.C., September 9, 1861. Completed in manuscript. Attractive military vignettes at top and bottom. Horizontal fold nicks top of "An" and "L" of signature. Appointment of Charles B. White as Assistant Surgeon to rank from May 28, 1861. Fine condition.

(2)Andrew Johnson. Partly printed Document Signed withstamped signatures"Andrew Johnson" as President and "Edwin M. Stanton" as Secretary of War, 1 page, 15.5" x 19.5". Washington, D.C., August 10, 1866. Completed in manuscript. Attractive military vignettes at top and bottom. Appointment of Charles B. White as Major by Brevet to rank from March 13, 1865 "for faithful and meritorious services during the war ..." Fine condition.

(3)Andrew Johnson. Partly printed Document Signed withstamped signatures"Andrew Johnson" as President and "Edwin M. Stanton" as Secretary of War, 1 page, 15.5" x 19.5". Washington, D.C., August 10, 1866. Completed in manuscript. Attractive military vignettes at top and bottom. Appointment of Charles B. White as Captain by Brevet to rank from March 13, 1865 "for faithful and meritorious services during the war..." Fine condition.

(4)Ulysses S. Grant. Partly printed Document Signed"U.S. Grant"as Presidentand"Wm. W. Belknap"as Secretary of War, 1 page, 15.5" x 19.5". Washington, D.C., February 10, 1876. Completed in manuscript. Attractive military vignettes at top and bottom. Appointment of Charles B. White as "Surgeon with the rank of Major" rank from October 1, 1875. Fine condition.

(5) Group of four medical diplomas: Charles B. White's 1859 medical degree from the University Medical College of New York (now NYU School of Medicine), signed by 11 including pioneer surgeonValentine Mott, two issued to Dr. C.B. White's father Dr. Ambrose L. White, and one to his son, Dr. Davenport White.


Dr. Charles Belden White (1837-1881), physician at New York's Bellevue Hospital, was appointed Assistant Surgeon by President Lincoln in September 1861 and was sent to Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was at the Battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chantilly, South Mountain, treating the wounded. He was Staff Surgeon at Headquarters, 13th Corps Army of the Tennessee (1863), marched through Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and served as Medical Director, U.S. Forces, Texas (1864) and was in charge of a hospital-steamer to June 1864. Dr. White served as Acting Post Surgeon, Jackson Barracks, New Orleans, and Medical Purveyor in New Orleans until 1868. He was Post Surgeon at Fort Schuyler, N.Y. to June 1870, at Camp Independence, California, to May 1876, and Columbia Barracks, Ohio, to July 1879. He was on medical leave when he died in 1881 at the age of 43.

In April 1862, Dr. White was assigned to field duty with the 5th Brigade Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac. All U.S. military records report that after the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia, on July 1, 1862, Dr. White remained with the wounded after the Army of the Potomac retreated. One indicates he volunteered which is more likely than being ordered because his was a civilian appointment. Despite his victory at Malvern Hill over forces led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, Major General George B. McClellan withdrew to the James River, where his army was protected by gunboats, ending the Peninsula Campaign. The biography of Dr. White in the "Report of the Secretary of War" (1882) reporting his death, notes that "After the battle of Malvern Hill he remained with the wounded left in the hands of the enemy. Army records do not record what happened next except to say that he returned to the Army of the Potomac.

Dr. John Swinburne (1820-1889), later Mayor of Albany and a U.S. Congressman, had been appointed Chief Medical Officer of the N.Y. National Guard and accompanied the Army of the Potomac. Following the Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia, on June 29, 1862, pursued by Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Magruder, the Army of the Potomac retreated to the James River. Dr. Swinburne remained to care for the thousands of wounded prisoners, both Union and Confederate. Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson, arriving at Savage's Station too late to attack the Union forces, respecting Dr. Swinburne's principles, gave him a pass, with an accompanying personal note, permitting visits to Union prisoners.

The actions of 24-year-old Dr. Charles B. White after he was "captured" by Confederate soldiers are revealed in an 1863 "Report on the Peninsula Campaign" by Dr. John Swinburne and an 1889 book "A Typical American; or Incidents in the Life of Dr. John Swinburne of Albany."

"On the morning of July 12 [1862], while passing Gen. McGruder's headquarters, [Swinburne] was handed a letter directed to the general from Assistant Surgeon C.S.A., C.B. White:"

"Malvern Hill, July 3, 1862. There are several cases which are needing capital operations, and which are of the latest date. Shall they remain there to be operated on? If so, further aid will be needed to continue the preparations or the removal of the others, as our time will be fully occupied. Can we possibly have further aid? If Dr. Swinburne can come (I hear he is in the vicinity) I would like it, or some other Federal surgeon. I judge by this time some of them at Savage's Station must be at leisure. Respectfully submitted, C. B. WHITE, Asst. Surg., C. S. A. To Maj. Gen. McGruder, C.S.A."

"The doctor responded, and going to Malvern Hill, with Drs. White, Chamberlain, and Jewett, performed all the operations."

What is not mentioned by Dr. Swinburne is that Dr. White was actually a Union surgeon; he must have recognized Assistant Surgeon C.B. White, a fellow New Yorker, having served with him in the Army of the Potomac and undoubtedly, under an unknown pretext, returned with him to the Army of the Potomac.

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