Our Surgeons

THE SURGEONS OF THE

ARMY OF TENNESSEE

 

 

BOB FOX PORTRAYING - Maj. Edward A. Flewellen -- Medical Director

 

Edward Archelaus Flewellen, son of James and Elizabeth Flewellen, was born on September 17, 1819 in Warren County, Georgia. He was educated at Randolph Macon College, Virginia and graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1854. He practiced medicine in Thomaston, Upson County, Georgia. When the Civil War began he enlisted and in May 1861 was commissioned a major and served as a surgeon with the Fifth Georgia Infantry Regiment. One of his first posts was in Pensacola, Florida. In 1862 he was made medical director of the Army of Tennessee by General Braxton Bragg. The Battle of Antietam was fought on his 43rd birthday. As a result of the strain of his duties, his health began to deteriorate and he resigned his post in November, 1863, but was not relieved until February, 1864.

On 2 July 1864 he was made Inspector of Hospitals and was Chief Surgeon. He held that position until the end of the war. He, along with another surgeon, conducted an inspection of Andersonville Prison and his findings served as a witness at the trial of Commandant Henry Wirz.

After the war, he was appointed as Superintendent of Public Works of Georgia in 1872 and was put in charge of two small railroads. He was elected to the state constitutional convention in 1877. After his public service, he returned to Upson County to private life. In 1896 he was elected a state senator for a two year term. Edward A. Flewellen never married. He wrote an article about the Flewellen family in 1860 which appeared in the history of Warren County, Georgia. Dr. Flewellen died on December 9, 1910 in Thomaston in Upson County, Georgia. He was 91 years old, ancient at a time when the average life expectancy was about 50 years. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery near Thomaston, Georgia.

His medical papers were donated to the federal government and can now be found in Washington D.C. as part of the National Archives.
(based upon archives)

 

 

TREVOR STEINBACH PORTRAYING - Maj. Thomas Fleming - Georgia Surgeon

 

Dr. Thomas Francis Fleming was born in 1834 in Savannah, Georgia. His father, Dr. Francis Thomas Fleming has immigrated from Ireland in 1830 with his wife Fanny (Francis). He had followed his brother Patrick to America. Patrick Fleming had arrived in Savannah, Georgia in 1806. Dr. Fleming moved the family to Lincolnton after Thomas' sixth birthday as the county was advertising for doctors to move there and practice. The city Lincolnton was named for General Benjamin Lincoln, who was a Revolutionary War hero from Georgia. There was already a sizable Irish population in Lincoln County. Thomas attended the Jefferson County Academy (later Martin Institute) in Jefferson, Georgia from 1849 to 1854.

Dr. Fleming graduated from the Medical College of Georgia (Augusta) in 1856. This was the oldest medical school in Georgia. The school was originally formed in 1828. During his tenure at the school he practiced at the schools Jackson Street Hospital for Negroes in 1854-6. The Medical College gave the students two hospitals to practice clinical skills, one White and one for Negroes. The college graduated 73 students in 1856, the largest class before the Civil War and Thomas was one of them. In 1858 he married Ms. Lizzie (Elizabeth) O'Rourke from Lincolnton Georgia, his childhood sweetheart, in St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Washington, Georgia.

Upon war breaking out, Dr. Fleming volunteered as a private and first served in Company A of the 5^th Georgia starting on May 11, 1861. His first enlistment was for one year of service. Upon the discovery that he was a doctor, he was reassigned by the Secretary of War and was appointed an Assistant Surgeon for the 5^th Georgia at Tazewell, Georgia on October 31, 1861. By June 30, 1862 he had re-enlisted and had been assigned to detached medical duty at the General Hospital at the University of Alabama, by order of Col. Baslik. During the remainder of the war he served the Confederacy at this hospital. Beside his patient load his other primary duty was in the Hospital Pharmacy.

He swore his allegiance to the United States on May 12, 1865 at the Headquarters of the 16^th Army Corps Office of the Provost Marshall. Upon returning home to Lincolnton, Georgia he resumed his practice as a country doctor. He and his wife had 5 children: Thomas Jr., Clara Marie, Francine, Elizabeth, and Francis between 1866 and 1878. In 1899 his wife died from typhoid fever. Dr. Fleming applied for and was granted a pension by the State of Georgia in 1900. Like most veterans of the South, he belonged to United Confederate Veterans 814 Lamar Gibson Camp in Lincolnton. At the age of 68 he joined the new Patrick Walsh Council #677 Knights of Columbus in Augusta, Georgia, one of the first three Councils in Georgia. Dr. Fleming died in 1919 at the age of 85 and was buried next to his wife and two of his children in the St. Joseph's Churchyard in Washington, Georgia.

 (based upon supposition & archives)

 

 

 

 

BOB NORTON  - PORTRAYING

 

 

JON COOPER - PORTRAYING

 

 BILL WETZBARGER - PORTRAYING