Medical Pioneer. When he graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto at the age of 23, he became the second Black Canadian-born surgeon. During the Civil War, he was one of the only eight African-American Doctors involved with the Union Army, serving from 1863 to 1866 as a civilian contract surgeon. His work in the soldier's hospitals in Washington, DC endeared him to President Abraham Lincoln, and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln made a gift to him of the shepard plaid shawl that President Lincoln wore on route to his first inauguration in 1861. After the war he came back up to Canada to practice medicine in Toronto, Ontario. He was later in life given the honorary rank of Captain by the Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization.
Medical Pioneer. When he graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto at the age of 23, he became the second Black Canadian-born surgeon. During the Civil War, he was one of the only eight African-American Doctors involved with the Union Army, serving from 1863 to 1866 as a civilian contract surgeon. His work in the soldier's hospitals in Washington, DC endeared him to President Abraham Lincoln, and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln made a gift to him of the shepard plaid shawl that President Lincoln wore on route to his first inauguration in 1861. After the war he came back up to Canada to practice medicine in Toronto, Ontario. He was later in life given the honorary rank of Captain by the Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization.
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