Page 28 - Delaware Medical Journal - September/October 2018
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Focusing on Firsts:
Delaware Doctor Was First U.S. Army Surgeon General
By Stacey Inglis
Delawareans have become accustomed to being . We have bragging rights. Caesar Rodney made certain of that when he rode through the night, signed his name
and established Delaware as the First celebratory days, Delaware basked in the glory of being the only state. Pennsylvania was second, and New Jersey third, to ratify and claim statehood.
, Delaware has had a series of them. Delaware’s permanent doctor was Tyman Stidham, a Swede who came over with Governor Risingh, landing at Fort Casimir (New Castle) on May 21, 1654.1 On June 21, 1768 medical honors were conferred for the time in America. Ten gentlemen received their Bachelor of Medicine degrees on this occasion and three of the men were from (what would become) Delaware. Not even a country yet,
or a state for that matter, and we had three doctors in the New Castle, James Tilton of Kent County and Nicholas Way of Wilmington.2
One of those three men went on to achieve a lion’s share of . It’s a name familiar to the medical community in the First State: Dr. James Tilton. Tilton was a founder and President of the Medical Society of Delaware, incorporated in 1789.3 In a letter to George Washington (you know, the President of the recently established United States) dated February 15, 1787, Tilton shared the news with his friend, announcing to him that he had been
Essay on Military Hospitals written by James Tilton M.D. in 1814. Part of the U.S. National Library of Medicine Digital Series Collection.
Original bronze sculpture of James Tilton, M.D. by sculptress Olga Nielsen in 2017.
4 “.....contrary to my opinion & inclination, the state society have hitherto continued to elect me their President.”
Tilton was born on a farm in Duck Creek in Kent County, Delaware, which at the time was still one of the three lower counties of Pennsylvania. He studied medicine under Dr. Ridgely, a prominent physician in Dover, until he entered the newly established medical department of the College
of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating in 1768, he established a practice in Dover, but
returned to earn his MD in 1771.5
When the First Delaware Regiment, commanded by Colonel John Haslet, was organized in December of 1775, Dr. Tilton was
appointed regimental surgeon. He served with the regiment
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Del Med J | September/October 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 7
