Page 30 - Delaware Medical Journal - September/October 2018
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Present day Tilton Mansion at 9th and Broom streets in Wilmington.
of military hospitals.14 Under an act of March 3, 1813 (2 Stat.
819), President Madison offered Tilton the position of the Army Surgeon General of The United States. His appointment under date of May 1, 1813, President Madison caused to be issued Rules and Regulations for the Army, and therein were prescribed “It shall be the duty of the Physician and Surgeon General to prescribe rules for the government of the hospitals of the army, to see these enforced, to appoint stewards and nurses, to call for and receive returns of medicine, surgical instruments and hospital stores, to authorize and regulate the supply of regimental medical chests, to make out general half year returns of these and of the sick in hospital to the War Department, and yearly estimates of what may be wanted for the supply of the army.15
One of the newly appointed Surgeon General’s acts after and camps along the northern frontier. Here, Tilton found that all of the lessons of sanitation learned from the last war had
been forgotten. In both camp and hospitals, he found such utter contempt for sanitary measures and dire results of this neglect that immediate action was necessary. Tilton dismantled and moved the bad hospitals, establishing new ones, and by the elimination of incompetent personnel, he was able to do much
in improving these unsatisfactory conditions. His efforts to improve hospital conditions and to rehabilitate the medical and hygienic service of the army resulted in the publication of his Regulations for the Medical Department issued in general orders of December 1814.16
Soon after the publication, on December 7, 1814, it became necessary to perform a thigh amputation in order to prolong Tilton’s life. He withstood the pre-anesthetic era agonies of
the amputation, even instructed the surgeon and his assistants regarding the details of his operation and how he wanted it performed. Tilton’s original surgery slab remains in the basement of the Tilton Mansion to this day.
this might be in fact be the time that you have heard about Tilton, it is our hope that it is not the last.
Dr. Alfred R. Shands, an orthopedic surgeon who helped found the Alfred I. du Pont Institute and is its medical director emeritus, wrote in 1975, “Dr. Tilton undoubtedly was the greatest physician Delaware ever had.”17
Several hundred years ago, it might be thought to be easier to compile such an impressive list of than it would be today
in 2018. The annual Tilton Award for Medical Achievement in Delaware challenges that assumption by recognizing Delaware doctors and their contributions to medical advancements, some of
The annual dinner for the Tilton Award takes place on September 28 in the Tilton Mansion itself from 6-9 p.m. Stephen Permut, M.D., J.D. is the 2018 recipient being honored at the dinner. The award will be passed to him by G. Dean MacEwen, M.D. of Nemours Surgery-Orthopedics, the 2017 recipient.
The historic Tilton Mansion is situated at 805 N. Broom St. in Wilmington, Delaware. The mansion is presently home to the University and Whist Club. History tours and dining are available to be scheduled for groups of six or more. Call (302) 658-5125 for additional information.
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Del Med J | September/October 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 7
