ASSIMILATED RANK IN THE NAVY.
We most earnestly commend to our readers, and to the profession
generally, the manly appeal of our correspondent, as set forth in his let-
ter below. It tells its own story so eloquently as to need no urging on
our part. The matters complained of have been so long and so patient-
ly endured, that those in authority seem to have lost sight of the claims
of the medical officers of the navy to be treated as gentlemen. The
medical departments of both services have always had our warmest sym-
pathies, and we cordially hope that a universal response will be made
by the profession to this appeal in their behalf. We also append the
memorial, which it is proposed to distribute to the profession throughout
the country. To any who may fail to receive it, and may feel interest-
ed in seeing their medical brethren obtain their just demands, we sug-
gest that copies of the memorial should be made, signatures obtained, and
then transmitted to Philadelphia, as requested by our correspondent.
Dear Sir:—You are requested to examine the subject of “A Me-
morial in behalf of the Medical Officers of the Navy of the United States,”
and, if you approve of its object, to give it the support of your name,
and induce others to join in an attempt to procure by law an assimila-
ted rank for medical officers in the Navy corresponding to that legally
established for the same class of officers in the Army of the United
States.
Very soon after the close of the war with England,—when the value
of medical services was strongly impressed upon the mind of officers of
the navy generally—the medical officers asked to be assigned a defi-
nite rank. Their petition was sustained by the opinion of the Secreta-
ry of the Navy (B. W. Crowninshield), by the Board of Navy Commis-
sioners, in official communications, dated January, 1817, and addressed
to the Naval Committee of the Senate. In May, 1816, nine captains
signed an address to the Secretary Of the Navy, in which they say,
“We consider the medical department of such great importance to the
navy of our country, that no reasonable measures ought to be omitted
which could have a tendency to retain in the service the professional
ability of those gentlemen who, by their experience, knowledge, zeal and
humanity, have procured the esteem and confidence of those with
whom they have been associated; and we also beg leave to express our
belief that no reasonable inducements would be objected toby Congress
to procure for those who are engaged in a perilous service, and who are
constantly exposed to the diseases of all climates, the best medical aid
which the country affords. To effect this, it must be obvious that the
rank and pecuniary emolument ought to bear some proportion to what
gentlemen of professional eminence would be entitled in private life.”—
In December, 1816, four captains addressed the Secretary of the Navy
on the same subject. They say : “We have heard with pleasure that it
is the intention of the medical officers of the navy to address a respect-
ful memorial to you, requesting that measures might be taken by the
Department to procure for them a definite rank in the service, an increase
of pay, and the establishment by law of the rank of hospital surgeon.”
When these memorials were presented, there were but thirty captains
in the navy; and if, to the thirteen signers of these addresses, the three
Navy Commissioners who approved of their object be added, it is fair
to infer that they represented the general opinion of the navy on the subject.
The names of the captains who signed the address were Samuel Evans, Jo-
seph Bainbridge, S. Angus, James Renshaw, Geo. W. Rogers, James T.
Leonard, Edward Trenchard, James Jones, L. Warrington, William
Bainbridge, Isaac Hull, D. Deacon, Alexander S. Wadsworth, and the
Navy Commissioners were John Rodgers, Stephen Decatur, and David
Porter.
In the year 1824, through the representations of several distinguished
surgeons, the present, system of examining candidates for the medical
department, prior to admission into the navy, and of assistant surgeons
previous to promotion, was begun, which has been very influential in
securing for the naval service a competent medical corps. An improve-
ment in the condition of medical officers began about the same period ;
but it was not until August, 1846, that the efforts to assign them a defi-
nite position in the military organization of which they are members
were successful. At that time the Honorable Secretary of the Navy is-
sued the following:—
“ General Order.
“ Surgeons of the fleet, and Surgeons of more than twelve years, will
rank with Commanders ;
“ Surgeons of less than twelve years, with Lieutenants ;
“ Passed-assistant Surgeons, next after Lieutenants;
“ Assistant Surgeons not passed, next after Masters.
“ Commanding and Executive officers of whatever grade, when on du-
ty, will take precedence over all medical officers.
“ This order confers no- authority to exercise military command, and
no additional right to quarters.
“ George Bancroft.
“ Navy Department, August 31, 1846.”
Under this General Order, a question of precedence arose in October,
1849, on a mixed board of officers, assembled at Washington, D. C.,
between a Commander, whose commission is dated in February, 1847,
and a Surgeon, whose commission is dated in April, 1831, and who
therefore ranks with commanders from Apr. 1843, when he was a surgeon
“ of rno-re than twelve years.” The question, which name should be
first signed to the report of the Board, was referred to the Secretary of
the Navy. But the commander demurred to the legal authority of the
Department to issue or enforce the order. The Honorable Secretary of
the Navy has not yet made known his decision on this point. The ef-
fect of his delay for so long a period, now six months, has been to pro-
voke remonstrance and encourage demonstration against the authority
of the Department on the part of those officers of the line, including
some passed midshipmen, who think the question can be legally deci-
ded by Congress alone, and in this manner the whole subject has been
again opened to discussion and agitation.
It is said one “ commander-in-chief’’ assumes that all general orders
become obsolete the moment the Secretary of the Navy, who may have
issued them, retires from office; he virtually assumes that the authority
of the office of Secretary of the Navy dies every four years, or at least
whenever a new administration comes into power.
In the Buffalo “Morning Express,’’ of March 20th, is the following—
“ Naval Circular.
“It seems to be impossible for the commanding officer of a squadron
to issue any order calculated to control, in the slightest degree, the course
and wishes of a Purser, but he promptly produces some circular of the
many, obsolete or otherwise, with which the whole class appears to be
provided, and presents it as an order from the Navy Department, and
intended to operate as a check upon his command.
“The present Honorable Secretary of the Navy has not furnished
me with these particular circulars or instructions, but he has furnished
me with laws for the better government of the navy.
“ The regulations of the Navy Department, approved by the Presi-
dent of the United States (as far as they are in use), and my own regu-
lations, for the method and government of the squadron, will be enforced
on board the ship under your command.
“ I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed)	“Chas. W. Morgan.
“Com. U. S. Naval Forces, Mediterranean.
“ P. S.—As it is very apparent that great confusion and insubordina-
tion in the squadron arise out of the constant presentation, by the Pur-
sers, of circulars, orders, and instructions from the different branches of
the Navy Department, not properly authorized as such upon their face,
by the authority of the Secretary of the Navy for their issue,—I have to
direct, that the commanders of the different vessels composing the
naval force under my command, will allow no order whatsoever, not here-
tofore sanctioned by me, to be carried into effect, without my authority
therefor, until I am further instructed by the Honorable Secretary of the
Navy.
“ Respectfully,
(Signed)	“Chas. W. Morgan.
“ Captain-------, Commanding U. S. Ship-------, Mediterranean.”
For similar assumption in 1843 or 1844, this same gentleman was
deprived of command in the Mediterranean. Judge Upshur, then Sec-
retary of the Navy, wrote him substantially as follows :
“ An officer who debates, instead of obeying the orders of the Depart-
ment, is unfit to be trusted with the interests of the government. Your
successor has, therefore, been appointed, and you will return to the
United States in the way most convenient to yourself.”
Whatever rests upon the authority, judgment, caprice, or facility of
disposition of an individual, is ever uncertain and unstable. For this rea-
son, the medical officers of the Navy desire that a law may be enacted to
give them a definite rank, so that all those who are disposed to demur,
to cavil, to quibble, or to question the authority of the Department, may
no longer find cause to exercise their ingenuity.
To illustrate the necessity and propriety of a law to establish a defi-
nite rank for medical officers, as well as for others of the civil branch
of the naval service, reference may be made to the “American State Pa-
pers,” volume for naval affairs, in which is a record of an outrage com-
mitted by Captain Oliver H. Perry on John Heath, a captain
of marines. Captain Perry, in his own cabin, “gave to Captain
Heath a blow.” This act, and its investigation by a naval court-mar-
tial, caused the commissioned officers of the Mediterranean squadron to
address a memorial to the Senate of the United States, dated Port Ma-
hon, January 20th, 1817, of which the following is the concluding par-
agraph :
“ The undersigned have no guarantee for the safety of their persons,
but the use of those arms which the laws of their country have placed
in their hands, and that personal strength with which nature has blessed
them. To these means they must resort, and on them in future depend,
unless the honorable Senate, to whom they look with filial confidence
as the guardians of their rights, will, by timely interference, save them
from the disagreeable alternative of relinquishing a profession to which
they are enthusiastically attached; or, becoming, in every instance, the
defenders not only of their characters but of their persons. Placed at a
distance from their country, and without the immediate influence of its
civil laws, your memorialists rely with confidence on the decision of the
high tribunal to which they now solemnly appeal. Your memorialists trust
it will notengross too much valuable time of the Senate, to institute an ex-
amination into the proceedings of this court in these two instances.
They beg leave also to state, that a case occurred at Naples, in August
last, between Captain J. 0. Creighton, and Midshipman Marston, of the
Washington, the decision on which they consider as tending to destroy
the conviction which every officer ought to feel, while in the execution
of the duties of his office, that the strong arm of the law is extended over
him, equally for his protection during good conduct, and for his punish-
ment when he deviates from its rules. If your memorialists have erred
in making this appeal, they hope it will be attributed rather to an exu-
berance than a deficiency of good feeling; and they trust they will ever
be fouud ready to obey the call and support the cause of their country
in any contest, however unpromising to themselves as individuals.
“ And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
“ Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, Lieut., Navy.
W. B. Shubrick, Lieutenant.
R. T. Auchmuty, Lieutenant Marine Corps.
Christopher Ford, Lieut., Marine Corps.
George Pearce, Lieutenant, Navy.
Beverly Kennon, Lieutenant, Marines.
Samuel L. Breese, Lieutenant, Navy.
Thomas Nichols, Sailing Master.
Robert F. Stockton, Lieutenant, Navy.
Francis B. White, Lieutenant, Marines.
Joseph L. Kuhn, Lieutenant, Marines.
W. H. Watson, Lieutenant, Navy.
Wm. H. Cocke, Lieutenant, Navy.
H. B. Breckenridge, Captain, Marines.
B.	Washington, Surgeon.
George B. English, Lieutenant, Marines.
James Armstrong, Lieutenant, U. S. Navy.
George Beale, Purser.
C.	S. M?Cauley, Lieutenant, U. S. Navy.
Hyde Ray, Surgeon.
Chas. T. Stallings, Lieutenant, Navy.
E. W. Turner, Purser.
Joseph Cassin, Lieutenant, Navy.
Gustavus W. Spooner, Lieutenant, Navy.
Robert S. Kearney, Surgeon.
William Hall, Captain, Marines.
John Harris, Lieutenant, Marines.
Henry Ollcott, Lieutenant, Marines.
N. Webster, Lieutenant, Navy.
8. H. Stringham, Lieutenant, Navy.
W. K. Latimer, Lieutenant, Navy.
L. Roupeaug, Lieutenant, Navy.
Alex. H. Montgomery, Acting Surgeon.
Robert Field, Lieutenant, Navy.
N. L. Montgomery, Lieutenant, Navy.
M. D. Nicholson, Lieutenant, Navy.
W. Laughton, Lieutenant, Navy.
John Cadle, Acting Surgeon.
John W. Peaco, Surgeon.
M. C. Atwood, Purser.
J. L. Morris, Lieutenant, Navy. ”
The names of those who are still in the Navy are in italics.
It does not appear that the complainants obtained any substantial re-
ply to their prayer.
Medical men employed in either branch of the military service of the
country, are small detachments from the great body of the medical com-
munity ; although laboring alone, they do not abandon a claim to the
common interests and sympathies of the profession ; and while upon the
field, or on the ocean, they may regard themselves as its delegates or
representatives, bound to submit to its common rules of ethics and poli-
cy. Until within a few years, there were no facilities for invoking the
protection of their professional brothers; but now the profession is or-
ganized to some extent, in County, and in State societies, and the Amer-
ican Medical Association of the United States, it is hoped medical men
included in military organizations will not appeal in vain.
Members of the medical profession serving in the army and navy are
all alumni of some alma mater ; and the professional parent may pro-
perly protect and encourage her offspring whenever protection and en-
couragement are needed.
Say then to alma mater ;—do not permit your alumni to be forced be-
low their proper position in any community of Americans, civil or mili-
tary. You have prepared them in your halls to be physicians, and have
recorded your declaration that they are worthy of confidence and re-
spect. You have taught them their obligations ; you may properly aid
them in securing an observance of their rights, and a just consideration.
Your alumni are refused a place relatively to those with whom they are
associated ; and are denied those conventional signs of respect which are
peculiar to military communities, while they are subject in all things to
martial lawsand usages. In an exacting military organization they are
without those rights which are given legally to one class, and are left to
a contingent courtesy for the treatment they may receive.
Ina similar spirit, call upon our fellow-alumni, and ask them individ-
ually, and in societies, wherever they may be, to examine the subject,
and urge their friends and representatives in the National Legislature to
extend over us the protection of law.
With this object, you are requested to date the memorial and address
one copy to the Senate, or to one of the United States’ Senators of your
State, and another to the representative of the Congressional district in
which you reside. After all the gentlemen who are willing to counte-
nance this effort have signed, please return the papers to Philadelphia,
addressed to Mr. F. Brown, Northeast corner of Fifth and Chestnut
St., and endorsed “Medical Memorial.” When all sections of the
country are heard from, the whole of the papers will be forwarded to
Washington at the same date.
It is sincerely hoped no unnecessary delay will be indulged in execu-
ting the request which is thus earnestly and respectfully preferred.
Very respectfully, &c.,
JI memorial in behalf of the Medical Officers of the Navy of the
United States.
The undersigned respectfully represent, that the medical officers of
the Navy of the United States, until within a few years, have been
without an assigned position relatively to others in the military commu-
nity of which they are members. It being made manifest that the want
of a relative position caused them to suffer, in many instances, grievous
inconvenience and mortification, the Honorable the Secretary of the
Navy issued a General Order, dated August 31st, 1846, for the purpose
of assigning a relative position to medical officers in the Navy. This
General Order was acceptable to the medical corps ; it called forth an
expression of gratification from the body of the medical profession of
the Union, represented in the “American Medical Association,” (May
1848,) because, in the language of the resolution, it “ regards with pride
and satisfaction the services rendered, and the position maintained by
that portion of their profession associated with the Military Department
of the country; and in consideration of the severe and arduous duties
which the medical officers have performed, the risks and dangers to
which they have been exposed in the performance of those duties,
during a period of warfare, and in an unhealthy climate, it is deemed
just and proper, by this Association, that their services should receive
from the government, an acknowledgement corresponding to that award-
ed their brother officers.” The members of the medical corps would
be content with the assimilated rank thus conferred, although below
that which has been justly given by law to their professional brothers
in the Army of the United States. But as some officers of the line in
the Navy have avoided obeying the General Order of August 31st,
1846, with impunity, and even question the authority of the Secretary
of the Navy to issue the said order, which, in effect, confers no power
on medical officers, and takes away neither power nor dignity from of-
ficers of the line ; and as experience has shown, that observance of the
order cannot interfere with the general discipline of the naval service,
nor lessen its efficiency, your memorialists pray Congress will enact,
that the grades of medical officers of the Navy shall have the same degree
of rank relatively to officers of the line in the Navy, as corresponding
grades of medical officers in the JLrmy now possess according to law, re-
latively to officers of the line in the Jlrmy, provided that the assimilated
rank hereby conferred shall not entitle any medical officer in the Navy
to increased pay, or to take precedence of any officer who may be in legal
command of any post, station or vessel, to which said medical officer may
be officially attached for duty.
The medical officers of the Navy seek, in this measure, only what is
just and reasonable ; they do not ask a right to command officers of the
line, nor any power not designated in their present commissions, nor ex-
emption from any duty.
It is believed that members of the medical profession generally,
throughout the United States, cannot be indifferent to any executive or
legislative action, which may stamp a sign of low appreciation on the
science of Medicine and Surgery when exercised in the military services
of the nation. It is hoped, therefore, that the justice and propriety of
their cause will not be less apparent, because it is urged against numbers
by a comparatively small corps of men, separated only while on duty
from the great body of their medical brothers, to which they are united
by the common bonds of professional, social, and scientific fellowship.
And, as in duty bound, your memorialists will ever pray.