John Ridgely: Military Surgeon and Pioneer of American Medicine (1819–1903)

John Ridgely, military and contract surgeon, was born on July 4, 1819, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Noah and Hannah (Lee) Ridgely. He was christened on September 5, 1819, at Saint Peters Protestant Episcopal Church in Baltimore. Ridgely attended the University of Maryland, where he graduated from the school of medicine in the class of 1841. In the early 1840s he was a physician on an expedition of exploration on the Yukon River (into modern-day Alaska), and on that expedition he collected much of the information known of this frontier territory by the U. S. government.

During the Mexican War, Ridgely enlisted as a private in the Third U. S. Infantry on July 18, 1846, at New Orleans Barracks and was assigned to Company F on August 27, 1846. In May 1847 he was on duty in the general hospital at Fort Polk, Texas. After service in Texas during the Mexican War he returned to the East Coast to practice medicine.

During the Civil War, Ridgely served as contract surgeon of U. S. Volunteers and on October 14, 1863, joined the garrison at Fort Mason at San José Point, California, where he served until he was relieved in April 1864. He was transferred to the post at the Presidio at San Francisco, California, and served from April 26, 1864, through May. On June 30, 1865, Ridgely, at age forty-six, was mustered in from civilian life at Louisville, Kentucky, and appointed surgeon (major) of the Sixth Regiment U. S. Colored Cavalry for three years of service; he reported for duty at Camp Nelson, Kentucky. On December 16, 1865, Surgeon Ridgely was put in charge of the post hospital at Helena, Arkansas. He was on detached service to Little Rock, through January 1866 and then was stationed at DeVall’s Bluff, Arkansas, until he was mustered out of service with the regiment on April 15, 1866. Ridgely rejoined the service on June 21, 1866.

In Texas, Ridgely served at Victoria until he was relieved of duty there by Special Order 203 on November 18, 1867. He temporarily served the post hospital at Indianola and was then transferred as acting assistant surgeon (citizen physician) from March 1868 through April 1868 at Fort Inge. He replaced Aaron Ansell whose contract was annulled. Ridgely was then assigned to the post at Austin from June 22, 1868, through October 1868. He was appointed post surgeon at Fort McKavett in October 1868 and assumed the post on November 15, 1868. While at Fort McKavett, Ridgely became frustrated with the construction of a new hospital there due to a conflict with the officer overseeing the construction. The officer questioned Ridgely’s qualifications and would not consider the physician’s recommendations regarding the medical facility. In correspondence with the medical director of the Department of Texas, Ridgely protested the officer’s actions but to no avail.

Ridgely was on detached service to the post at Austin from late March through April 1869. He was soon transferred to another post in August 1869 and was relieved from duty in September 1869, when he was transferred to duty at Helena until November 9, 1869. At that time, he was making $120 a month. On March 24, 1870, Ridgely was assigned to post hospital at Calvert, where he relieved Acting Assistant Surgeon Daniel D. Clark. Ridgely was transferred to the post at Galveston, which he joined on April 13, 1870, and served through June.

On October 18, 1870, John Ridgely married seventeen-year-old Margaret Jane Crowder, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Crowder, in Yanceyville, North Carolina. When Ridgely returned to duty, he was assigned to the post of David’s Island in New York Harbor as a citizen physician and served from November 1870 to February 1871. In April 1871 he reported to post at Aberdeen, Mississippi, where he served until February 28, 1872.

In 1874 to 1875 Ridgely was attached to Camp Robinson and Camp Sheridan in Nebraska Territory and Fort Fetterman in Wyoming Territory where in September 1875 he accompanied the Big Horn Expedition, which had the mission of pushing the Cheyenne and Lakota back to their reservations. The medical contingency of the expedition was under Assistant Surgeon Curtis E. Munn, who served as medical director. Ridgely was one of two contract surgeons and later was tasked with establishing a field hospital at Fort Reno, Wyoming Territory, while the other medical personnel continued with the rest of the expedition. Ridgely left the post upon the annulment of his contract in June 1876.

By 1880 he had returned to Baltimore and reestablished his medical practice. On the 1880 census, Ridgely and his wife were living in Washington, D. C. They moved to Kentucky about 1883. Between 1883 and 1892 they had six children, all born in Lebanon, Kentucky, where Ridgely served as the superintendent of the Lebanon National Cemetery. He moved to Varina, Virginia, near Richmond and regained his profession as a physician until 1892, when, on February 2, 1892, he was assigned the position of superintendent of the Fort Harrison National Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, and served twelve years until his death. Dr. John Ridgely died in Richmond on February 4, 1903, and was buried in the same cemetery.