Jimmy --

I'll try to answer a couple of questions. Assistant Surgeons and Surgeons were commissioned officers who served at the direction of the Medical Director. One surgeon and one assistant surgeon were assigned to each regiment, although you can find regiments with more than one assistant surgeon assigned for some period of time. I don't recall more than one surgeon on duty with a regiment.

The pay grade of an assistant surgeon was captain; the pay grade of a surgeon was major.

Obviously medical officers could be assigned to duty outside of military units. Hospitals, camps and military posts needed medicial services, so the Medical Department assigned personel as needed. It's unusual to find a medical officer on the same assignment for long periods of time.

The best place to get factual information about an officer's service would be his military service file. You may already be aware that the message board has a service that will make copies and send them to you. It's available by using the link seen at the top of this page.