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Some surgeons of Semmes Brigade

A reminiscence of Thomas P. Cleveland, a private in Company F, 10th Georgia Infantry, states that when BGen Paul Semmes was mortally wounded at Gettysburg, he was attended by three surgeons, Dr. Watts of Maryland, Dr. Knott of Atlanta, and Dr. Todd. Dr. Watts is evidently E. M. Watts, the Senior Surgeon of Semmes Brigade. Dr. Knott is apparently Surgeon James J. Knott of the 53rd Georgia. Knott was reportedly the youngest surgeon in the Confederate army, having graduated from the Medical College in Atlanta in 1859. He practiced in Atlanta for nearly half a century after the war, dying on 12 July 1914. Dr. Todd has to be George Rogers Clark Todd, Surgeon of Semmes Brigade and the brother of Mary Todd Lincoln. Separately, in the same battle, Sergeant William Jones of the 50th Georgia writes that Dr. Todd examined his wounded right foot around 9 a.m. on 5 July at a barn where the brigade began their charge on 2 July. Dr. Todd performed an amputation of Sgt. Jones' foot, assisted by Dr. Parramore. Henry J. Parramore was Assistant Surgeon of the 50th Georgia Regiment. He was captured after being left behind to tend to the wounded, and was reportedly exchanged on 21 November 1863. Parramore was from Madison, Florida. He appears on the 1850 census from Madison as being 18 years old, and may have received his medical degree from City University of New York. Parramore is buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Madison. Another surgeon of Semmes brigade at Gettysburg was James Beverly Clifton of North Carolina. At midnight on 2 July, Clifton discovered wounded Confederates lying at George Rose's stone barn, near where they had fallen, and had them transported to the rear. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) stated that Clifton graduated from New York University in 1857 and reported his death at Louisburg, NC on 2 November 1902. Clifton was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Franklin County, NC; his tombstone records his date of death and his date of birth as 27 April 1836.

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Some surgeons of Semmes Brigade
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