Mike:

Miraculously I found my machine copy of the list of graduates from the S. C, Medical College, from 1824 through the end of the 19th Centrury. Its not marked, but I am confident that I got it from the appendix of a book on the history of the medical college. The list goes through 1924, but I only copied through 1899. Its partially apphabetical, but a little rough to follow at timess, since the lists jump around in blocks of names.

I checked the classes from 1848 through 1861, and no Dickson Kirby. There is a "J. J. Kerby" listed with the Class of 1859.

A fair number of South Carolinians attended medical school at the University of Virginia Medical School, and at the University of Pennsylvania and at Jefferson Medical College (now University), both in Philadelphia. A handful of South Carolinians also went to the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, but surprisingly few, considering its proximity. Obvioulsy there were also many other medical schools around at the time, but those mentioned seem to be the onbes that had the most South Carolina graduates. A handful went to school at Transylvania College at Lexington, Ky., which I understand got swallowed up by the medical college at the University of Kentucky postwar. Transylvania Medical College was considered one of the best in the southern U. S. and apparently stood head and shoulders above anything west of the Appalachians in the years before the Civil War.

I have found that a substantial minority of physicians at the time of the War had studied medicine under the supervision of a reputable physician and began practice in that way, before the advent of medical licensing.

You might try positng on the Civil War Medical message board. My very limited forays into this area have convinced me that there are some incredibly knowlegeable people out there.

I don't know of any internet posting of medical school graduates, and trying to find the listing of graduates by class from particular medical schools is difficult. The histories of the schools don't always have such listings -- usually only in the older histories.