CIVIL WAR MEDICAL ANTIQUES, P. 4

Confederate Surgeon Magnus M. Lewis, P.A.C.S., Chief Surgeon of General Pickett’s Division.

Dr. Magnus M. Lewis was born in Jefferson Co., Va. in 1824. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1846, and set-up his practice in Alexandria, Virginia.

As Virginia and the rest of the Confederacy were gearing up for war in early 1861, the local Alexandria Volunteer troops marched into Manassas Junction. Surgeon Lewis was a member of this group and upon arriving at Manassas Junction he assumed command of the Virginia Volunteer Surgeons by the order of the Governor of Virginia. The Alexandria troops were mustered into service of the Confederate Army on July 1, 1861 and became a portion of the 17th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

On May 5, 1862 Dr. Lewis became the Chief Surgeon of General A.P. Hill’s Brigade and a year later on June 30, 1863, as fate would have it just before the great Battle of Gettysburg, he was named Chief Surgeon of Pickett’s Division. Shortly after Gettysburg, Surgeon Lewis was appointed Medical Director of the Department of North Carolina. But then in 1864 as Pickett’s Division was rebuilt and recalled to the Army of Northern Virginia, Surgeon Lewis regained his position of Chief Surgeon of that division. As the war wound down Dr. Lewis was paroled at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865 with General Lee and the rest of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

This salt print photograph is a striking exhibition piece as the buttons and uniform trim are lightly hand-painted bringing out a deep contrast highlighting all of the pomp and circumstance that was this Confederate Surgeon. His gray tunic is decorated with surgeon’s insignia and quatrefoil running up the sleeve. An engaging photograph of the one man who witnessed the true measure of bravery and of defeat that was ultimately Pickett’s Division. This oval image is 5 1/4" by 7 1/4" included with the mount it is 8”x10.”