Clement Finley: Difference between revisions

| image =[[File:Clement Alexander Finley by- Bradyportrait.jpg|250px]]

| caption =[[Carte de visite]] by [[Mathew Brady]]

| bornbirth_date ={{Birth date|1797|05|11}}

| dieddeath_date ={{Death date and age|1879|09|08|1797|05|11}}

| placeofburialdeath_place = [[TheWest Woodlands (Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania)|The Woodlands]], PhiladelphiaUS

| branch = [[United States Army]]<br/>[[Union Army]]

| serviceyears = 1818-18621818–1862

| rank = [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]

| commands = [[Surgeon General of the United States Army|Surgeon General]]

| battles = [[Black Hawk War]] <br/>
[[2nd Seminole War]] <br/>
[[Mexican–American War]]<br>
*[[Siege of Veracruz]]

'''Clement Alexander Finley''' (May 11, 1797 —– September 8, 1879), was the 10th [[Surgeon General of the United States Army]], May 15, 1861 &ndash;– April 14, 1862.

Clement Finley was born at [[Newville, Pennsylvania|Newville]], [[Cumberland County, Pennsylvania]]. His father, [http://www.explorehistory.org/cds/Apr/materials/13.htm Samuel Finley], ([http://books.google.com/books?id=uyoKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA113&dq=%22Samuel+Finley+was+born+April+15,+1752%22&hl=en&ei=HUwYTMCGGIGBlAf-soC-Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Samuel%20Finley%20was%20born%20April%2015%2C%201752%22&f=false April 15, 1752] – [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=45004064 April 2, 1829]) served in the Virginia [[Cavalry (United States)|cavalry]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] attaining the grade of major. President [[George Washington]] appointed him receiver of public moneys in the northwest, which position took him to [[Chillicothe, Ohio]], about 1796, where he received a large allotment of land for his Revolutionary War service. Here Clement spent his childhood and youth and obtained his early education.

With the educational facilities of Chillicothe exhausted, he was sent to [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]], near his birthplace, to [[Dickinson College]] where he was graduated in 1815. He then went to [[Philadelphia]] where in 1818 he was given the degree of [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] by the [[University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=What Every Faculty Member Should Know |url=http://www.med.upenn.edu/facaffairscurriculum/orientation/ |publisher=Perelman School of Medicine |accessdate=27 November 2011 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008031534/http://www.med.upenn.edu/facaffairscurriculum/orientation/ |archivedate=8 October 2011 }}</ref> On August 30, 1833 he matriculated as a therapeutist at the Therapeutic Institute of Philadelphia.

His father's military service attracted him to the army, which had recently emerged from the [[War of 1812]], and on August 10, 1818, he was commissioned as a surgeon's mate of the [[1st Infantry Regiment (United States)|1st Infantry]]. The forty-three years that intervened before he became Surgeon General were filled largely with routine garrison duty, but included much field service in the wars of the period. His first assignment carried with it four years with his regiment in Louisiana, then two years in what was then the wilds of [[Arkansas]], at [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]]. In the years from 1825 to 1828 he served at [[Fort Gibson]]. He also serverdserved in Florida, at [[Jefferson Barracks Military Post]], and at [[Fort Leavenworth]].

Following this he passed three years at [[Fort Dearborn]], Illinois, where he saw the beginning of [[Chicago|Chicago's]] marvelous growth. In 1831 he was ordered to [[Fort Howard (Wisconsin)|Fort Howard]], Wisconsin, and while on this duty he was detached for service as chief medical officer (with rank of major) of the forces operating under General [[Winfield Scott]] in the [[Black Hawk War]] of 1832. He served a year with the [[1st Cavalry Regiment (United States)|1st Dragoons]] in Florida, then two years again at [[Jefferson Barracks Military Post]]. In 1834 he was again sent to Florida where he served throughout the [[Seminole War]] until 1838. With hostilities over he was sent to [[Fortress Monroe]], Virginia, for a year, and then to [[Buffalo, New York]], for another year. From 1840 to 1844 he served at [[Carlisle Barracks]], Pennsylvania, where he renewed his acquaintance with his alma mater, Dickinson College. The outbreak of the [[Mexican–American War]] found him again at Fortress Monroe, from where he was sent in 1846 to the army which was invading Mexico across its northern border. By virtue of his rank he became medical director of this army commanded by General [[Zachary Taylor]], but shortly after was sent north on account of sickness. During this detached service be acted as member of a number of examining boards. In 1847 he returned to duty in Mexico with the army, under General Scott, during the [[Siege of Veracruz]]. He was medical director of this force until again sickness required that he be sent north. He was permanently relieved from Mexico duty and ordered to [[Newport Barracks]], Kentucky. In 1849 he went back to Jefferson Barracks for a third tour of duty and in 1854 to duty in Philadelphia with his quarters at [[Frankford Arsenal]]. The years upon this detail largely involved work on examining boards and it was on this sort of duty that he was engaged when in 1861 he received the appointment to the office of Surgeon General.

==Surgeon General Appointmentappointment==

Surgeon General [[Thomas Lawson (Military physician)|Lawson's]] death came unexpectedly and it was generally considered that his successor would be Surgeon [[Robert Crooke Wood|Robert C. Wood]], a high -ranking officer who was in charge of the office during Lawson's absence. Wood was son-in-law to former President Taylor and brother-in-law to [[Jefferson Davis]] and from his long duty in the War Department had many other influential friends. But a new political party was now in control and President [[Abraham Lincoln]] chose Finley, the senior officer of the corps, for the coveted place on May 15, 1861. Finley retained Wood as his assistant and their relations appear to have been entirely cordial.

[[File:Clement Alexander Finley -by portraitBrady.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Carte de visite]] by [[Mathew Brady]]]]

On April 16, 1862, an act was passed (12 Stat. 378) for the reorganization of the medical department which gave the Surgeon General the rank of [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]], created an assistant Surgeon General and a medical inspector with rank of colonel, eight medical inspectors with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and provided for medical purveyors. This was the first time when actual rank in the medical department had exceeded the grade of major, except that the Surgeon General had the grade of colonel. But Finley was not to achieve the advanced grade, as he was retired on his own application on April 14, 1862, two days before the passage of that act. He had incurred the displeasure of [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Edwin M. Stanton]] by a hospital appointment and after a heated interview with the Secretary had been relieved from his office and directed to repair to Boston and await orders. From Boston he appealed against the treatment accorded him, but despite the efforts of influential friends no action could be obtained and hopeless of justice and redress he applied for admission to the retired list. In the meantime, and until the appointment of his successor, Surgeon Wood performed the duties of Surgeon General.

In 1832 he married Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Dr. [[Samuel Moore (congressman)|Samuel Moore]], at that time director of the [[United States Mint]] at Philadelphia and formerly member of Congress from [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania]]. The couple had nine children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/i/t/James-Aitcheson/GENE1-0024.html |title=Descendants of Fearchar McFinlay |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606034559/http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/i/t/James-Aitcheson/GENE1-0024.html |archivedate=2011-06-06 }}</ref> Their daughter Mary McCalla Finley (1834–1907) was the wife of [[Daniel Webster Flagler]] and mother of [[Clement Flagler]].Their son, Walter Lowrie Finley, went to West Point and had a long career in Army

After his retirement Finley made his home in West Philadelphia. In 1865, he was given the brevet rank of brigadierBrigadier generalGeneral "for long and meritorious service in the army." On July 18, 1876 he was finally put on the retired list as full Brigadier General. He passed eighteen peaceful years in Philadelphia, where he died at his residence<ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Clement A. Finley's Death |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/823675/dr_clement_a_finleys_death/ |accessdate=5 August 2014 |work=The Times |date=10 Sep 1879 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805161033/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/823675/dr_clement_a_finleys_death/ |archivedate=5 August 2016 }} {{Open access}}</ref> on September 8, 1879.<ref>{{cite book|last=Eicher|first=John H.|author2=Eicher, David J. |title=Civil War High Commands|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2001|page=235|isbn=0-8047-3641-3}}</ref>

==SourceSources==

*[httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=hgsJAAAAIAAJSdrYv7S60fgC&pgdq=PA40#v=onepage%28%22clement+finley%22+OR+%22clement+alexander+finley%22%29&q&fpg=falsePA697 Overview of Finley's tenure as Army 1905Surgeon BioGeneral]

[[Category:BrigadierUnited States Army generals]]

[[Category:UnitedPerelman StatesSchool Armyof MedicalMedicine Corpsat officersthe University of Pennsylvania alumni]]

[[Category:UniversityBurials ofat PennsylvaniaThe SchoolWoodlands of Medicine alumniCemetery]]