William Brown, M.D. (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

William Brown, M.D.
(ca. 1748-1792)

Dr. William Brown, Revolutionary War physician, was born in Scotland and raised in Maryland. After studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, he established a practice in Alexandria. In 1775 he became surgeon of the 2nd Virginia Regiment. In 1778 the Continental Congress appointed him physician general of the Middle Department, extending from the Hudson to the Potomac River. At the military hospital in Lititz, Dr. Brown compiled the “Lititz Pharmacopeia” (1778), a collection of medical procedures and formulas for the compounding of medications. This was the first American formulary and a pioneering effort to provide standardized care. Brown is buried here in Pohick Cemetery.

Erected 2017 by Virginia Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number E-144.)


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Regarding William Brown, M.D.:
Dr. Brown was originally buried in the Alexander family cemetery at Preston. When the Pennsylvania Railroad bought the Preston Estate for it's Potomac Yard, the graves were moved from Preston to Pohick Church.

On Veterans Day 2017 the Care for the Troops and Friends of General Brown, MD initiatives of the Mary Elizabeth Conover Foundation hosted a dedication ceremony in honor of William Brown, MD. The ceremony took place at Pohick Church, in Pohick, Virginia. This video was produced by the Mary Elizabeth Conover Foundation.

This video documents the dedication ceremony of a historic marker recognizing the service of Physician General William Brown, MD. He served in the American Revolutionary War and was responsible for managing the hospitals between the Potomac and Hudson Rivers. He was a visionary in his efforts to provide standardized care to all the troops. During war and while running a hospital in Lititz, Pennsylvania he published a field manual on care for all the physicians in the Continental Army. He is buried at Pohick Church, Pohick Virginia.


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William Brown's Gravestone in Pohick Church Cemetery:

In Memory of William Brown M.D. Formerly Physician General to the Hospital of the United States who died on the 11th of Jan'y 1792 in the 44th Year of his Age. this Tablet is inscribed by his affectionate & afflicted widow.

His zeal & fidelity as a patriot his patience, diligence and skill as a physician, his benevolence courtesy & integrity as a Man, Secured him the applause of his country, The honor & emoluments of his profession, the respect of the wealthy, and the veneration of the poor.

Let the grateful witness of his virtue in domestic life and that as a Husband, Father and Master, he was tender, instructive and humane that he live without guile, and died without reproach.

Revolutionary Soldier 1775 - 1783
Placed by the Susan Riviere Hetzel Chapter, D.A.R.

The stone next to William Brown's is not the grave of his wife Catherine Scott Brown (1740-1813) but that of Mrs. Susan P. Alexander.


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Here follows a biography of William Brown as excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

William Brown (1748 - January 11 1792) was a physician, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1780.

Raised in Maryland, Brown returned to his place of birth, Scotland, to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, earning his M.D. in 1770. Returning to Alexandria, Virginia, Brown quickly established himself by opening a medical practice and starting a family. His skill attracted the attention of William Shippen, Jr. who recruited him in 1775 to join the Second Virginia Regiment as a surgeon. He spent a few months at the Flying Camp field hospital before landing at the military hospital at Bethlehem.

In 1777 Congress elected Brown Surgeon General. He spent a dismal winter with General George Washington in Valley Forge. His services were well used for the remainder of the war and, in recognition, he replaced Benjamin Rush as Physician General in 1788. Brown relocated to a new general hospital at Lititz, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where he made a number of changes to improve the facilities and capacities at the hospital, including sanitation improvements and assessing the supply of affordable medications for future wartimes. His list of medications became his Pharmacopeia Simpliciorum et Effecaciorum in usum Nocosomii Militaris, and was the first of its kind printed in the United States.

In 1779, he gave a series of lectures on anatomy for army surgeons in the region, as per the request of General George Washington. Brown resigned not long after that to resume his practice back in Virginia and died years later of unknown causes. He is buried at Pohick Episcopal Church in Lorton, Virginia.