James McFadden Gaston
Class of 1846

James McFadden Gaston was born in Chester District, South Carolina in 1824 to Dr. John Brown Gaston. He earned his A.B. degree from the South Carolina College (University of South Carolina), and completed one course at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School before returning to Charleston and graduating from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1846. After graduating he returned to Chester to practice with his father before moving to Columbia in 1852. It was in Columbia that he, with Dr. A. N. Talley, taught a preparatory medical class and performed several notable operations, including one for a severed intestine which he repaired with silver wire.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gaston enlisted as a private in the Columbia Grays. He served as assistant surgeon at Morris Island and set up a hospital at Fort Sumter. Shortly afterwards he became chief surgeon of the South Carolina forces under General Bonham. Gaston was medical director at Manassas, where he organized hospitals and appointed medical officers, and later was chief surgeon of General R. H. Anderson’s division. He also organized a hospital at Gettysburg. After the war he traveled to Brazil and opened a surgical infirmary in which he was very active for some years. Gaston returned to the United States in 1883 and opened a surgical infirmary in Atlanta, Georgia.

Over the course of his long career, Gaston wrote many medical articles on a variety of subjects and actively participated in professional medical organizations. In 1884 he was elected professor of principles and practice of surgery at the Southern Medical College. He also served in several professional leadership positions, including chairman of the Section on Surgery of the American Medical Association in 1891, president of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association in 1892, and president of the American Academy of Medicine in 1895. Gaston died in 1903.

A History of Medicine in South Carolina 1825-1900. Joseph Ioor Waring, 1967.

John Frederic Meckel Geddings
Class of 1849

John Frederic Meckel Geddings was born in Charleston, SC, on September 14, 1829 and graduated from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1849. After studying in Berlin, Paris, and Vienna, Geddings returned to Charleston in 1852 to enter general practice. Geddings joined the Provisional Army of the Confederate States in 1862 as a surgeon and served in a number of post hospitals. He was in charge of the post hospital at Adams Run, SC; was senior surgeon of a brigade hospital and medical inspector, and chief surgeon of a division for the second military district (North and South Carolina); and was the surgeon in charge of the Third Georgia Hospital. In 1870 he became a professor of medicine at the Medical College and served until his retirement in 1873. During his career, Geddings was president of the South Carolina Medical Association and the Medical Society of South Carolina.

A History of Medicine in South Carolina 1825-1900. Joseph Ioor Waring, 1967.

The Physicians and Surgeons of the United States by William Biddle Atkinson, 1978.

Henry B. Horlbeck
Class of 1859

Henry B. Horlbeck, the son of Elias Horlbeck, M.D., was born in Charleston, SC in 1839. He graduated from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1859 after which he spent a year as a house physician at Roper Hospital. After visiting London and Paris, Horlbeck returned to Charleston and in 1862 enlisted in the Confederacy as a surgeon to the First Regiment of South Carolina Regulars. When the Civil War ended, Horlbeck returned to Charleston in 1865 where he pursued his interest in public health. He investigated the connection between mosquitoes and occurrences of yellow fever, and is said to have been largely responsible for the creation of the U.S. Quarantine Service. In 1897 he also advocated for the Yellow Fever Commission. Horlbeck served as chairman of the Board of Commissioners of City Hospital, and as vice-president and president of the American Public Health Association. From 1880 until his death in 1901, Horlbeck was health officer of the city of Charleston.

A History of Medicine in South Carolina 1825-1900. Joseph Ioor Waring, 1967.

Peter L. Horn
Class of 1860

Peter Louis Horn was born January 9, 1837 on his father Peter Horn’s plantation. The plantation was located in St. Georges Parish, Colleton District, South Carolina. His preceptor was Dr. Pinckney L. Moorer also of St. Georges. Following the submission of his dissertation entitled Is Yellow Fever Contagious?, Horn received his medical degree from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina on March 15, 1860. Dr. Horn then returned to St. Georges and became a family physician to many of the citizens in the area until the start of the Civil War.

After spending many months at the Camp of Instruction near Columbia, Dr. Horn officially mustered into the service of the Confederate States Army at Charleston December 12, 1863 for the duration of the war with the 3rd Battalion Light Artillery (Palmetto Battalion). On September 5, 1864, Private Horn was appointed Assistant Surgeon. Before this appointment, Horn’s service records indicate he “rec’d no pay.” Dr. Horn’s Company D (Wagner Light Artillery) was mustered out of service with the evacuation of Charleston in February 1865.

Dr. Horn returned to St. Georges and continued his practice. Dr. Horn died April 20, 1906 and is buried in the center section of the St. George Cemetery. The Southern Cross of Honor was placed by his grave in May 2011.

Biographical information courtesy of Dean Moss McCracken, Historian, Lakeland, FL.

William Harleston Huger
Class of 1849

William Harleston Huger was born in Charleston on May 20, 1826.  He attended the South Carolina College and the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, graduating from the latter in 1849.  After completing medical school he studied in Paris and spent two years at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.  In January 1852, Dr. Huger returned to Charleston to start his career as a physician and in 1854 was appointed physician in charge of the Charleston Orphan House, a position he held for 52 years. 

In December 1860, Dr. Huger entered military service as a surgeon to the battery of his brother, Captain Thomas B. Huger, on Morris Island.  Commissioned as a surgeon in the Confederate army, he served principally in Charleston hospitals.  During the evacuation of the city he removed 700 sick and wounded to Cheraw, SC, where he remained in charge until the surrender.  After the war he resumed practice in Charleston.  Dr. Huger died in 1906

A History of Medicine in South Carolina 1825-1900.  Joseph Ioor Waring, 1967.

Edward Henry Kellers
Class of 1858

Edward Henry Kellers was born in Charleston, SC, on March 10, 1836. In 1856 he graduated from the South Carolina College (University of South Carolina) and then the Medical College of the State of South Carolina in 1858, after which he settled in Charleston.

Kellers served as assistant surgeon in the Medical Corps of the Confederate Army and Navy, for a time sat on the Medical Board, and saw service at the Negro Hospital in Mount Pleasant, SC. Later he served at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie.

After the war, Kellers combined a general medical practice with the business of a druggist, acted as a member of the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners, and served as a city physician in Charleston.

A History of Medicine in South Carolina 1825-1900. Joseph Ioor Waring, 1967.

Thomas Ephraim Lucas, MD
Class of 1859

Thomas Emphraim Lucas, MD, was born February 28, 1836, in Tillers Ferry, SC. The son of Dr. Benjamin Simons Lucas and Malita Tiller, was one of nine children. He graduated from the SC Military Academy (the Citadel) in 1855. He then studied at the Medical College of the State of South Carolina and graduated in 1859. He moved to Chesterfield, SC and started the practice of medicine. On June 15, 1859, he married Miss Dorothy Chapman (1841-1921), daughter of General Wm. J. and Dorothy Craig Hanna of Chesterfield Courthouse. They had seven children: 4 sons and 3 daughters.

When the Civil War broke out, Dr. Lucas joined the Confederate Army and, with a commission of 1st Lieutenant, was sent to Virginia with the 8th SC Regiment. Before arriving in Virginia, he was made a Major in April 1861. Dr. Lucas was at First Manassas (Bull Run). In December 1863 he then joined Company A of the 15th Battalion (Lucas), South Carolina Artillery, where he served until November 1864.

Upon returning home, Dr. Lucas was elected to the SC State Legislature and served as a state senator. He went on to serve as the first Superintendent of Education for Chesterfield County, and was once the mayor of Chesterfield. He died on June 12, 1920.

Biography prepared by: Ritch Lucas Cain