95 
during the short residence of the family in that city, previous to 
removal to a farm in Maryland, in 1848. He began the study of 
medicine in 1857 and matriculated at the Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, from which school he was graduated on March 25, 18509. 
During his college course, the attention of Prof. Samuel D. 
Gross was attracted to him by the assiduity displayed in his 
studies, and furthermore by the successful management of an 
aneurism case treated by digital compression. Asa result he was 
appointed Chief of the Surgical Clinic soon after graduation. He 
lectured on Practical Anatomy at the Philadelphia School of 
Anatomy and Operative Surgery, and also conducted a Quiz on 
Materia Medica. From his graduation to the breaking out of the 
Civil War he was an active practitioner of medicine, and in 1860 
was a delegate to the American Medical Association, held in New 
Haven, Conn. 
But the fire of patriotism proved too strong for the peaceful 
tenets of his fathers, and led him early in the war to apply for the 
position of assistant surgeon in the regular army. He success- 
fully passed the rigorous examination, and his commission was 
dated April 16, 1862, signed by the President, Abraham Lincoln, 
and Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 
On September 14, 1863, he was appointed Medical Purveyor 
to the Army of the Potomac, and he retained that position to the 
close of the war. During his entire army life he continued his 
botanical studies and collection of plants. At this time it was his 
good fortune to meet another officer equally interested in the study 
of the same science, Maj. Gen. G. K. Warren. A wayside flower 
served as a means of introducing these officers, and the occa- 
sion of that meeting was a favorite reminiscence of Dr. Brinton. 
The collections he made during the Virginia campaign were cap- 
tured by the Confederate, Col. Mosby, at Belle Plain, May 12, 
1864, and burned with the supply wagons. Dr. Brinton himself 
barely escaped capture. May 13, 1865, he was brevetted Captain 
and Major for gallant and meritorious services, and on Novembet 
16th, of the same year, he resigned from the army. His services 
to the Union were marked by his usual application and devotion 
to his sense of duty; and his report at the close of his term of office 
was considered a remarkably accurate record for one handling a 
vast amount of material under such turbulent conditions. 
