My Genealogy Hound

LOUIS W. READ, late of Norristown, Pennsylvania, was a skillful and accomplished surgeon, who pursued an active professional career in civil life, and also won a distinguished record in the military corp during the war of the Rebellion. He was born at Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1828, the eldest son of Thomas and Sarah (Corson) Read, the latter named being a daughter of Joseph Corson, and a sister of Drs. Hiram and William Corson, both of whom were eminent physicians in their day. His parents were natives of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, as were also his grandparents, William and Susan Read.

Louis W. Read spent his early youth at Read’s Mill, in Upper Merion township, and received his education at the public schools, and in Treemount Academy, taught by the Rev. Samuel Aaron, a celebrated educator. On leaving school he read medicine with his uncle, Dr. William Corson, and entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in the class of 1849. He devoted himself assiduously to obtaining all the knowledge he could gain that promised to aid him in his life work, the medical profession. When the Crimean war began in Europe, he offered his services to the Russian government, which were accepted, and he became a surgeon and served in that capacity throughout the war. He was at Sebastopol during the memorable siege by the allied forces. During his service in this war he affected important improvements in the treatment of gunshot wounds, which have since been generally adopted in army hospitals throughout the world. Leaving Russia at the close of the Crimean war, Dr. Read spent six months in the hospitals of Paris, France, giving attention to serious wounds and diseases which were complicated in their nature. Returning to Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the autumn of 1857, he engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery, in which he was very successful. He stood in the front rank of the physicians and surgeons of the country. He was one of the commission to select a site for the Norristown Hospital for the Insane, and took a prominent part in its erection.

On the breaking out of the Civil war Dr. Read tendered his services to the United States government. In May, 1861, he was appointed surgeon with the rank of major, of the Thirteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (First Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves), and served in this capacity until July 17, 1863, when he resigned to accept promotion as surgeon of United States Volunteers, and was assigned to duty as medical director of the famous old division known as the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. In November, 1864, he was assigned to the charge of the McKim United States Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained until March, 1866, when, the war being long closed, he was mustered out of service with the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel of the United States Volunteers, his commission stating that his promotion was “for faithful and meritorious service during the war for the Union.” His superior skill as a surgeon was exemplified in the removal of a ball from the leg of General Hancock, who had been wounded in the battle of Gettysburg, after other physicians had failed. He was an intimate friend of that distinguished officer, and had a very extensive acquaintance among the prominent generals of that day as the result of his service in the army.

In 1866, after an absence of five years in public life, Dr. Read returned to Norristown, and for thirty years continued successfully in the practice of his profession. He was appointed surgeon general of Pennsylvania, with the rank of brigadier-general, by Governor John Frederic Hartranft, May 15, 1874, and held the position by successive reappointments for twenty-nine years or until 1899. He was a prominent member of the Historical Society of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Country Club, the United Service Club of Philadelphia, the Genealogical Society of Philadelphia, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, and the Union League, in all of which he was an ardent and zealous worker, an enthusiastic advocate and a liberal supporter. A few years prior to his death he was elected to preside over the Association of Military Surgeons at their annual meeting in Buffalo, New York, and for a period of time he served in the capacity of president of the same. The honor was all the more acceptable because it was entirely unexpected and unsolicited, and actually conferred in the absence of the recipient. The career of Dr. Read from his first entrance upon his career to the end of his life was as honorable as it was useful, and his memory will long be cherished by his many friends in Norristown and throughout the country. His kindly and sympathetic nature commended him to all who knew him. His patriotism, public spirit and his ability in his profession were qualities which endeared him to his fellow citizens, and guaranteed him a wide circle of friends.

Louis W. Read as married June 3, 1858, to Georgine Hurst, daughter of Alfred Hurst; she died August 5, 1885, leaving two children: Nina R., and Dr. Alfred Hurst, a practicing physician of Norristown, who is also president of the Norristown board of health. Dr. Read died October 31, 1900.