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routine tasks like visits and prescriptions, his treatments included practices like bloodletting and inoculation during a smallpox epidemic in 1854. Medical records reveal the diseases he encountered, such as cholera and venereal diseases, offering insights into his patients' health and the medical challenges of the era. He operated in historically Black neighborhoods such as Poplar Street. His practice primarily catered to patients residing in the Fifth and Sixth Wards, areas with a historical significance as predominantly inhabited by Black communities. Presently, these neighborhoods are identified as Beacon Hill and the West End, respectively. He served both relatives and non-relatives, including prominent figures like abolitionists and emerging
African American leaders. His patient base extended beyond the African American community to include individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those born in slave states and immigrants from Ireland. On August 24, 1854, he gained admittance to the
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127:(June 6, 1825– November 25, 1868) was the first Black physician admitted to a United States medical society and a commissioned physician during the American Civil War. Born June 1825 in New York City to Count George DeGrasse and Maria Van Surly. At fifteen, he enrolled in Oneida Institute in New York, later pursuing medical studies at Aubuk College in Paris. DeGrasse earned his medical degree with honors from Bowdoin College’s Medical School of Maine in May 1849, becoming the second African American to do so in the United States. Following graduation, he practiced medicine in Paris alongside renowned surgeon Alfred A.L.M. Velpeau before returning to the U.S. in 1851. He supported
344:. He was one of only eight Black surgeons to serve in the Union Army and the only one to serve in the field with his regiment. While on deployment in Florida, De Grasse was charged with "drunkenness on duty" and "conduct unbecoming an officer," court-martialed and convicted by an all-white jury of officers, and
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In 1851, de Grasse returned to the United States, settling in Boston. On August 5, 1852, he married
Cordelia Lucretia Howard of Boston. Her parents were Peter and Margaret (Gardner) Howard. De Grasse established a private medical practice in Boston by July 1853. While his daily work often involved
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records, Azar was born about 1780 to an Indian woman. The senior de Grasse took Azar as a child with him to Paris, sponsored his education, and adopted him, naming him George de Grasse. The senior Grasse was long married to a French woman and had a total of five children from his marriage who
304:, where he earned a medical degree with honors on May 19, 1849. De Grasse was the first person of color to earn a medical degree at a United States college. Later that same year, he toured Europe and worked for a time as an assistant to French anatomist and surgeon
354:, these charges may have been "trumped up and racially motivated, as there was testimony suggesting that the allegations were baseless and a clear record of concerted hostility by white officers towards black officers, particularly black surgeons."
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area of Lower
Manhattan, making him a landowner as a free man of color. With his French-South Asian ancestry, he escaped some of the restrictions against African Americans. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1804.
251:
George de Grasse immigrated as a young man to the United States, settling in New York City by 1799. His older French half-siblings had emigrated from France to Saint-Domingue to escape the
296:, where he studied medicine for two years at Aubuk College in Paris. He then returned to New York in November 1845, studying medicine privately under Dr. Samuel R. Childs before attending
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from
Amsterdam in the 1630s, settling in New York. Each had married a European woman. Their later generations of descendants, who continued to "marry white", are said to include the
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321:, becoming the first African American to join any medical society in the United States. Degrasse and his wife he had a daughter, Georgiana Cordelia DeGrasse, in December 1855.
224:. Abraham was said to have also had a son in New York by a black mistress, establishing a line identified as African American while also having considerable European ancestry.
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After his discharge, de Grasse returned to Boston, where he died of unknown causes in 1868 and was buried at New York's
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woman. That couple had four mixed-race sons: two, Abraham
Janszoon van Salee, and his better-known brother
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John van Salee de Grasse (sometimes written as DeGrasse) was born in New York City. His elder brother,
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697:"A Visit with Dr. DeGrasse: The Medical Account Book of Boston's First Black Physician"
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R. B. Baker, et al., "African
American Physicians and Organized Medicine, 1846–1968,"
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survived to adulthood. His eldest son, Alexandre
Auguste de Grasse, held the title of
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in 1836 and became a
Protestant Episcopal minister. His sister, Serena, married
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Binding Wounds and
Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine,
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Binding Wounds and
Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine
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awarded de Grasse a gold-hilted sword in recognition of his military service.
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by aiding in organizing vigilante groups to oppose slave hunters in Boston.
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Prologue to Change: African Americans in Medicine in the Civil War Era
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607:"The Blurred Racial Lines of Famous Families: The Van Salee Family."
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De Grasse, John V - Age 37, Year: 1863 - 35th US Colored Infantry
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for one year starting in 1840 before transferring to the nearby
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Maria van Salee had married George de Grasse, who was born in
671:"John Van Surly DeGrasse: Boston's Pioneering Black Surgeon"
146:, de Grasse served in the Union Army as a surgeon with the
538:"George DeGrasse a South Asian in Early African America."
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in 1863, Grasse served as an assistant surgeon with the
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The siblings' mother was Maria Van Salee of New York, a
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They were descendants through their mother's family of
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In 1863 Grasse served as an assistant surgeon with the
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George Thomas Downing: Sketch of His Life and Times.
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Twenty Families of Color in Massachusetts: 1742-1998
181:(her surname was sometimes recorded as Van Surly).
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348:of service on November 1, 1864. According to the
473:"Was Jackie Kennedy the 1st Black First Lady?"
541:India in the American Imaginary, 1780s–1880s.
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591:, January 2, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
334:35th United States Colored Infantry Regiment
140:35th United States Colored Infantry Regiment
825:African Americans in the American Civil War
732:Journal of the American Medical Association
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235:-French ancestry. He is likely the son of
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419:New England Historic Genealogical Society
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449:"John Van Surly DeGrasse (1825-1868) •"
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231:as Azar Le Guen; he was of mixed-race,
584:"John Van Surly DeGrasse (1825-1868)."
543:Eds. Anupama Arora and Rajender Kaur.
762:National Museum of Civil War Medicine
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148:54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
850:People from Five Points, Manhattan
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789:U.S. National Library of Medicine
775:DeGrasse-Howard Papers, 1776-1976
743:U.S. National Library of Medicine
306:Alfred-Armand-Louis-Marie Velpeau
815:19th-century American physicians
779:Massachusetts Historical Society
505:vitabrevis.americanancestors.org
471:Landrigan, Leslie (2016-05-17).
669:Neal, Anthony W. (2014-05-15).
612:. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
447:Lanum, Mackenzie (2012-01-02).
267:, who gave him two lots in the
150:, the first unit formed of the
477:New England Historical Society
300:'s Medical School of Maine in
280:John de Grasse studied at the
237:François Joseph Paul de Grasse
16:American physician (1825–1868)
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845:Physicians from New York City
747:National Institutes of Health
633:: Milne Printery, 1910. 7-8.
319:Massachusetts Medical Society
411:Dorman, Franklin A. (1998).
326:United States Colored Troops
152:United States Colored Troops
312:Medical and military career
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781:Library Collection Guides.
648:. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
605:de Valdes y Cocom, Mario.
261:Charleston, South Carolina
218:Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
133:Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
131:and efforts to resist the
640:: Forgotten Books, 2019;
290:Clinton Liberal Institute
94:Clinton Liberal Institute
35:John de Grasse circa 1865
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787:- Online exhibit at the
570:Retrieved July 15, 2019.
338:New Bern, North Carolina
328:were authorized for the
125:John van Salee de Grasse
23:John van Salee de Grasse
835:Oneida Institute alumni
735:, v. 300, no. 3 (2008).
501:"Van Salee Descendants"
357:Massachusetts governor
840:Physicians from Boston
830:Bowdoin College alumni
499:Child, Christopher C.
336:. De Grasse served in
168:University of Delaware
164:Isaiah George DeGrasse
624:Washington, S. A. M.
371:Cypress Hill Cemetery
342:Jacksonville, Florida
166:, graduated from the
158:Early life and family
676:The Bay State Banner
421:. pp. 155–159.
855:Union Army surgeons
752:Robert G. Slawson,
196:, and Margarita, a
179:free woman of color
582:Lanum, Mackenzie.
553:Palgrave Macmillan
383:James McCune Smith
359:John Albion Andrew
292:. He journeyed to
257:Haitian Revolution
144:American Civil War
738:Jill L. Newmark,
536:Kanakamedala, P.
428:978-0-88082-077-6
253:French Revolution
172:George T. Downing
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51:June 6, 1825
810:1868 deaths
631:Newport, RI
545:Basingstoke
269:Five Points
210:Vanderbilts
194:Netherlands
799:Categories
682:2024-01-27
646:0259913774
561:3319623338
510:2024-04-30
482:2024-01-27
454:2024-04-30
389:References
330:Union Army
308:in Paris.
265:Aaron Burr
104:Occupation
47:1825-06-06
610:Frontline
563:228-243.
324:When the
302:Brunswick
276:Education
118:(brother)
112:Relatives
107:Physician
86:Education
555:, 2017.
551: :
377:See also
229:Calcutta
214:Whitneys
749:(2010).
202:Anthony
198:Moorish
190:Haarlem
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638:London
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340:, and
241:census
233:Indian
220:, and
212:, the
80:, U.S.
74:Boston
57:, U.S.
365:Death
294:Paris
246:Comte
642:ISBN
557:ISBN
423:ISBN
63:Died
41:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
