As we have continued our “deep dive” into the important contributions made by Framingham’s Veterans during the country’s times of peril,we have uncovered other fascinating linkages to the town/city that deserve to again be brought into the limelight.Here is yet another.
During a recent visit to the amazing Framingham History Center (FHC) archives,I came upon a folder containing a set of 1927 letters between John M. Merriam,then Director of FHC and General Leonard Wood of the U.S. Army.In this correspondence collection,Merriam invited General Wood to a 17 October 1927 ceremony for the dedication of the Colonel Henry Knox Marker in Framingham Center.
Merriam also discussed the town’s intent to honor the Framingham men who participated in the Battle of Saratoga,most notably General John Nixon and his brother Colonel Thomas Nixon.Of note: British General Burgoyne surrendered to the American Northern Army on 17 October 1777.Most interestingly, General John Nixon was General Wood’s great-great-grandfather.
Letter from General Wood to John Merriam
Image: FHC
Brigadier General John Nixon
Much has been written about John Nixon.Here,a quick summary is in order.He was born on 1 March 1727 in Framingham.In 1745,he joined British colonial forces to fight in the King George’s and French and Indian Wars.He served as a company commander during expeditions against the French in upstate New York.In 1754,he married Thankful Berry (1735-1776) and settled on the northern side of Nobscot Hill in Sudbury.The site of his home (now just a “cellar hole”) is located on the Nobscot Boy Scout Reservation.They had ten children.
In 1775,Nixon commanded a Sudbury Minuteman Company at the Battle of Concord and along Battle Road (19 April).He was a Regimental Commander (Colonel) at the Battle of Bunker Hill (June, 1775),during which he was wounded (leg).In 1776,as a Brigadier General,he took part in the New York and New Jersey campaigns.He fought in the 1777 campaign that ended with the Battle of Saratoga,during which a cannonball passed so close to his head that his eyesight and hearing were permanently damaged.In 1780,primarily due to ill health,he resigned his commission and retired to a farm in Sudbury.In the early 1800s, he moved to Weybridge, VT, where he lived until his death in 1815.
Memorial Stone at Edgell Grove Cemetery
Image: FHC
Major General Leonard Wood
General Wood wearing his Medal of Honor
Image: Department of Defense
Letter from General Wood to John Merriam
Image: FHC
In 1896,he was selected to serve as the Assistant Attending Surgeon in Washington, DC, making him responsible for the care of senior government officials,including the President.In this position,he established an enduring relationship with then Assistant Secretary of the Navy,Theodore Roosevelt.He also became close friends with Presidents Cleveland and McKinley.
In 1898,he was made a Colonel in the 1st Volunteer Cavalry–the famous “Rough Riders”.He led this unit during its Spanish-American War Cuban combat operations,including the famous Battle of San Juan Hill. Later that year,he was made a Brigadier General,and then a Major General of the Volunteers. Roosevelt was promoted to command of the Rough Riders when Wood became a Brigadier General.
Colonel Wood with Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Roosevelt
Image: “Roads to the Great War”
Major General of the US Volunteers Leonard Wood
Image: Public Domain
After the war,Wood became Military Governor of Cuba (1899-1902).In 1903,he was promoted to Major General in the Regular Army.From 1903 to 1906,he served as the Governor of the Moro Province in the Philippines.Both future iconic Generals Douglas MacArthur and John Pershing worked for him.
From April, 1910 to April,1914,Wood served as the fifth Army Chief of Staff.He was the first,and last,medical officer to hold that position.He was a leading proponent of national preparedness,and championed increases in officer strength.He is credited with laying the groundwork for the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).During WWI,he was primarily engaged in training the Army for the European conflict.In 1920,he ran for the Republican Party nomination for President.He lost to Warren G. Harding.Wood retired from active duty in 1921.He was the Governor General of the Philippines from 1921 until his death from terminal illness in 1927.
The Intersection of General Wood and a Prominent Neurosurgeon
In the early 20th century, Dr. Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) developed many of the basic surgical techniques for operating on the brain.This body of work established him as one of the foremost experts in the emerging neurosurgery field.
Harvey Cushing circa 1938
Image: Wikipedia
Unfortunately,while in the Philippines,General Wood began to experience warning signs of a recurrent tumor.In 1927,he again consulted Dr.Cushing. Cushing attempted to remove the tumor, but General Wood died a few hours after the operation (7 August 1927).
Cushing went on to become a distinguished surgeon with a remarkable career.He is universally known as the “father of neurological surgery.”In 1911,he was appointed surgeon-in-chief at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston.In 1912,he became a Professor of Surgery at the Harvard Medical School.Shortly after the entry of the United States into World War I (May, 1917),Cushing was commissioned as a Major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.On June 6, 1918,he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and was assigned as senior consultant in neurological surgery for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe.On October 23, 1918,he was promoted to full Colonel.For his wartime service he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. He retired from medicine in 1932 to teach neurology at Yale (his undergraduate alma mater).He passed away in 1939 from complications related to a heart attack.His medical career spanned 40 years.He is known to have operated on over 2,000 brain tumors.
On 26 January 1944,the US Army officially dedicated a new,95 building general hospital in Framingham.The hospital was built by the War Department in anticipation of future war related medical needs. It was named for Dr. Harvey Cushing. From 1944 to 1946, the facility treated almost 14,000 US soldiers with injuries ranging from burns to bullet wounds to blindness. Its specialty was neurosurgery on the brain, spinal canal and peripheral nervous system.
1944 Cushing General Hospital Aerial View
Image: Public Domain
Cushing General Hospital Memorial
Image: City of Framingham
More to follow.....
Resources
A History of Framingham, Massachusetts,Including the Plantation, from 1640 to the Present Time, Reverend William Barry
Case Reports Journal of Neurosurgery, April, 1982 (“The case of General Wood” by B. Ljunggren)
Department of Defense
Framingham; An American Town, Stephan W. Herring
Framingham Historical Reflections, Edited by Martha E. Dewar and M. Joan Gilbert
Framingham History Center
History of Framingham, Massachusetts 1640-1885, Josiah Temple
The Journal of the Intensive Care Society (24 Oct 2016), “The life and work of Harvey Cushing 1869–1939: A pioneer of neurosurgery,” by N. Doyle, J. Doyle and E. Walter
Pushing for Cushing in War and Peace, A History of Cushing Hospital:1943-1991, Frederic A. Wallace
Revolutionary War Journal,“Forgotten Warrior Brigadier General John Nixon,”by Harry Schenawolf
US Army Center of Military History
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