Hampshire County MA Archives Biographies.....Hitchcock, John S. 1869 - 
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Author: J. R. Gilfillan and H. E. Riley (1899)

ASSISTANT SURGEON JOHN S. HITCHCOCK.

   Northampton was represented not only in the rank and file of the Second
Regiment, but at headquarters as well, Dr. John S. Hitchcock holding a
commission as assistant surgeon, with rank of first lieutenant, throughout the
war. He volunteered as a sergeant of Co. I, but vacancies in the medical staff
gave him a position which he desired and for which study and practice had fitted
him. After the arrival of the army in Cuba Assistant Surgeon Gates of the Second
was assigned to another regiment, Surgeon Bowen was incapacitated by sickness
and the brunt of the work that would have kept three men busy fell upon Dr.
Hitchcock.

   During the battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill Dr. Hitchcock was almost
continually under fire, rendering first aid to the wounded and directing their
removal to the hospitals, and after the battles he worked untiringly in the
hospitals. Once he made a trip alone to the coast, a long and dangerous journey,
to get medical supplies which the expedition managers failed to bring up to the
front. Later he gave up his horse to be used in this work and made his long
daily tours of the camp and hospitals on foot. He worked day and night for the
sick and wounded of the regiment and the strain paved the way for the attack of
fever which seized him on the day of the surrender of Santiago. From that time
until the arrival of the regiment at Montauk he was seriously ill, and that he
survived the ordeal was due in large measure to the faithful care given by his
brother, Priv. Albert Hitchcock of Co. I.

   Recovery was rapid after his return home and when the Second Regiment was
mustered out Dr. Hitchcock was retained in United States service and ordered to
Boston to examine other Massachusetts regiments about to be mustered out. While
so engaged a spinal trouble, resulting from the Cuban fever, developed and
confined him to his bed for several months, at times subjecting him to fearful
pain. His resignation from the United States service was accepted January 21, 1899.

   John S. Hitchcock is the son of Dr. Edward Hitchcock, dean of the Amherst
College faculty, and was born in Amherst August 10, 1869. He graduated from
Amherst College in 1889 and received the degree M. D. at the University of
Maryland in 1893. After post-graduate courses at the University of Virginia and
the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons he settled at Northampton in
1894. He enlisted in Co. I Nov. 11, 1895, and became one of the most
enthusiastic and active members, receiving appointment as a corporal in January,
1896, and as a sergeant in December, 1897. On April 2, 1898, less than a month
before the breaking out of the war, Dr. Hitchcock was married to Miss Mary W.
Bryan of Charlottesville, Va.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

NORTHAMPTON IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
BY
JAMES R. GILFILLAN
AND
HERBERT E. RILEY.

ILLUSTRATED.

PRESS OF
ENTERPRISE PRINTING COMPANY
EASTHAMPTON, MASS.
1899.

Copyright, 1899,
by J. R. Gilfillan and H. E. Riley.


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