William Johnson L’Engle: Military Surgeon and Pioneer of Anesthesia (ca. 1833–1861)
By: William V. Scott
Published: August 21, 2024
Updated: August 21, 2024
William Johnson L’Engle, military surgeon, was born about 1833, to John Cladius L'Engle (who later achieved the rank of captain in the Third U.S. Artillery) and Susan Philippa (Fatio) L'Engle in South Carolina. L’Engle was raised in Jacksonville, Florida. The 1850 census recorded him as a student of medicine and living in Raleigh, North Carolina, in the home of Romulus Mitchell Saunders, his future father-in-law. Ultimately L’Engle graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a medical doctor in 1853. His medical thesis was on the subject of anesthesia, and he studied under Dr. Fabius Julius Haywood. William Johnson L’Engle married Margaret Madeline Saunders on April 3, 1854, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The couple had three children—William, Camillus, and Caroline. Returning to Jacksonville, L’Engle began his medical practice and served as the first secretary of the Duval County Medical Society. A skilled surgeon, he was noted for his pioneering use of chloroform as an anesthetic during operations.
L’Engle was appointed assistant surgeon in the Medical Department of the United States Army on August 28, 1856. His early assignments included a brief stay at Fort Vancouver in the Pacific Northwest in June 1857 before a transfer on July 7, 1857, to Fort Hoskins, Oregon Territory, where he reported with Assistant Surgeon Richard Potts. L’Engle was transferred from there on June 16, 1858, and replaced by Assistant Surgeon Lewis Taylor.
Assistant Surgeon L’Engle was transferred to the Department of Texas, where he served briefly at Fort Belknap from December 1858 through January 1859. He joined the garrison at Fort McHenry, Maryland, on May 26, 1859. Later that year, L’Engle was again transferred to the Department of Texas. He arrived at Fort Mason on September 19, 1859, and served there until January 6, 1860, when he was relieved by Surgeon James Simons. From Fort Mason, L’Engle reported to Camp Cooper on January 14, 1860, where he joined from detached service. He served at Camp Cooper through January 5, 1861, when he was relieved by Assistant Surgeon Clinton Wagner. On February 12, 1861, Richard J. Kennon, citizen physician at Ringgold Barracks, was relieved by L’Engle upon his arrival from detached service. A letter dated March 16, 1861, by Lt. Col. Electus Backus, commanding the Third U.S. Infantry at Fort Brown, references Dr. L’Engle and his hospital steward James Bowie who were supposed to leave for Fort Brown the next day, in preparation for the Federal evacuation, which was to stage out of Brazos Santiago.
Assistant Surgeon William Johnson L’Engle resigned from the U. S. Army on April 30, 1861. He fell ill upon his arrival in Pensacola, Florida, and died from an overdose of morphine on May 11, 1861. According to newspaper stories, the accidental overdose was based on an error “made by the Apothecary.” The commission appointing L’Engle a surgeon in the Confederate Army arrived two days after his death. He was initially buried in Pensacola but was reinterred years later in Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida. L’Engle’s grandson was the American artist William Johnson L’Engle, Jr., whose specialty included landscapes and figures. Some of his works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
Bibliography:
Webster Merritt, A Century of Medicine in Jacksonville and Duval County (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1949). Returns from U. S. Military Posts, 1800–1916 (National Archives Microfilm Publication M-617, 1,550; rolls), Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s–1917, National Archives, Washington, D. C. “William Johnson L’Engle,” Find A Grave Memorial (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57054584/william_johnson_l'engle), accessed August 1, 2024.
Categories:
Time Periods:
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
William V. Scott, “L'Engle, William Johnson,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lengle-william-johnson.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
FL'03
All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law.
For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
- August 21, 2024
- August 21, 2024
This entry belongs to the following special projects:
