Education
Gustavus Brown studied medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, graduating in 1768.
Gustavus Brown studied medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, graduating in 1768.
He is best known as one of the doctors summoned to attend to George Washington the night he died. In addition to medicine, he was elected to the legislature of Maryland, and served as a judge. During the American Revolution, he helped establish the hospital department and was surgeon-general of the Continental Army.
He was called on by General Washington to inspect the Maryland troops and enroll the names of the able-bodied mentor
Around 1780, he bought and combined four tracts of land from his neighbor, now known as "Betty"s Delight". Combining this land with his own, he built and in about 1783 moved into Rose Hill, his manor house Rose Hill is adjacent to the Thomas Stone National Historic Site.
Along with Doctor James Craik, "Doctor Gustavus R. Brown, another prominent resident of Portuguese Tobacco, and Doctor Elisha Cullen Dick, attended Washington during his final illness, December 14, 1799. Doctor James Craik was so impressed with Doctor Brown"s medical skills that he suggested to Mistress
Washington (Martha), that if any case should occur that was seriously alarming, she should send for Doctor Brown."
The Doctor Gustavus Brown Elementary in Waldorf, Maryland is named after him.
In some records Doctor Brown is confused with his father of the same name, who came from Dalkeith, Scotland in 1708. The elder Gustavus Brown settled at Middleton (named after his family homestead near Dalkeith, Scotland) in Charles County, Maryland, as related by his descendant Moncure Daniel Conway.
He was a member of the Maryland state convention of 1788 and voted to ratify the United States Constitution.