Background
Richard Allison was born in 1757 near Goshen, New York, United States.
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Richard Allison
Edit ProfileEducation
Allison was not a graduate in medicine but acquired his knowledge and skill from the library and practice of a preceptor.
Career
Allison entered service in the Revolutionary War by appointment as a surgeon's mate in the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment on March 15, 1778. He served with this regiment, commanded first by Colonel Francis Johnston and later by Colonel Richard Butler, until January 1, 1783, when he was transferred to the 16th Pennsylvania Regiment. With this regiment, commanded by Colonel Daniel Brodhead, he served until it was mustered out at the end of the war.
These regiments of the Pennsylvania Line, usually under the immediate command of General Anthony Wayne, served mainly in the central theatre of war, but they were at Yorktown and thereafter served in the South, finishing the war in occupation of Savannah, Georgia. There is no record of Allison's service during these years of war, but they were undoubtedly satisfactory, for he was retained to serve the heterogeneous force that survived discharge.
The 1st Regiment of Infantry was organized on August 12, 1784, with General Josiah Harmar in command and with Allison as a surgeon's mate. On July 24, 1788, he was promoted to the post of surgeon of the regiment, succeeding Surgeon John McDowell, thus becoming the senior medical officer of the forces. The 1st Infantry was organized at Fort Harmar on the Ohio River across the mouth of the Muskingum River from Marietta.
In August 1789 a detachment from this post built Fort Washington at the new town of Losantiville, a name soon changed to Cincinnati. The bulk of the regiment was later moved to the new post as a more convenient base for operations in the Indian country. From here in October 1790, General Harmar with sixty men of his regiment and four hundred militia attacked an Indian town on the Miami River and was defeated with a loss of half his force.
In 1791 General Arthur St. Clair arrived at Fort Washington followed by the newly organized 2nd Infantry. With a force of 1, 500 men he marched into the Indian country where he was attacked on the Maumee River on November 4, and routed with the loss of over half of his command. In these two disastrous fights, Allison and his associates did what they could for the wounded, who were comparatively few.
By a presidential order of December 27, 1792, the country's military forces were reorganized into the Legion of the United States, and General Wayne, Allison's old brigade commander, was appointed to its command. The Legion consisted of four sub-legions corresponding to regiments, with units of riflemen, artillery, and dragoons. The medical service was furnished by four surgeons of the sub-legions and twelve surgeon's mates with the battalions. Allison was appointed to the staff of the commanding general with the title of Surgeon to the Legion.
The Legion was assembled at Fort Washington in 1793. It moved north in September and built Fort Jefferson near the site of Greenville, Ohio. In the following June the army built Fort Recovery at the place of St. Clair's defeat, and on August 12, 1794, fought the battle of Maumee Rapids, inflicting such a defeat upon the Indians that they signed the Treaty of Greenville. which brought a long term of peace to the Northwest Territory.
The Legion was broken up soon thereafter, and Surgeon Allison was given honorable discharge on November 1, 1796. In the intervals between campaigns the beginning of a practice had come to him in Cincinnati, and after his discharge he purchased a place called "Peace Grove" in the town, built a house, and devoted himself to medical practice.
In 1799 he removed to a farm on the Little Miami River where he thought to indulge his taste for agriculture and deal in real estate. He returned to Cincinnati, and to the practice of medicine in 1805, and in 1808 he formed a partnership with Doctor Samuel Ramsey, newly arrived from Pennsylvania. That he was highly regarded as a practitioner is shown by the fact that when Doctor Daniel Drake was stricken with pneumonia in 1809 he called in Allison to attend him. It is of record that in accordance with good practice of the times he bled his patient freely and often.
There is much evidence that he had a devoted clientele of patients who esteemed him not only for his skill in practice, but also for his zeal in their welfare and for his courteous and gentle manner. His death in 1816 was the first among the medical profession of Cincinnati. He was buried in the Wesleyan Cemetery in suburban Cumminsville.
Achievements
Personality
Allison was said to be an ornament to his profession, a liberal benefactor to the poor and a tender parent to the orphan. In his bounty the distressed found relief and in his generosity unfortunate merit found refuge.
