Years of service 1856-1865 Name William Steuart | Profession Physician Rank Surgeon | |
Born 1 January 1816 West River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland Spouse(s) Anne Hall (m. 1840; wid. 1889) Relatives Richard Sprigg Steuart, cousin. George H. Steuart, great-grandfather Allegiance Confederate States of America Died 1889, Christ Church, West River, Maryland, Maryland, United States Known for Spring Grove Hospital Center | ||
Service/branch Confederate States Army | ||
William Frederick Steuart (1816–1889) was a Maryland-born medical doctor who served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was a cousin to the Confederate general George H. Steuart.
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Early life
Steuart was born on January 1, 1816 in West River, Anne Arundel County, the son of Maryland physician Charles Steuart and his wife Anne Biscoe. On 27 February 1840 he married Anne Hall, the daughter of Henry Hall and Mary Stevenson, with whom he had a large family.
Civil War
Like other members of the Steuart family, Steuart was sympathetic to the Southern cause and, on the outbreak of war, he found himself obliged to flee his home state of Maryland to join the rebellion. As a Confederate sympathiser he had been closely watched by the authorities in Maryland. One of his sons was arrested and imprisoned, and shot while attempting to escape, hardening Steuart's own views against the Union.
Steuart and his wife fled their home state and joined the Confederate cause with around $20,000 in paper and precious metal which they smuggled out of Maryland. They promptly invested their small fortune in Confederate bonds, so certain were they of Southern success in the war.
It appears however that army life was too much for him, as the "rigors of march" eventually obliged him to apply to be posted away from front line duty. This may have been due to his age; Steuart was around 50 years of age when he joined the Southern armies.
After the War
After the war Steuart became resident physician at the Maryland Hospital for the Insane, a pioneering institution dedicated to the care of mental illness which had been founded largely thanks to the efforts of his cousin, Richard Sprigg Steuart.
Steuart died on December 10, 1889 and was buried in Christ Church, Owensville, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
Family
Steuart and his wife Ann had eleven children: