Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Green, Samuel Abbott

GREEN, Samuel Abbott, physician, b. in Groton, Mass., 16 March, 1830. He was graduated at Harvard in 1851, and received his medical degree three years later, after which he spent several years in Europe. On his return he began practice in Boston, and became one of the district physicians for the city dispensary. On 19 May, 1858, he was appointed by Gov. Banks surgeon of the 3d militia regiment. At the beginning of the civil war he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the 1st Massachusetts regiment of volunteers, and was the first medical officer mustered in for three years' service. He was promoted surgeon of the 24th Massachusetts regiment on 2 Sept., 1861, where he remained until 2 Nov., 1864, serving on the staffs of various cavalry officers. He had charge of the hospital ship “Recruit,” of the Burnside expedition to Roanoke island, of the hospital ship “Cosmopolitan” on the coast of South Carolina, and during the siege of Fort Wagner was chief medical officer on Morris island. In October, 1863, he was sent to Florida, and was post-surgeon at St. Augustine and Jacksonville; thence he was sent to Virginia, and was with the army when Bermuda Hundred was taken. He was appointed acting staff-surgeon, and was stationed three months at Richmond after the fall of that city. For gallant and distinguished services in the field in 1864 he was brevetted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers. Dr. Green organized “Roanoke cemetery” in 1862, which was one of the first regular burial-places for National soldiers. After the close of the war Dr. Green was from 1865 until 1872 superintendent of the Boston dispensary, a member of the Boston school board in 1860-'2 and 1866-'72, trustee of the public library in 1868-'78, and acting librarian from October, 1877, to October, 1878. In 1870 Gov. Claflin appointed him one of a commission to care for disabled soldiers. In 1871 he became city physician of Boston, and retained the office till 1880. He was chosen a member of the board of experts authorized by congress in 1878 to investigate the yellow fever, and in 1882 he was elected mayor of Boston. Dr. Green has given much time to historical studies, and for some years has been librarian of the Massachusetts historical society. In addition to a large number of papers on scientific and historical subjects, he has published “My Campaigns in America: a Journal kept by Count William de Deux-Ponts, 1780-'1,” translated from the French manuscript, with an introduction and notes (Boston, 1868); “An Account of Percival and Ellen Green and of Some of their Descendants” (printed privately, Groton, Mass., 1876); “Epitaphs from the Old Burying-Ground in Groton, Massachusetts” (1879); “The Early Records of Groton, Mass., 1662-1677” (1880); “History of Medicine in Massachusetts,” a centennial address delivered before the Massachusetts medical society at Cambridge, 7 June, 1881 (Boston, 1881); “Groton during the Indian Wars” (Groton, 1883); “Groton during the Witchcraft Times” (1883); “The Boundary-Lines of Old Groton” (1885); “The Geography of Groton,” prepared for the use of the Appalachian (mountain) club (1886); and “Groton Historical Series” (20 numbers, 1883-'7).