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Original 19th-century archive relating to Dr. Thomas J. Fritts (1838–1890), Civil War surgeon, Illinois physician and state legislator.
Offered together as found is a small group of original documents and ephemera belonging to Thomas J. Fritts, whose life and career are documented in the 1881 History of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, Illinois.
The group includes:
* January 3, 1863 Indiana military commission, issued under Governor Oliver P. Morton, appointing Thomas J. Fritts, M.D. Assistant Surgeon of the 3rd Indiana Cavalry.
* July 1865 military discharge for Thomas J. Fritts, Assistant Surgeon, 3rd Indiana Volunteer Cavalry.
* Illinois State Board of Health medical certificate, identifying Fritts of Shelby County as a graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, with his M.D. dated 1860.
* 1876 Democratic political ticket/election ephemera naming Thomas J. Fritts as a candidate for Representative in the Illinois Legislature, Thirty-third District.
Fritts’ published 1881 biography records that he enlisted in 1861 with the 14th Indiana Infantry, participated in the Battle of Winchester and the Peninsula Campaign, was present at Antietam, and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the 3rd Indiana Cavalry on January 3, 1863. He later served under Sherman and participated in the celebrated March from Atlanta to the Sea. He subsequently transferred to the 8th Indiana Cavalry before leaving military service in 1865.
After the war Fritts practiced medicine in Illinois. He became active in Democratic politics and was elected to the Illinois legislature in 1876, representing Shelby, Effingham and Cumberland Counties.
These documents were acquired together as a group attributed to Dr. Thomas J. Fritts and are being kept together as an archive.
Please examine all photographs carefully for condition. The documents show considerable age-related wear including folds, toning, staining, edge losses, tears and other handling wear. The 1863 commission in particular has substantial fold repairs and edge damage.
A fascinating group documenting several chapters in the life of a single Civil War physician: soldier, hospital steward, cavalry assistant surgeon, practicing physician and Illinois legislator.
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