NAVY’S  FIRST  ENLISTED  CORPSMAN

A typical medical section aboard a U.S. Navy ship during the 1700’s was usually limited to two, perhaps three men, a physician who was called Surgeon and his assistant called  Surgeon’s Mate who was usually also a trained physician.  Few things changed in medical techniques and organization between 1775 and 1814, the period covering America’s first naval wars.  Among the less dramatic change was the significant addition of an enlisted man to assist in the care and feeding of injured sick crewmembers who were typically fed a simple daily ration of porridge or “loblolly.”  By the late 1790’s the enlisted man performing these duties still had no title or job description but because of his work he had typically earned the nickname “Loblolly Boy.”  The nickname was in such common use for so many years that it became the official title in Navy Regulations of 1814 and was described in the regulations of 1818 as: “The Surgeon shall be allowed a faithful attendant to issue, under his direction, all supplies and provisions and hospital stores, and to attend the preparation of nourishment for the sick.”

Historical records reflect that the Navy’s first Loblolly Boy of record was John Wall who signed aboard the U.S. Frigate CONSTELLATION on June 1, 1798.  Wall reportedly served under the direction of a Surgeon and a Surgeon’s Mate and in February 1799 when CONSTELLATION won a decisive victory against a French frigate in the Caribbean, this would have been the first opportunity for a Loblolly Boy to care for shipmates wounded in battle.  Although Wall is named in numerous records as the first Loblolly Boy, nothing more other than his name and duty assignment has survived.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)