The Physician to Soldier Pipeline · Episode 2 of 14 · 17 min
The Man Who Wasn't at the Wilderness
William Chester Minor, a Yale-trained contract surgeon, killed a stranger in London in 1872 and spent thirty-eight years in Broadmoor, sending more than twelve thousand quotation slips to the Oxford English Dictionary. Three of the four things everyone knows about him, including his presence at the Wilderness and the asylum-discovery scene, are not supported by the record.
Who's who
- William Chester MinorUnion contract surgeon who became a prolific Oxford English Dictionary contributor
- George MerrettLambeth brewery stoker Minor shot and killed in 1872
- James MurrayEditor of the Oxford English Dictionary who corresponded with Minor
- Simon Winchester+1 more episodeAuthor of the 1998 book on Minor
- John GrossCritic whose 1998 review dismantled the discovery scene
- Winston Churchill+3 more episodesHome Secretary who ordered Minor's release in 1910
Where it happens
- Knight U.S.A. General Hospital, New HavenWhere Minor performed autopsies during the war
- Lambeth, LondonSite of the 1872 killing near the Lion Brewery
- Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, EnglandWhere Minor was confined from 1872 to 1910
- Alexandria, VirginiaWhere muster rolls place him ten days after the Wilderness
Timeline
- 1863Minor takes his Yale medical degree and enters Union service
- May 1864Battle of the Wilderness; his records place him in New Haven
- February 17, 1872Minor shoots and kills George Merrett in Lambeth
- April 1872Found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Broadmoor
- 1910Released on Churchill's order and deported to the United States
- March 26, 1920Minor dies in Hartford, Connecticut
Still debated
Sources conflict on whether Minor was a contract or commissioned surgeon, and the branding story rests on a single 1998 book. Accounts also differ on how many quotation slips he sent and when, and what became of the Merrett family is unknown.
