Calvin DeWitt Brigadier – General, United States Army

Calvin Dewitt of Pennsylvania
Appointed from Pennsyvlania, Captain, 49th Pennsylvania Infantry, 24 October 1861
Resigned 18 January 1863
Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army, 14 May 1867
Major, Surgeon, U. S. Army, 21 July 1885
Lieutenant Colonel, Deputy Surgeon General, U. S. Army, 15 December 1898
Colonel, Assistant Surgeon General, U. S. Army, 7 May 1901


Born at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1840, the son of the Reverend William R. and Mary Elizabeth (Wallace) DeWitt. He was educated at Harrisburg Academy: A.B. at Princeton, 1860; AM in 1863 and MD in 1865 from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Married Josephine Lesesne in 1877.

He served in the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War; Captain, 49th Pennsylvania olunteer Infantry, October 1861-January 1863; appointed First Lieutenant, Assistant Surgeon, United States Army, May 14, 1867, and advanded through the grades to Colonel, Assistant Surgeon General, United States Army, May 7, 1901; to Brigadier General, August 9, 1903 and retired from active service on August 10, 1903.

He served as a medical officer in several campaigns against Indians and in Cuba. Was an intructor in military hygiene, General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and professor of military medicine and later president, Army Medical School, Washington, D.C. He died in 1908 and was buried in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery.  His wife, Josephine Lesesne Dewitt (1856-1952) outlived him by 44 years, never remarried and is buried with him.

His sons, John Lesesne DeWitt, Lieutenant General, United States Army; Calvin DeWitt, Jr., Brigadier General, United States Army; and Wallace DeWitt, Brigadier General, United States Army, are also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  In addition, his Grandsons, John Lesene Dewitt, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army, and Wallace DeWitt, Jr., Major, United States Army, are also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

DEWITT, CALVIN

  • BRIG GENL USA RTD
  • DATE OF DEATH: 09/03/1906
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3 OFFRS  SITE LOT 1336
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

DEWITT, JOSEPHINE L WID OF DE WITT, CALVIN D

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 05/06/1856
  • DATE OF DEATH: 07/26/1952
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 3  SITE 1336
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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