"Smart & Brave" Death of a Civil War General at Belle Grove

Saturday, October 4, 10:30-11:30. This lecture is free of charge and will take place on the lower level of the Belle Grove Manor House at 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645. At one point the youngest General in the Confederate Army, Stephen Dodson Ramseur saw action in many of the major battles of the Civil War. He had horses shot out from under him and was wounded seriously at Malvern Hill, Chancellorsville, and Cedar Creek. However, at Cedar Creek, he received a fatal chest wound. Dr. Dianne Murphy will recount General Ramseur’s life and career, and will focus in on the medical advances made during the Civil War. Dr. Murphy is a pediatric infectious disease physician who retired from the Food and Drug Administration where she established and directed the Office of Pediatric Therapeutics. She earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, completed a residency at the University of Virginia, served as a pediatrician at the National Naval Medical Center, and taught at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and the University of Florida, Jacksonville. She has volunteered as a docent and Board Member at the Lee Fendall House in Alexandria, Virginia since 2006 and has also volunteered at the Carlyle House. Presently she is a docent at Belle Grove. Her passion in history has led her to develop lectures on both historical and medical topics. This summer she will be presenting on “Yellow Fever & History: The Impact on American History and Present Status.”