, Will Wilkinson, was listed with the laborers and craftsmen, a
reminder of the varied social backgrounds of surgeons. Captain John
Smith complimented Wotton in the summer of 1607 for skillful diligence
in treating the sick; but Edward Maria Wingfield, when council
president at Jamestown, criticized him for remaining aboard ship when
the need for him ashore was so great. Because of this reputed
slothfulness, Wingfield would not authorize funds for Wotton to
purchase drugs and other necessaries. The colony could only have
suffered from such a misunderstanding.

Further activities of Wotton and Wilkinson have faded into the mist of
time past, but Captain John Smith recorded for posterity the names and
deeds of other surgeons and physicians who came to Virginia before
1609. Dr. Walter Russell, the first physician--as distinguished from
surgeon--to arrive, came with a contingent of new settlers and supplies
in January, 1608. Post Ginnat, a surgeon, and two apothecaries, Thomas
Field and John Harford, accompanied the physician. Also in Smith's
record is the name, Anthony Bagnall, who has been identified as a
surgeon and who came with the first supply.

Unfortunately, neither contemporaries of Russell, Ginnat, Field, and
Harford--nor the men themselves--found reason to record the medical
assistance they rendered during a time of great need. Russell is
remembered only for the assistance he gave Smith when the Captain was
severely wounded by a stingray, Post Ginnat and the apothecaries leave
their names only, and Bagnall is remembered for his part in the
adventures encountered on one of Captain Smith's exploratory journeys.

Russell's services to Smith deserved note because the Captain was
expected to die from the stingray wound. It is an interesting comment
on the medicine of the time that Smith's companions prepared his grave
within four hours after the accident. "Yet by the helpe of a precious
oile, Doctour Russel applyed, ere night his tormenting paine was so wel
asswaged that he eate the fish to his supper."

The same stingray also assured the surgeon Bagnall a place in history.
Mention of Bagnall by Captain Smith followed the surgeon's exploits on
another expedition when he went along to treat the Captain's same
stingray wound. The party, attacked by savages, shot one Indian in the
knee and "our chirurgian ... so dressed this salvage that within an
hour he looked somewhat chearfully and did eate and speake."

How unf