Dr. Solomon Drowne (also known as Solomon Drown) (March 11, 1753 – February 5, 1834) was a prominent American physician, academic and surgeon during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

and in the history of the fledgling

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Early life

Drowne was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

in 1753. His father (also named Solomon, as was his father) was a merchant and was heavily involved in the civic affairs of the town. The Drowne family was also active in the First Baptist Church in America. Drowne's great-uncle Shem Drowne made the famous grasshopper weather vane atop of

Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...

in Boston. In 1772, Drown witnessed the burning of a British ship in an event known as the

Gaspée Affair The ''Gaspee'' Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS ''Gaspee'' was a British customs schooner that enforced the Navigation Acts in and around Newport, Rhode Island, in 1772. It ran aground in shallow ...

. The following year, he graduated from the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (the original name for Brown University) and received medical degrees from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and the College of Philadelphia (now the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

American Revolutionary War

From 1776 to 1780, during the Revolutionary War, Drowne served as a surgeon in different hospitals and with different regiments throughout the Continental Army. On July 3, 1776, he narrowly escaped being captured by the British while gathering medical supplies in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. While stationed and treating soldiers at

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, he gained the favor of

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

, the

Comte de Rochambeau Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, 1 July 1725 – 10 May 1807, was a French nobleman and general whose army played the decisive role in helping the United States defeat the British army at Yorktown in 1781 during the ...

, the

Comte d'Estaing Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing (24 November 1729 – 28 April 1794) was a French general and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the ...

and other French military officers supporting the American cause. In autumn 1780, he became surgeon on board the

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

sloop ''Hope'' owned by Joseph Nightingale and John Innis Clarke, keeping a diary that was later published. Drowne was discharged from the

1st Rhode Island Regiment The 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as Varnum's Regiment, the 9th Continental Regiment, the Black Regiment, the Rhode Island Regiment, and Olney's Battalion) was a regiment in the Continental Army raised in Rhode Island during the Americ ...

on June 15, 1783, receiving a Badge of Merit for six years' faithful service.

After the war

In 1783, Drowne was elected to the Brown University (then still known as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations ) board of fellows. He traveled to Europe, touring various medical facilities and schools and meeting

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Returning home, he practiced medicine in Providence, Rhode Island until 1788, when he settled in

Marietta, Ohio Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Ma ...

with other war veterans. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1790. As his health declined, Drowne moved from Marietta to

Morgantown, Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as the home of West Virginia Universit ...

(now West Virginia), Union, Pennsylvania and back to Rhode Island in 1801.

Later life

Drowne was a close friend of U.S. Senator

Theodore Foster Theodore Foster (April 29, 1752January 13, 1828) was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He was a member of the Federalist Party and later the National Republican Party. He served as one of the first two United States senato ...

, whom he had met at college. In 1801 Drowne returned to Rhode Island and bought a farm next to Senator Foster in

Foster, Rhode Island Foster is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, in the United States. The population was 4,469 at the 2020 census. History Foster was originally settled in the 17th century by British colonists as a farming community. In the year 1662, ...

naming his farm Mt. Hygeia after the Greek goddess of health. Drowne used the farm for botanical research and named his driveway the "

Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, ...

". (As near as can be determined, Drown's home was built around 1806 as determined by Anselyn Lynch researching for the National Register of Historic Places - the house is on the Register). The first honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from Brown Medical School was conferred upon Solomon Drowne in 1804. In 1811, Drowne was appointed Professor of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and Materia Medica in the medical department at Rhode Island College (now Brown University Medical School). He laid out the college's first botanical garden, became one of the original members of the

Rhode Island Medical Society Rhode Island Medical Society is a medical society founded in 1812. It is the eighth oldest state medical society in the United States. They have published the ''Rhode Island Medical Journal'' since 1917. From 1912 to 2002, their headquarters ...

and one of the founders of the

Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry Rhode may refer to: *In Greek mythology: :*Rhodos, goddess and personification of the island of Rhodes :*Rhode, one of the fifty daughters of Danaus * ''Rhode'' (spider), a genus of spiders *Rhode (surname) *Rhode, County Offaly, an Irish town *Rh ...

. With his son William Drowne, he co-wrote ''The Farmer's Guide'', a thorough guide on

husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, startin ...

and gardening, in 1824. Drowne's papers are now a part of Brown University's collection.

Quotes

The phrase "the whole Fraternity of Noise", describing the growing street noise in Philadelphia's downtown, is often misattributed to

, but actually originates in a letter from Drowne to his brother William while Solomon was in Philadelphia in 1774.Gillingham, H. E., & Drowne, S. (1924). Dr. Solomon Drowne. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 48(3), 227–250.

References

External links

Solomon Drowne
on Encyclopedia Brunoniana.

from Drowne's journal on board the ''Hope''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Drowne, Solomon 1753 births 1834 deaths American military doctors People from Providence, Rhode Island Physicians in the American Revolution People of colonial Rhode Island People of Rhode Island in the American Revolution Brown University alumni Brown University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Geisel School of Medicine alumni Physicians from Rhode Island