Apothecary General was a British and American military post held during the times of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. The appointment of Apothecary General in the British (or English) Army dated from 1686; it lapsed in 1826, by which time it was little more than an honorary title. According to British regulations, the Apothecary General, like the Judge Advocate General, was a noncombatant officer who, under directions from the secretary at war, supplied the army with medicines, hospital stores, surgical instruments, etc. Semi-annually he presented a bill to the Treasury, having previously submitted it for approval to the surgeon and physician generals and to the secretary at war, who certified that the medicines specified had been forwarded to their respective destinations. During the

the British apothecary general was George Garnier. His opposite number was

Andrew Craigie Andrew Craigie (1754–1819) is best known for serving as the first Apothecary General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The one-time owner of the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Craigi ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

apothecary and first man to hold the rank of a commissioned pharmaceutical officer in an American army. Craigie was appointed commissary of medical stores by

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

' Committee of Safety, April 30, 1775, present at the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peri ...

, and probably assisted in taking care of the sick and wounded there in a makeshift station behind the lines. When Congress reorganized the Army's Medical Department in 1777, Craigie became the first American Apothecary General. He duties included procurement, storage, manufacture, and distribution of the Army's drug requirements, but he also developed an early wholesaling and manufacturing business. Dr. Francis LeBaron (1781–1829) served as the United States Army's Apothecary General from 1813 to 1821. Called upon to improve the Army's failed system for providing medical supplies early in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, LeBaron's task was doomed by the military's lack of planning and resources, and further stymied by poor roads. On March 2, 1821, Congress passed an act (3 Stat. 615) reducing the army and reorganizing the staff corps. Section 10 defined the future medical staff as follows: :And be it further enacted, That the medical department shall consist of one surgeon general, eight surgeons with the compensation of regimental surgeons and forty-five assistant surgeons with the compensation of post surgeons. This act implicitly abolished the old system of titles which had stood since the Revolution, and brought about the elimination of the American Apothecary General and his assistants.

References

{{Reflist Military ranks