Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 28, 1833, Albert Leary Gihon received his medical degree in 1852 and was a professor at the Philadelphia College of Medicine and Surgery from 1853-54.

Appointed and commissioned an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Navy in May 1855, Gihon was assigned to the sloop of war Portsmouth. In November 1856, the Portsmouth participated in the attack on the “Barrier Forts” in Canton, China, and Gihon joined the landing party in the capture of those fortifications.

After service on several other vessels, Gihon was appointed and commissioned a surgeon in August 1861.

In January 1862, Gihon was ordered to the U.S.S. St. Louis, and served on that ship until December 1864.

Gihon remained in the Navy after the Civil War, served on several vessels, was fleet surgeon of the European Station, was promoted to medical director in August 1879, and was in charge of the naval hospitals in New York and Washington. He retired in September 1895. Gihon wrote many technical books on medical matters, including Practical Suggestions in Naval Hygiene (1871) and The Need of Sanitary Reform in Ship Life (1877).

Gihon died in Roosevelt Hospital, New York on November 16 (some sources state November 17), 1901, and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. A 1904 bill to increase his widow’s pension noted that Gihon’s naval career “was marked by great zeal and devotion to duty.”

Carte-de-Visite by John L. Gihon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31885