James Tryon was born in Coxsackie, New York, on September 24, 1837; he graduated from Union College in 1858 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1861. He was appointed an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Navy on September 22, 1863, and served with the West Gulf Blockading Squadron until 1865. He was later assigned to the Naval Hospital at Boston in order to make a special report to the Navy Department on the wounded treated there during the Civil War.

Tryon was appointed surgeon general in 1893, retired from the Navy on September 24, 1899, as a rear admiral, and died on March 20, 1912.

Carte-de-Visite by Boughardus, New York, N.Y.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31887