Evidence abounds in the earlier records that the scarcity of medical men may have compelled surgeons in Virginia to practice internal medicine: surgeons prescribed medicine with the same frequency as doctors. The surgeons, however, did not abandon the treatment of wounds, fractures, and dislocations; notes on amputations during the century also exist.
Nor is it reasonable to assume that the isolated physician of the Virginia countryside would always insist upon referring a patient to a surgeon. Dr. Francis Haddon, who had a large practice in York County, Virginia, and who is not identified as a surgeon, left recorded the course of treatment for an amputation--cordials, a purge, ointments, and bloodletting--and a dismembering saw, as well.
Other recorded surgical treatments include care of dislocated shoulders; wounds in various parts of the body; sores of the feet and legs; cancerous ulcers in the instep; ulcers of the throat, and dueling wounds. One of the most unusual surgical measures of the period was the application of weapon salve for battle wounds; the salve was applied to weapon, not wound.
Surgery has long been associated with the military, and much of the outstanding surgical work done in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was performed by military surgeons. Ambroise Paré (c. 1510-1590), remembered especially for the use of the ligature in amputations and the abandonment of the burning-oil treatment of wounds, held a position as a surgeon for the French army. Other surgeons of the period contributed to the improvement of medical practice by enlightened measures of quarantine to prevent contagious diseases from decimating armies.
Insomuch as the first settlers at Jamestown greatly feared attack from Indians and Spaniards and because the initial landings had the character of a military expedition, it is not surprising that the first two medical men to arrive, Will Wilkinson and Thomas Wotton, were surgeons. Captain John Smith on three occasions, it is to be remembered, emphasized the importance of the surgeon to pioneer settlers and explorers in the New World. When injured by the stingray in 1608, Smith's first thought was of his need for a surgeon and "chirurgery"; so the success of physician Russell's soothing oils came as a pleasant surprise. On a subsequent expedition he included the surgeon, Anthony Bagnall, rather than Dr. Russell, to treat the stingray wound; and in 1609 when he received the powder burn, he left Virginia "seeing there was neither chirurgeon nor chirurgery in the fort to cure his hurt."