Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/384

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GEORGE MILLER STERNBERG

STERNBERG, GEORGE MILLER, son of a clergyman and teacher, surgeon-general, United States army, commissioner for the study of yellow fever, author and scientific worker; was born at Hartwick seminary, Otsego county, New York, June 8, 1838, the oldest of eleven children. His father, the Reverend Doctor Levi Sternberg, was a Lutheran clergyman and principal of Hartwick seminary, 1851-64. His mother, Margaret Levering (Miller) Sternberg, was the daughter of the Reverend Doctor George B. and Delia Bray (Snyder) Miller. His great grandfather, Nicholas Sternberg, was a member of the committee of safety in Schoharie county during the war of the revolution; and his son, John, married Anna Schafer. They were the parents of the Reverend Doctor Levi Sternberg.

George Miller Sternberg was educated in the public schools of Buffalo, New York, and at Hartwick seminary; taught country schools, 1855-58; and was graduated in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city in 1860. He practised medicine, 1860-61, and on May 28, 1861, was appointed assistant surgeon, United States army. He was taken prisoner at the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, but effected his escape. He was officially commended for service at Bull Run, Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill. He was assistant medical director of the Department of the Gulf from August, 1862, to January, 1864; was in charge of the United States general hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, from January, 1864, to April, 1866; and was commissioned captain and assistant surgeon, United States army, May 28, 1866. He served at Fort Harker, Kansas, during the cholera epidemic of 1867; and his wife who assisted him during the epidemic fell a victim to the disease. He also served at Fort Barrancas, Florida, during the yellow fever epidemics of 1873 and 1875; and he was commended by the chief of his corps for service in the South. He received promotion to major and surgeon, United States army, December 1, 1876; was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, United States army, July 12, 1877, "for gallant services in