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= Sarah Ann Chadwick = Sarah Ann Clapp (neé Chadwick) (born July 17, 1824 ) was the first woman who served as a non-commissioned Surgeon and Assistant Surgeon during the American Civil War. Although Chadwick did not receive a formal medical license, she was a graduate of Cleveland Medical College. She served first with the 7th Illinois Cavalry, and later at the Cairo Hospital in Illinois.

Early Life
Chadwick was born in Kennebec County, Maine. Her parents, Lot and Sarah Chadwick had seven other children. Chadwick and her family moved to Lee Center in Northern Illinois in 1838, when Sarah was 14. Lee Center served as a frequent stop for lyceums, lectures, debaters, and entertainers.

Education
Chadwick was first educated in Lee Center, Illinois at the Lee Center Union Academy School, a school of more than 150 students educated in math, music, philosophy, physiology, and languages. Between 1850-1854, Chadwick studied medicine with her brother-in-law named Dr. William Welch in LaSalle County, IL. In 1854, Chadwick enrolled at the Cleveland Medical College (now the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine) in Cleveland, Ohio, four years after it had begun allowing women to be admitted in 1850. In all, six women graduated from Cleveland Medical College, including Chadwick, who graduated in 1856 and Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewsha, a German medical student who would eventually be known for founding the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Chadwick and Zakrzewsha roomed together during their time at Cleveland Medical College.

Chadwick’s dissertation was entitled “An Essay on Contagion”. It examined three different classifications of diseases: those communicable with direct contact (such as cowpox and rabies), those spread through the air (including cholera and mumps),  and those spread through contact with the atmosphere (like tuberculosis and measles). Chadwick’s conclusion was that transportation played an important role in the spread of diseases.

Despite the fact that Chadwick graduated from Cleveland Medical College in 1856, she never received an official medical license.

Chadwick’s education was sponsored by the Ohio Female Medical Education Society, an organization that financially supported middle class women seeking to enter a male-dominated vocation like medicine. In addition to paying for Chadwick’s education, the Ohio Female Medical Education Society also found room and board for it students while they were attending school.

Career
After her graduation, Chadwick practiced medicine in Cleveland, Ohio until 1857. There is no mention of her between 1857 and 1861. Some speculate that she may have returned to Illinois to practice medicine there. In 1861, Chadwick’s younger brother George H. Chadwick enlisted in the 7th Illinois cavalry. On November 15 of the same year, Sarah Chadwick began working as a non-commissioned Surgeon with her brother’s unit. By December 27 of 1861, Chadwick was made Assistant Surgeon in Cairo Hospital. She remained in this position until August of 1862, and treated soldiers with camp fever, dysentery, and gunshot wounds.

Personal Life
In 1847, Chadwick married James Milligan. Before 1850, Chadwick had given birth to a daughter named Sarah J. Milligan, who lived with Chadwick’s parents. In 1850, James Milligan deserted his family. During this time, Sarah did not live with her daughter or her parents. Chadwick was formally divorced in 1855.

Chadwick met and married Henry Clapp of the 7th Illinois Cavalry in 1866. During her marriage to Henry Clapp, Chadwick did not work as a surgeon. Clapp died in 1887 from heart disease and dropsy.

Chadwick Bill
In 1890, Representative Thomas Henderson from Princeton, IL introduced a bill to the US House of Representatives requesting that Dr. Sarah Chadwick Clapp be paid as her time as a Surgeon during the Civil War. Rep. Henderson argued that Chadwick had served as a Surgeon from November 15 to December 27 of 1861, and as Assistant Surgeon from December 27 to August of 1862, and that she had been denied an official medical license only because she was a woman. The bill was introduced each year from 1890 until 1906, but failed to pass each time.

Only in 1906, 45 years after Chadwick’s service, was the Chadwick Bill officially passed. The Chadwick Bill was finally signed on February 7, 1907, granting Chadwick $850 for her work as a Civil War Surgeon.

Sarah Chadwick died on December 1, 1908. She is buried in the Chadwick family plot in Lee Center, Illinois.