Henry Stearns (1828-1905)
Henry Stearns received undergraduate and medical degrees from Yale before studying at the celebrated medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland. He served as house surgeon at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh before returning to his home in Massachusetts.
Stearns moved to Hartford in 1859. During the Civil War, he was appointed surgeon of the First Connecticut Regiment. He later served as brigade surgeon of United States volunteers, and on the staffs of Generals Grant and McClellan. He was promoted to medical director at Paducah, Kentucky; built and equipped the Joe Holt Hospital in Indiana; and served as medical director of the northern wing of the Army of Tennessee. He mustered out of service in 1865 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
In 1874, Stearns was appointed physician and superintendent of the Retreat for the Insane. During his 31-year tenure he introduced many reforms. He was the first superintendent of an insane institution to successfully manage patients without subjecting them to mechanical restraint. He also successfully implemented the building of separate cottages for various forms of insanity at the Retreat.
Learn about his role in the famous trial of Charles Guiteau, President James Garfield’s assassin, on the Prosecution Rests Tour on Saturday, September 30 at 10:00 am.
