HESSIAN JOHN

About the Book

Continuing from Book I (Hessian John, 19th Century Military Surgeon that ended in 1849), 32-year-old Captain Johann is an assistant surgeon who has recently returned from the Mexican War. After being chastised by Army Surgeon General Tom Lawson for criticizing poor camp-sanitation practices, he was sent on an inspection trip to camps along the Oregon Trail where cholera and other diseases were spread by Forty-Niners. In the early ‘50s, his 4th Infantry Regiment was sent via Panama to Fort Vancouver where he served with Lieutenant U.S. Grant and Captain George McClellan. Still later, he roamed the gold fields to find a missing brother-in-law and to practice proper medicine among gold seekers who were poorly served by medical charlatans. In the mid-‘50s, he returned to Europe, serving with the U.S. Observer Team at the Crimean War where he learned more about sanitation from Florence Nightingale. Finally, he returned to his Hessian hometown where he was again captured by his pursuers who served the Baron Horst von Biebertal. In this second of a four-book series, frontier doctor John continues on a pre-Civil War journey through mid-19th century Western America, participating in historical events that further changed his life.

About the Author

Colonel Don Walbrecht was the 11th USAF pilot of the Mach-3 SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. He holds Bachelor Degrees of Science and Arts from The University of Idaho and The University of Maryland, Master Degrees of Science and Literature from The George Washington University and The University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. from East Anglia University. Since retiring from the Air Force after 30 years of flying, and staff-officer and commander duties, he has served as professor of history and aviation technology for the University of Maryland and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He currently lives in South Idaho where he supervises graduate-level research projects, writes and lectures, travels nationwide to visit historical sites, and participates in aviation-related symposia. He is the author of On Silent Wings, a scientific-fiction romaunt.