William Duncan

William Duncan (January 4, 1840 – December 27, 1900) was a prominent 19th-century American physician from Savannah, Georgia. During the American Civil War, he was the Confederate States Army's assistant surgeon with the 10th Georgia Infantry Regiment, and went on to become dean of Savannah Medical College and an alderman of the city.

Life and career Duncan was born in 1840 in Savannah, Georgia, to William Duncan (1799–1879), a native of Scotland, and Elizabeth McClellan.

He studied at Chatham Academy, Springfield Academy and Oglethorpe University.

During the American Civil War, he was assistant surgeon in the Confederate States Army, and served in field hospitals in both Savannah and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

For twenty years, Duncan was chief surgeon of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway, and for thirty years he was superintendent and a manager of the Savannah Hospital.

In July 1876, Duncan was the doctor who treated J. W. Schull, the first victim and believed source of the yellow fever epidemic to hit Savannah and the United States that summer.

Duncan was an alderman of Savannah for twelve years, and was also a member of the city's Board of Sanitary Commissioners.

Death Duncan died in 1900, aged 60. He was interred in Savannah's Laurel Grove Cemetery beside his parents. He bequeathed around $80,000, one half of his estate, to Savannah Hospital.