John G. Westmoreland papers

Born in Monticello, Georgia in 1816, John Gray Westmoreland spent his childhood in Fayetteville, Georgia before attending the Augusta Medical College, where he graduated in 1843. He then returned to his old home and worked as a country doctor for the next several years. During this time his younger brother, Willis Foreman, served as his apprentice.

During the 1850s, John G. Westmoreland moved to Atlanta where he, James F. Alexander, and his brother Wilis Foreman Westmoreland petitioned the Atlanta City Council for a permit to build a hospital where city patients could be cared for at a cost of one dollar per day. He then focused his efforts to construct a medical college. A charter was drafted for the Atlanta Medical College in 1854, and its first classes were held in the newly built Atlanta City Hall during the summer of 1855. Soon however, it became evident that a building was needed, and the challenge to garner sufficient funds to erect and equip the necessary building was significant. John G. Westmoreland eventually resigned from his practice and, in the summer of 1857, entered the race for state legislature as the representative of Fulton County. Soon after the election which he won, Westmoreland was given $15,000 for the building, with the stipulation that one student from each congressional district receive a scholarship to the college.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Westmoreland sided with the Confederate States Army, serving as a surgeon for the duration of the war. Following the war, Westmoreland returned home relieved to see that the Atlanta Medical College was spared, largely due to Dr. D’Alvigny, a professor of the school who managed to convince the Union army that the building was in use as a hospital. Upon his return, Westmoreland recruited the best Atlanta-area talent that remained in the medical profession and re-opened the college.

John Gray Westmoreland died on June 3, 1887 at the age of 70.