Surgeon George R. Weeks
SURGEON GEORGE R WEEKS
George R. Weeks married Marian Ann Eliza Newton at Lime, Huron County, Ohio, on May 6, 1849. They had no children.
Dr. Weeks received an appointment as assistant surgeon in the 25th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, then stationed at Camp Chase. A descriptive roll listed him as five feet, nine inches tall, fair complexion, and gray eyes. He served with the 25th OVI from July 2 until transferring to the 24th OVI and receiving promotion to surgeon on July 26, 1861.
Dr. Weeks suffered through a sunstroke during his term of service as a U. S. Army Surgeon in the Corinth, Mississippi, seige, and first showed signs of fever and jaundice (Hepatitis) at McMinnville, Tennessee, on August 15, 1862. The 24th OVI's Assistant Surgeon Jabez M. Cooke treated him for the illness, but he never fully recovered.
On February 19, 1863, Weeks accepted an appointment as surgeon in the U. S. Volunteers, and served at Louisville, Kentucky, Memphis, Tennessee, Helena, and Little Rock, Arkansas. After mustering out of the U. S. service at Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, on October 7, 1865, George Weeks remained at the Arkansas capital and continued his career as a doctor in private practice. At Little Rock, he corresponded with numerous veterans of the 24th OVI about their disabilities and often upheld their war pension claims. In later years, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he resided until his death.
About the year 1892, Dr. Weeks' problems with heart and liver disease caught up with him, limiting his physical abilities. At the age of 76, he applied for a pension, and several friends supported his claim. Colonel W. S. Oliver of the 7th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment, U.S.A., remembered that Dr. Weeks had treated him for a wound received at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in April 1863. Dr. Weeks was sick with both heart and liver problems even then, and Oliver thought at the time that Dr. Weeks was too sick to be on active duty. Oliver lived near the Weeks family at Little Rock in the post-war.
Dr. Weeks died on December 31, 1902, exactly forty years after the Battle of Stones River.
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