2nd Cousin, 4 generations removed to Art Wills
Dr. William Logan Dunn
Dr. William Logan Dunn was 22 years old at the start of the War for Southern
Independence. He served as the surgeon of the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry -- John
S. Mosby’s Partisan Rangers.
William Dunn was attending medical school at Jefferson Medical College in
Philadelphia at the outbreak of the war. He returned to his home in Southwest Virginia
and enlisted in the Washington [County, Virginia] Mounted Rifles on May 14th, 1861, the
date they were formed by his brother in law, Captain William “Grumble” Jones. At First
Manassas he was assigned to report to the medical staff but primarily served as a scout
and courier, with as yet unheralded John Mosby, and was mentioned in dispatches by JEB
Stuart for his work as a scout. In February 1862, he transferred to the Army of Northern
Virginia Medical Department, was assigned to Richmond Hospital #4 to study surgery
under Dr. J.B. Read, and received his M.D. in April 1863. The following month, he
joined the command of his old comrade, John Mosby. In June 1863, the command was
formally organized as the 43rd Virginia Battalion of Virginia Cavalry and Dr. Dunn was
ordered to report to the battalion on July 14th, 1863 and appointed Assistant Surgeon.
Dr. Dunn was the attending physician when Mosby was wounded by members of the
California Brigade on August 24, 1863, during one of Mosby’s raids on a wagon train at
Gooding’s Tavern near Annandale, Virginia. On December 21st, 1864, John Mosby was
again grievously wounded at “Lakeland”. Dr. Dunn and fellow surgeon Dr. Aristides
Monterio probably saved Mosby’s life when they extracted a bullet and staunched the
internal hemorrhaging.
Though Mosby thought highly of Dr. Dunn’s skills, he replaced Dr. Dunn as the
main battalion surgeon in December 1864. Dr. Aristides Monterio was appointed in his
place because Dr. Dunn wanted to be a warrior. In Mosby’s memoirs, he described Dunn
as “too fond of fighting. I wanted a surgeon who took more pride in curing than killing”.
Dr. Dunn survived The War and returned to the Abingdon, Virginia area to practice
medicine. He lived until 1922 and is buried in the Old Glade Spring Presbyterian Church
Cemetery, not far from his brother in law, CSA Brigadier General William “Grumble”
Jones.