Captain Jenkins Augustus FitzGerald was a Civil War veteran who enlisted and mustered into federal service at Indianapolis July 21, 1862, as a private with Co. E, 70th Indiana Infantry even though he was a doctor by that time. Detailed as a hospital steward October 1862, he transferred to that role April 15, 1863, serving at the medical facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Promoted to assistant surgeon October 17, 1863, he mustered at that rank October 22 at Nashville, Tennessee, and honorably discharged with the regiment June 8, 1865, at Washington DC. After the war, he served with the U.S. Army both at the rank of assistant surgeon and as a civilian contract surgeon. His proper military title is “Assistant Surgeon” and not “Captain” as his tombstone asserts, although the two ranks were equivalent. He was recommended for promotion and posted to medical positions based on his competent service during the war as shown by surviving letters of reference from senior medical officers during the Civil War period. 

Emily McCorkle met Jenkins FitzGerald when, in 1870, she left Columbia to visit her Aunt Patience Caldwell in Leavenworth, Kansas. Emily’s uncle Alex Caldwell was a wealthy businessman and, subsequently, a US Senator from Kansas.  At the Caldwell home in Leavenworth, she met Dr. Jenkins, the Post Surgeon at Camp Supply, Indian Territory. Emily was 20 and the good Doctor, 31. Although Emily had to leave Kansas to return to Columbia, Jenkins traveled to Columbia January 31, 1872 to see her again. They married February 15, 6 weeks later.

Emily and Jenkins lived, first, in West Point, where Dr. FitzGerald served as Assistant Surgeon for the US Military Academy. In May 1874, the good doctor received orders to report to Fort Vancouver (six miles from Portland). The entire area at that time was a massive ‘territory.’ No states were yet formed. Part of that huge territory included Alaska, which the United State had only purchased from Russia in 1867. The US assigned the military to administer this new land. Dr. FitzGerald was to report for duty. Dr. and Mrs. FitzGerald arrived in Sitka, August 16, 1874. Considering the time and place, conditions can only be imagined.

Even before Jenkins met Emily, he had already lived through challenging times. He acted as a field surgeon during the Civil War. He quickly became known for his bravery under fire. Later, in 1898, General Harrison (by this time, ex-President Benjamin Harrison) wrote to Emily, after Jenkins’s passing: “I knew Surgeon FitzGerald very well and admired him greatly. He was one of the bravest men I ever knew.”

But, the Civil War and the wilds of Alaska wasn’t all that was in store. In 1876, Dr. FitzGerald and his wife, Emily, were assigned to Fort Lapwai, Idaho. Having to bear the challenges of frontier life was only the introduction to far more to come. Together, this assignment put them front and center of the great Nez Percé Wars. This great conflict spread throughout Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.

There was more coming to the FitzGeralds. Dr. FitzGerald, in 1877, was assigned to Fort Boise. This eventually put him in the middle of the Bannock War in 1878. This conflict involved the Bannock and Paiute tribes fighting for, what they perceived as, the survival of their culture and home. Again, Dr. Jenkins FitzGerald demonstrated honor and bravery all along the way. But, the danger of this conflict demanded Emily and their, now, two young children, Bert and Bess, to remain out of harm’s way in an outpost many miles away. When the conflict subsided, Emily and their, now, two children, Bert and Bess, joined the doctor at Fort Boise. Soon, they finally resolved that they’d experienced enough adventures and moved back to Columbia at the end of 1878. They enjoyed their safer surroundings. But, that solace was short-lived when, on January 21, 1879, Jenkins was confined to bed with an inflammation of the lungs (undoubtedly initiated during the a bad cold during the Civil War and, later, poor conditions during the Nez Percé conflict). 

Dr. Jenkins died, August 11, 1879. Emily lived until 1912, dying one day short of what would’ve been their 40th anniversary. Today, they lie, side by side, buried in the oldest section of Mt. Bethel Cemetery in Columbia, Pennsylvania.

Jenkins FitzGerald’s parents were Joab Hawkins Fitzgerald and Sarah Watts Ward. Emily’s parents were Dr. William Strickler McCorkle and Elizabeth Lewis Heise. Indeed, Emily’s ancestors include a number of Columbia’s founders.

. . . . . . 
Letters written by Emily during many of their arduous adventures together:
An Army Doctor’s Wife on the Frontier / Edited by Abe Laufe, Foreward by Joan I. Biddle
University of Nebraska Press, 1986