History: Revolutionary War Doctor John Hart

Born in 1752 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, John Hart was the son of John Hart, a lawyer and renowned musician. Dr. John Hart’s mother, Mary Knowlton, was the daughter of Captain Abraham Knowlton, an Ipswich “joiner” or cabinetmaker of great skill. Through her mother, Mary Knowlton was a direct descendant of one of our town’s first settlers Francis Smith.

 John Hart studied medicine in Ipswich and in 1771 moved to what is now Bath, Maine to begin his own practice. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Dr. Hart took the colonial side and joined the Revolutionary Army under the charge of Colonel Prescott just before the battle of Bunker Hill. When Col. Prescott’s regiment was disbanded in 1776, Dr. Hart joined the Second Massachusetts Regiment under the command of Captain Bailey, where he was appointed regimental surgeon. He continued in the service of the Revolutionary cause until the war ended in 1783, and then joined a reserve force until 1784. 

During the entire course of the War, Dr. Hart was proud to maintain that he accompanied his regiment into every battle, ready to operate or dress wounds throughout the fighting. Dr. Hart served directly under George Washington for a period of time, and was appointed by General Washington to be one of the medical inspectors to supervise the execution of Major Andre for treason. At another time, he was personally charged by General Washington to travel to Boston to pick up the sum of $3,000 in gold. His son later described the hazards of the journey, as the doctor transported his precious cargo on horseback over hundreds of miles: “He packed it in a valise, at every stopping-place took it into the house with him, every night put it under his pillow, piled chairs, &c., against the doors and windows of the room, cocked his pistols, laid them in a chair at the head of his bed, and his drawn sword beside them.”

After his service in the Army was at last over, the Dr. Hart returned home to the land of his ancestors, making his home in Reading (in the present-day Wakefield, MA). In 1777, he had married Mary Flowers Gould, the daughter of Captain Abraham Gould of this town, and she may have been instrumental in the family’s decision to remain here. Dr. Hart’s practice grew and thrived, extending not only in our town, but also in Essex and Suffolk Counties.  His extensive experience during the War would serve him well; in 1792 during the period when smallpox broke out in Boston, Dr. Hart was placed in charge of hospitals erected in Reading, Lynn and Boston, for the purpose of giving the then-controversial inoculations considered responsible for saving hundreds of lives. Dr. Hart was also renowned for bringing babies into the world and later attested that he had presided over the birth of at least three thousand souls.

Despite his busy practice, Dr. Hart was active in the government of his town, serving as a member of the school committee and board of selectmen and also acting as representative and/or senator in the state legislature for 13 years. He was also a magistrate and justice of the peace, and served many terms as Town Moderator. In his role of presiding over Town Meeting, Dr. Hart sometimes imperiously decided when everyone had heard enough on any given subject.  On one recorded occasion, a citizen called repeatedly to be heard, only to be ignored by Dr. Hart.  Finally, in exasperation, the citizen cried out, “Mr. Moderator, I wish to speak, and I WILL speak!” Dr. Hart replied, “By George, you may speak, but nobody cares what you say.”  (The would-be speaker reportedly sat back down.)

 Dr. Hart was also a great believer in property, and became one of the biggest property owners in town. (When, in 1812, the town broke off from Reading to form the town of South Reading, Dr. Hart was the largest tax payer in the town of 800, owing the town the annual sum of $50.)  Even the venerable Hartshorne House was once the property of Dr. Hart, who enlarged it and used the second floor as the meeting space for the Mt. Moriah Lodge of Masons.

Dr. Hart died in 1836, at the age of 85. His large marble gravestone in the Old Burying Ground relates his many accomplishments. Long after his death, his patients and neighbors remembered the vigorous, opinionated doctor who refused to wear an overcoat or ride in a carriage, carrying his medicines and the tools of his trade in the large pockets of his frock coat. He was a man of principles, who, when he opposed the building of a road would refuse to use it once it was built, even if it made him go out of his way every day. A man of science, who studied and advocated modern technologies that saved many lives. A true American, who knew and worked with many of the greats of his age, including Generals George Washington and Henry Knox.  A true son of South Reading, who served his patients, his nation and his town.