Early Life
Letterman was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of a well-known surgeon. He graduated from Jefferson College in 1845 and Jefferson Medical College in 1849. That same year he was given the position of assistant surgeon in the Army Medical Department.
Letterman served in Florida during military campaigns against the Seminole Indians until 1853. He then spent a year in Fort Ripley, Minnesota. He was then ordered to Fort Defiance in New Mexico Territory to aid the campaign against the Apache. He was transferred to Fort Monroe in Virginia. From 1860 to 1861 he was engaged in California against the Utes.
His younger brother, William Henry Letterman, co-founded the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity with Charles Page Thomas Moore in Canonsburg after tending to sick classmates in the Fall of 1850. After graduation from Jefferson College, William followed his brother into Jefferson Medical College.
Read more about this topic: Jonathan Letterman
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