recently uncovered biography of Edward Delafield, MD

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SAMUELS: Edward Delafield: A Sketch
can independence and also an official copy of the treaty. He
found the British flag still flying over the city and over a
great fleet in the harbor, and so it was to be until some months
later, when Lord Howe could gather up the last of the
loyalists and ship them to Canada. New York was already
over a hundred years old, and most of the patrician families
were of Dutch or Huguenot descent. Within a few years
John Delafield became rich and prominent. His summer
home, "Sunswick House," at Hallett's Point, Long Island,
with its famous gardens, was regarded as one of the most
spacious and elegant seats near New York.
Edward Delafield, born May 7, 1794, was one of 14 children
(seven boys and seven girls) born to John and Ann Hallett
Delafield. Through his mother there flowed hot in his veins
the blood of revolutionary patriots.
He was prepared for Yale at Union Hall Academy, at
Jamaica, Long Island, under the tutelage of Mr. L. E. A.
Eigenbrodt, a German scholar of distinguished ability, a
graduate of the University of Giessen in 1793. Having made
satisfactory progress in French, mathematics, and classic
studies, he matriculated at Yale, and was graduated Bachelor
of Arts in the class of 1812.
Determining on a career of medicine, he was articled to
Dr. Samuel Borrowe, a practitioner of great fame in New
York, and at the same time he diligently pursued the prescribed
course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The war of 1812 interrupted his studies, but presumably enlarged
his practical knowledge. While the British were
blockading the harbor of New York in 1814, a rumor arose
that the city would soon be attacked by a powerful expedition
of land and sea forces. Commodore Stephen Decatur was
given charge of the defenses of the city. Responding to a
public plea for aid, young Delafield volunteered as a private
in a corps known as "The Iron Grays." Among the last
survivors were Edward Delafield and Fitz-Greene Halleck,