Thomas Dudley Wooten

Thomas Dudley Wooten, physician, son of Joseph W. and Sarah Wooten, was born on March 6, 1829, in Barren County, Kentucky. Following the death of his father, Thomas took over the primary responsibilities at the family farm. He entered the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1851 and graduated with his M.D. two years later. In 1853 he married Henrietta C. Goodall, and their family grew to at least seven children. Wooten received his M.D. from the University of Louisville in 1853. He practiced medicine in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, and Springfield, Missouri, where he specialized in surgery, gynecology, and the treatment of eye diseases. During the Civil War he was a surgeon in the Confederate Army. In June 1861 Wooten enlisted in Foster’s Regiment of the Missouri State Troops. He was promoted to Chief Surgeon of the Seventh Division on August 10, 1861, following the battle of Wilson’s Creek. Wooten earned another promotion to Surgeon General of all the Missouri Confederate forces after the battle of Pea Ridge. He became medical director of the First Army Corps of the West with a rank of major. After the war Wooten practiced in Paris, Texas, and by 1876 established a large practice in Austin. He became one of the original regents of the University of Texas in 1881 and served as president of the board of regents from 1885 until his death at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on August 1, 1906. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

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When the war began Dr. Wooten had laid the foundations of a comfortable fortune and a successful career, which were swept away by the progress of the four years of war. In June, 1861, the Doctor enlisted as a private in the regiment of Col. Richard Campbell. Upon the organization of the Confederate forces in southwestern Missouri a little later, he was made surgeon of Foster's Regiment, known as the Second Regiment, Seventh Division, Missouri State Troops, in command of General McBride. After the battle of Oak Hills, Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861, he was appointed chief surgeon of McBride's Division. Following the battle of Pea Ridge he was appointed Surgeon General of all the Missouri forces, vice Dr. Snodgrass, resigned. When the Missouri army was turned over to the Confederacy, and. together with the Arkansas troops, formed into the First Army Corps of the West, he was chosen by the medical staff of the army for the post of Medical Director of the Corps, with staff rank as Major, General Sterling Price commanding.

Upon the transfer of this command to the east of Mississippi river, and after the battle of Farmington, General Price was placed in command of the District of Tennessee, embracing the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and part of Alabama, and Dr. Wooten was made Medical Director of the district. At that time the field and hospital service being consolidated and there being some 15,000 wounded and sick in the hospital, and continual engagements in the field, the labor of the chief medical officer was' immense, and required exercise of the greatest vigilance, firmness and skill, all of which qualities were displayed abundantly and satisfactorily by Dr. Wooten. When General Price was again ordered to the west and placed in command of the district of Arkansas, Dr. Wooten retained his position on his staff and served as medical director of that district to the end of the war, being for a time on the staff of General Magruder, during the last raid of General Price into Missouri.

Dr. Wooten's rapid rise and sustained success in the army was somewhat remarkable. Only thirty years old at the outbreak of hostilities, with but four years of residence in Missouri, with no previous military experience, no practical prestige or professional affiliations, he enlisted as a private, and after a few months, in competition with some of the most eminent and influential medical men of St. Louis and the west, he arose to the highest medical rank in the service of the state, and to the medical directorship of the western Army Corps, retaining to the close his position on the staff and his place in the confidence and affection of Missouri's devoted old warrior and chieftain.

At the end of the war, completely ruined in fortune, he settled in Paris, Texas, though urged by friends to locate in some of the larger cities of the south. He very soon built up a very large practice. Still maintaining his early aptitude and skill in the direction above referred to, and reinforced by a four years' experience in the active and stirring emergencies of the field and hospital, his success in all the more difficult tasks of surgery and general practice fully sustained in civil life the reputation won in military circles. During the ten years he remained in Paris, besides a large local practice, he drew patients from a large part of northern and eastern Texas, and from Arkansas, Louisiana and Indian Territory.

In January, 1876, Dr. Wooten came to Austin, and here he spent his remaining years of activity, maintaining the same reputation for skill that has made his career a part of the history of the Medical Profession of the state, requiring no detailed mention.

When the University of Texas was finally inaugurated in 1881, Dr. Wooten was appointed by Governor Roberts one of the first regents of that institution, to which position he was reappointed by Governor Ireland. He was from the first a most active and earnest friend of the university, and always labored for its successful and efficient establishment with a zeal and fidelity that never faltered. Being the only member of the regency who was resident at the state capitol, the greater part of the incessant vigilance and labor required to properly administer the affairs of the institution fell on his shoulders during the years of his incumbency on the Board of Regents.

In January, 1885, Dr. Ashbell Smith, President of the Board, having died in the previous autumn, Dr. Wooten was unanimously elected president of the Board of Begents of the University of Texas, and it may be safely said that to him, more than to any other one man, the University of Texas owes its present existence and prosperity. Dr. Wooten died on August 1, 1906, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Thomas Dudley Wooten, physician, son of Joseph W. and Sarah Wooten, was born on March 6, 1829, in Barren County, Kentucky. Following the death of his father, Thomas took over the primary responsibilities at the family farm. He entered the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1851 and graduated with his M.D. two years later. In 1853 he married Henrietta C. Goodall, and their family grew to at least seven children. Wooten received his M.D. from the University of Louisville in 1853. He practiced medicine in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, and Springfield, Missouri, where he specialized in surgery, gynecology, and the treatment of eye diseases.

During the Civil War he was a surgeon in the Confederate Army. In June 1861 Wooten enlisted in Foster’s Regiment of the Missouri State Troops. He was promoted to Chief Surgeon of the Seventh Division on August 10, 1861, following the battle of Wilson’s Creek. Wooten earned another promotion to Surgeon General of all the Missouri Confederate forces after the battle of Pea Ridge. He became medical director of the First Army Corps of the West with a rank of major.

After the war Wooten practiced in Paris, Texas, and by 1876 established a large practice in Austin. He became one of the original regents of the University of Texas in 1881 and served as president of the board of regents from 1885 until his death at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on August 1, 1906. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.