War of 1812 Physician: Lennox Birckhead

Lennox Birckhead was born in Cambridge Maryland on February 27, 1794 and was the son of Dr. Solomon Birckhead. He received his A.B. from Dickinson College in 1813. He was a defender of Fort McHenry at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. He went on to receive his medical degree from the University of Maryland in 1817. Dr. Birckhead attended the Hotel Dieu in Paris.

For 16 months beginning in 1855, he was the author of Letters for the Times in Baltimore, and A Voice from the South in Baltimore in 1861. Dr. Birckhead died in Baltimore of Bright’s disease on September 2, 1865.

This is the family’s house and it is on the grounds of Catonsville Community College. The house, known as Hilton, for its hilltop location overlooking the Patapsco River, was purchased by Dr. Birckhead in 1825 and was originally a stone farmhouse. It was re-fashioned into this property in the 1920’s. Details on the house are here. Dr. Birckhead sold the property in 1837.