Eugene Fauntleroy Cordell was born June
25, 1843, in Charlestown, West Virginia (then part of Virginia), the son of
Rev. Dr. Levi O’Connor Cordell and Christine Turner Cordell. His early
education began at Charlestown Academy and continued at the Episcopal High
School of Alexandria, Virginia. His studies, however, became relegated to
secondary importance due to the emerging of the Civil War.
His father disapproved of his intention
to enlist in the service but eventually relented, which paved the way for
Eugene to enter the Virginia Military Institute. He went on to serve honorably
from 1861 until 1865, working his way up to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant
in 1863. At Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864 he was shot three
times. As a Southern military veteran, then, Cordell was welcomed when entered
medical school in 1866, and he received his M.D. at the University of Maryland
in 1868.
Following his graduation, Cordell held
the position of “Clinical Clerk” at University Hospital, and serves as
attending physician in the Baltimore General Dispensary from 1869 until 1872.
It was during this period that he served his first stint as Librarian at the
Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, a position he held from 1870-71,
and 1880-87.
Cordell became very interested in
Maryland Medical Journal during its infancy, contributing to it often and
becoming co-editor. Holding office in many of the local medical societies, he
eventually rose to the position of President of the Medical and Chirurgical
Faculty of Maryland, serving from 1903-04.
Dr. Cordell penned
his Historical Sketch of the University of Maryland in 1891, and then expanded
it for the centennial of the school in 1907. Concurrently, he wrote and
published the Centennial Celebration of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of
Maryland, the MEDICAL ANNALS, an exhaustive 889-page compilation of the history
of medicine in Maryland chronicling the period 1799-1899. In 1905, he gave
birth to a new publication entitled OLD MARYLAND, a periodical he started as a
forum to celebrate the many merits of the University of Maryland.
This painting by Thomas Corner, was commissioned in part by Sir William Osler, in appreciation for Cordell's work on assembling and publishing the Annals.
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