John Ely

John Ely (September 24, 1737 – October 3, 1800) was a Connecticut surgeon and Colonel in the American Revolution. Early life Born in Lyme, Connecticut, John Ely became a physician and surgeon with a reputation that reached far beyond the Saybrook He specialized in the treatment of smallpox. He bought Duck Island off the Saybrook shore (now a major Egret rookery) and then built a hospital for his smallpox patients. When this disease broke out in the Army of General George Washington in July 1776, Dr. Ely was sent for and did much to arrest the plague. Revolutionary War