William Thompson Lusk (May 23, 1838 – June 12, 1897) was an American obstetrician and a soldier who rose to the rank of Assistant Adjutant-General in the United States Volunteers during the first three years of the American Civil War. After he retired from the Union Army, he finished his medical education and became a professor as well as a president of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College. He received much recognition and fame for his 1882 book, The Science and Art of Midwifery, which quickly became a widely referenced text.
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Early life
Lusk was born and raised in Norwich, Connecticut. Lusk, the fifth generation of his family, was the son of Sylvester Graham Lusk and Elizabeth Freeman Lusk (née Adams).
Lusk attended a school run by local Reverend Albert Spooner in preparation for attending Yale College. However, his uncle believed that learning the old version of grammar from Spooner would get Lusk rejected from Yale, and for the winter of 1853–1854, he attended Anthon's Grammar School at Murray Street, Manhattan, New York City. For the winter of 1854–1855, Lusk was sent by his mother to Russell's Military School in New Haven, Connecticut, to gain physical toughness through gymnastics.