Walter Reed was born in Belroi, Virginia, to Lemuel Sutton Reed (a traveling Methodist minister) and his first wife, Pharaba White.
During his youth, the family resided at Murfreesboro, North Carolina with his mother's family during his father's preaching tours.
Two of his elder brothers later achieved distinction: J.C. became a minister in Virginia like their father, and Christopher a judge in Wichita, Kansas and later St. Louis, Missouri, Their childhood home is included in the Murfreesboro Historic District.

After the American Civil War, Rev. Reed remarried, to Mrs. Mary C. Byrd Kyle of Harrisonburg, Virginia, with whom he would have a daughter.
Young Walter enrolled  at the University of Virginia.
After two years, Reed completed the M.D. degree in 1869, two months before he turned 18.
He was the youngest-ever recipient of an M.D. from the university.

Reed then enrolled at the New York University's Bellevue Hospital Medical College in Manhattan, New York, where he obtained a second M.D. in 1870, as his brother Christopher attempted to set up a legal practice.
After interning at several New York City hospitals, Walter Reed worked for the New York Board of Health until 1875.

He married Emily Blackwell Lawrence (1856–1950) of North Carolina on April 26, 1876 and took her West with him.
Later, Emily would give birth to a son, Walter Lawrence Reed (1877–1956) and a daughter, Emily Lawrence Reed (1883–1964), and the couple also adopted an aboriginal American girl while posted at frontier camps.
Walter Reed was born in Belroi, Virginia, to Lemuel Sutton Reed (a traveling Methodist minister) and his first wife, Pharaba White. During his youth, the family resided at Murfreesboro, North Carolina with his mother's family during his father's preaching tours. Two of his elder brothers later achieved distinction: J.C. became a minister in Virginia like their father, and Christopher a judge in Wichita, Kansas and later St. Louis, Missouri, Their childhood home is included in the Murfreesboro Historic District.
After the American Civil War, Rev. Reed remarried, to Mrs. Mary C. Byrd Kyle of Harrisonburg, Virginia, with whom he would have a daughter. Young Walter enrolled  at the University of Virginia. After two years, Reed completed the M.D. degree in 1869, two months before he turned 18. He was the youngest-ever recipient of an M.D. from the university.
Reed then enrolled at the New York University's Bellevue Hospital Medical College in Manhattan, New York, where he obtained a second M.D. in 1870, as his brother Christopher attempted to set up a legal practice. After interning at several New York City hospitals, Walter Reed worked for the New York Board of Health until 1875.
He married Emily Blackwell Lawrence (1856–1950) of North Carolina on April 26, 1876 and took her West with him. Later, Emily would give birth to a son, Walter Lawrence Reed (1877–1956) and a daughter, Emily Lawrence Reed (1883–1964), and the couple also adopted an aboriginal American girl while posted at frontier camps.
Walter Reed