page_title: Richard Sprigg Steuart
hierarchical_section_title: Richard Sprigg Steuart
caption_attribution_description: English: American physician Richard Sprigg Steuart (1797-1876)
context_page_description: Richard Sprigg Steuart was a Maryland physician and an early pioneer of the treatment of mental illness. In 1842 he inherited his uncle's 1600-acre plantation and 150 slaves, becoming a major planter and slaveholder in the state, and giving up his general medical practice.
  Steuart was instrumental in the expansion and modernisation of The Maryland Hospital for the Insane, today known as the Spring Grove Hospital Center. The expansion of the hospital, which Steuart considered his life's work, was authorized by the Maryland legislature in the 1850s and completed after the end of the Civil War.
  At the start of the American Civil War, Steuart was relieved of his position as superintendent of the hospital because he refused to sign an oath of loyalty to the Union. Despite being a slave state, Maryland did not secede, and Federal troops entered the state to ensure it remained in the Union. A known Confederate sympathiser, Steuart remained a fugitive for much of the war, smuggling medical supplies to the South.
context_section_description: Richard Sprigg Steuart (1797–1876) was a Maryland physician and an early pioneer of the treatment of mental illness. In 1842 he inherited his uncle's 1600-acre plantation and 150 slaves, becoming a major planter and slaveholder in the state, and giving up his general medical practice. 
  Steuart was instrumental in the expansion and modernisation of The Maryland Hospital for the Insane, today known as the Spring Grove Hospital Center. The expansion of the hospital, which Steuart considered his life's work, was authorized by the Maryland legislature in the 1850s and completed after the end of the Civil War. 
  At the start of the American Civil War, Steuart was relieved of his position as superintendent of the hospital because he refused to sign an oath of loyalty to the Union. Despite being a slave state, Maryland did not secede, and Federal troops entered the state to ensure it remained in the Union. A known Confederate sympathiser, Steuart remained a fugitive for much of the war, smuggling medical supplies to the South. 
  At the war's end, Steuart was reinstated as superintendent at the hospital, and achieved the opening of the new building in 1872, continuing as superintendent almost until his death in 1876.  Spring Grove continues to treat mental illness in the 21st century, and is the second oldest institution of its kind in the United States.
caption: Photograph of Richard Sprigg Steuart
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