However, prior to the 43rd Surgeon General, Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho — an Army Nurse Corps officer — all appointed and confirmed surgeons general have been Medical Corps officers — military physicians.

Only two physicians, doctors Richard Allison and James Craik, served under this nomenclature.

A Congressional Act of March 3, 1813, cited the "Physician & surgeon general" of the U.S. Army.

That nomenclature remained in place until the Medical Department was established by the Reorganization Act of April 14, 1818.

Additionally, physicians assigned to the U.S. Army were not accorded military rank until 1847.