Richard Sprigg Steuart

Richard Sprigg Steuart
Photograph of Richard Sprigg Steuart
Born	November 1797 Baltimore, Maryland
Died	July 14, 1876 Dodon, Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Education	St Mary's College, Baltimore
Known for	Spring Grove Hospital Center
Spouse	Maria Louisade Bernabeu ​ ​ (m. 1824)​
Relatives	George H. Steuart (politician), grandfather George H. Steuart (militia general) brother George H. Steuart (brigadier general) nephew.
Medical career
Profession	Physician, Planter
Field	General medicine
Institutions	Spring Grove Hospital Center
Sub-specialties	Mental Illness

Richard Sprigg Steuart (1797–1876) was a Maryland physician and an early pioneer of the treatment of mental illness. In 1838 he inherited four contiguous farms, totalling approximately 1900 acres as well as 150 slaves.^[1]

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.