Benjamin Tusten  Benjamin Tusten (11 December 1743 – July 22, 1779) was a physician and a militia lieutenant colonel during the American Revolutionary War. "Doctor Benjamin Tusten was a native of Southhold, on Long Island. He was born on the 11th December, 1743, and was the only son of Colonel Benjamin Tusten Sr, a respectable farmer of that place. His father removed into Orange county, in the year 1746, bringing with him his son, and settled on the banks of the Otterkill, two and a half miles from the village of Goshen, on the patent granted to Madame Elizabeth Denn. Such was the respect in which the father was held, that he was soon appointed one of the judges of the county court, and promoted a colonel in the regiment of militia on the west side of the mountain, including at that time all the county of Orange, north of the Highlands, from Hudson's river to the line of New Jersey. His son Benjamin he had intended for a farmer, being then in possession of a large tract of land; but not being of a hardy constitution, he relinquished that design, and determined to fit him for a profession. For that purpose he sent him to an academy to obtain a classical education, at Jamaica, Long Island, there being none in Orange county; there he obtained a thorough acquaintance with the mathematics, and a good knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages. At the age of nineteen he returned, and commenced the study of medicine with Doctor Thomas Wickham, of Goshen, whose character as a physician and teacher of medicine stood unrivaled in his day. Medical books at that time, were difficult to be procured - none were published in this country, and as they were bought only by one profession, importations of them were scarce; indeed, most of the physicians imported their own libraries. From this circumstance the libraries of physicians were small, especially those who resided so far back in the country. This induced young Tusten, at the end of a year, to leave Doctor Wickham, and go to Newark, New Jersey, where he spent another year with Doctor Burnet. Here he became acquainted with a Miss Brown, whom he afterwards married. There were at that time no medical schools in this country, and he was induced to finish his education with Doctor Thomas Jones, a celebrated surgeon in the city of New York. In 1769 he returned home and commenced the practice of physic at the house of his father.