The New International Encyclopædia/Hoffman, Walter James
HOFFMAN, Walter James (1846-99). An
American ethnologist. He was born at Weidasville,
Pa., studied medicine at Jefferson College,
Philadelphia, and practiced it in Reading, Pa., till

1870, when he went to the Franco-Prussian War
as a surgeon with the German Army. On his
return he took a similar position with the United
States troops, and thus obtained opportunities
for natural history researches in Arizona,
Nevada, and Dakota. In 1877 Hoffman was
attached to the Geological Survey, and two years
afterwards became assistant in the Bureau of
Ethnology at its formation.