Excerpt from Dr. Mütter's Marvels by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Hopeful that the rest of the estate's money would be free eventually (though he could have no idea that it would take years for the court system to release the funds to him), Carter kept strict records of the money he spent on the boy and began keeping him under a strict budget. It was during this examination of the budget that Thomas's fondness for expensive garments was first documented.

"The charge Mr. Bradley makes for the child's clothes, $23 apiece for his last two suits, is so very extravagant that they should if possible be made elsewhere," a stunned Carter noted, "but not having his measure I must for the present submit."

But if there was one area that Carter refused to cut corners on, it was the boy's education. Charles Goddard, the man who had tutored Thomas when his father was still alive, was brought to Sabine Hall and continued to serve in that role for another four years. The established rapport between tutor and pupil was a huge comfort to Thomas, and had the added benefit of relieving the Carter household of some of the disciplinary duties associated with the puckish, outspoken boy.

However, when Thomas turned twelve, Carter decided it was time to look at boarding schools. He eventually selected for Thomas the Llangollen School in Spotsylvania County, a grammar school that prepared boys to attend college. There, for a bargain price of $140 a year, Thomas learned English, French, and Latin, studied geography and mathematics, and boarded with his own teacher, John Lewis, who wrote Carter often about his growing ward's progress.

Thomas proved to a bright and willing student, and Lewis's letters always showcased the latest subject in which Thomas was excelling. However, Lewis's letters to Carter also revealed that the growing boy continued to struggle with his health problems.

"Early in the spring he had a slight attack of intermittent fever which soon yielded to the ordinary medicines . . . ," Lewis wrote Carter before adding, "his general health I think is greatly improved from last month. He is stronger and more active and is considerably grown."

The following year, Lewis wrote, "His general health has been better than it was the last year," though he was forced to add that the boy was still "occasionally attacked by bilious colic," a painful condition marked by severe cramping, vomiting, and jaundice.

In his own letters to Carter, young Thomas rarely mentioned his health or his scholastics. Rather, his letters were marked with frequent pleas for new clothing.

"I wrote to Aunt to send me two pairs of shoes as I have not any at present," he wrote Carter in 1824. "Please write Aunt to get my winter clothes and some shoes and socks as I am in want of them."

Six months later, he wrote, "As the warm weather is coming very fast I should like to get my summer clothes in time as I have but one very old suit. . . . I shall want some shoes about that time also. I do not wish to have any more made here as they cost as much as at Fredericksburg and are spoilt in the making."

A few months later, in his first letter to Carter since returning to school, Thomas told his guardian, "I am in great want of shirts as I have but two in the world and they are very old and tattered. I got some summer clothes from Mr. Lewis, but they are not sufficient for me nor nice enough to wear in town."

Thomas's desire to appear stylish only grew when, in 1826, he finally left Llangollen School to attend college at Virginia's Hampden-Sydney College. There, he ran up extravagant clothing bills and simply charged them to the school, with the hopes of earning scholarships and additional funds to pay off the debts. It was a ploy that didn't always work. At the end of his first year there, a frustrated merchant sent Colonel Carter the overdue bill directly, demanding payment for the more than one hundred dollars' worth of clothing and accessories Thomas had purchased on credit during the school year (and for which Thomas had only been able to pay back half).

Excerpted from Dr. Mütter's Marvels by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. Copyright © 2014 by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz. Excerpted by permission of Gotham Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.