The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-06-17 00:00:00, page 1

To the FREE CITIZENS OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Friends, Brethren and Fellow-Citizens,
HAV ING been removed from the important Ration
of Director General of the Hospitals and Physician
in Chief of the American Armies, without any accusation,
trial or hearing, though repeatedly called for before it
took place, in consequence of unfuppsrted clamors of art
ful and designing men, excited against me, with a view to
destroy the confidence reposed in me by my country, and
to raise themselves to power and influence on my ruins, I
made application to the Honorable Congress to allow me
an hearing. It was granted. A fpecia.l Committee was
appointed to examine into the fads in September last. I
forthwith adve'rtifed the Public, in the news-papers of the
different States, OHober i r 1778, and invited and chal
legged every person, who had any thing to alledge agninft
my public conduct in the above station, to step forth and
make it known to the Committee appointed to examine
the evidence, where I might meet them face to face, and
have an opportunity of refuting those calumnies and accu
fttions. I then dared to flake my life on the proof, that
those slanders which had been so industriously circulated to
my prejudice were entirely deflitirte of truth; that I dis
charged my duty faithfully, and in a manner that merited
applause; that the clamors were railed by base artifices,
under a pretence of interesting the humane in the fufferin?s
of the sick, to which the imprudence, ignorance and mis
management of others had given rife, and to whole mal
practices I was offered up an unpitied victim. 1 under
took to prove this in characters so legible that he who runs
might read, and plighted my faith, that so soon as the en
quiry was elofed, I would lay my proceedings in the ft dion
Of Director General before you, that every candid man
might judge for himfelf what persecution and oppression I
have undergone, scarcely to be paralleled in the annals ®f
a free people, for having flood firm and immoveable agairtft
every assault of malice, and every art of corruption and
venality, to withdraw me aside from my duty. The vote
of Cengrefs of the 12th inst. published by authority, mull
prove to you, my countrymen, what opinion Congress,
on the teflimony of the General Officers and others, en
tertain of my integrity and uprightness of conduct, and of
mv real, diligence and activity in the service of my coun
try. The written vindication and report of the Commit
tee, which has laid before the House near three months for
the perusal aty fatisfaHioo of the members, and the evi
dence on which Congress has founded its late resolve, t
presume to think, will open to you such feenes of public
fraud, as will make any further apology for the perform
ance of my engagements to lay the matter before you, for
your fatisfaftion and remarks, unnecessary, and that it
will meet with the approbation of every disinterested lover
of his country.
JOHN MORGAN.
Philadelphia, June 17, 1779.
To the Honourable the COMMITTEE of CON
GR ESS, appointed to hear the vindication oj Doctor
JOHN MORGAN, late Director General and
PbyJician in Chief in the General Hfpital for the Army
of the United States of America.
GENTLEMEN,
A PUBLIC officer disgraced by malicious charges
and insinuations of designing men, is by no means a
rare occurrence in the history of mankind. By such as
sassinating weapons, the most worthy have been flruck
down from public flations. Indeed, to enter upon a su
perior post in the public service, is always to be exposed
to such a hazard.
When the great Council of America was looking round
for proper men to summons in the defence of their coun
try, I was seen and called for by the voice of its Senators
from a refpe&able walk in private life; and on the 'Bth
of October, 1775, was created Director General and Phy.
fician in Chief to the General Hospitals of the American
Army. Insinuations againA my conduct, which I never
was permitted to answer, and at once to expose, disgrac
ed me in the opinion of my country. Toe ears of the
Honourable Congress were abused, and I fell a facrifice.---
Vain were my early efforts to ward off the blow, till my
conduct could undergo a scrutiny, or till I could obtain a
public trial in vindication of my character, which till
then had been unsullied by the breath of calumny. But
confeious of my innocence, I persevered in my endeavours
to obtain an hearing. On the 18th of September, 17,5,
the Honourable Congress appointed a Committee for that
purpose ; and I now have the honour to appear before
you, in vindication of my character.
Cruelly as I have been traduced, my aim in this vindi
cation is not the punishment of my tradu & ers, by exposing
thpir malice farther than is necessary to place my reputa
tion in its 1 true point of light, and to refeue it from thd
jaws of slander. My purpose is a public juftification, by
demonflrating the propriety of my conduct in every case ;
and this being done, it must follow, not only that no in
sinuation of neglect or mifeoadua can lie against me,
THURSDAY, JUNE 17, so
rawww rwi^oww
° R ' Ma&ffi^ THE
GENERAL ADVERTISER
[ Price 2s. 6d. single, gs. by the quantity.
but that I merit the esteem of the public. My aim is to
Rand in a fair point of view before my countrynten and
fellow-citizens of.thefe United States.
For this purpose I will demon ftrate— that upon my
entrance into office, I found diffeafions fulfilling between
the officers of the General Hospital and the regimental
Surgeons, very deftrudive to the service ;—that I found
the Hospital and Army without medicines and necessary
stores, and that by my personal iridhftry an ample col
ledion of both was made;—that the army during my
time was greater than it has been fipce ; yet tHat my ex
penditures were beyond comparison less than the expen
ditures, for an eqpal space of time, under my successor in
office ; —that my accompts were rendered in faithfully
vouched; and fettled to my honour;—that my hospital
system was economically and prudently arranged ;—that
nay attention to the sick was never wanting, and that no
contagious disorders existed in the Hospitals under'my di
redion; —that the fatal contagion 'which appeared in a
part of the army, broke out and prevailed among phe
troops in a diftria under the particular care of Do&or
William Shipped, after he bad b, a secret application to
Congress, through feme of its Members, earneflly fainted
that that diftria might be taken out of my baids, and that
be might have a new commiffon, and have that extraordi
nary charge entrufed to him, to my exclusion, and after be
bad accordingly obtained it j—that the new arrangements
in consequence of his said applicative, appointing him tc
have the Jole care oj the sick and the Hospitals in the Jer
jeys, and limiting me to the ens fide 0, Hudson's River,
clashed with my exertions in aid of the, sick, and was a
great cause of the fpreadiog of the contagion and of all the
calamities that attended.
To support these points, I fllall ftafe extracts of letters
and certificates from the most refp©&able authorities, and
then lay before you those letters and certificates at length.
First. As to the deffeufions defirudive ofthe service,
fulfilling between the officers of the General Hospital, and
Regimental Surgeons, when I joined the army, I citethe
following extr^a from Messrs. Crosby's and Redgely's
certificates, and a letter from his Excellency the Com
mander in Chief.
Philadelphia, December zo, 1778.
"WE the fobfetihers, namely Ebenezer Crofoy, Sur
f geon, and Frederick Redgely, late Surgeon in t. e Ge
" neral Hospital of the United States, having been employ
" ed therein as Mates, whilst DoAors Church and Mor-.
'' gan were successively Diredor^-General, &c. in the
''years 1775 and 1776, ,do certify, .that disputes ever fub
'' filled betwixt the Hospital Department and a great
" number of Regimental Surgeons, concerning their line
“ of duty refpedively. The latter claiming the right of
" having Regimental Hospitals allowed them, of retain
!' ing the sick of their refeaive battalions under their
" own care, and of drawing what stores they thought
" proper from the General Hospital; that the Director
' General and Hofpjtal Surgeons required them to fend
" their sick to the General Hospital, where they could be
" well accommodated, provided for, and taken care es b,
“ them, agreeable to the designs of Congress ; that the
misunderstandings and disputes thus arising in Doctor
" Church, time, were carried fa far, as to occasion Courts
" of Inquiry, and Dr. Church's breaking up of Regimental
" Hospitals, wherever the Surgeons attempted to eftablift
" them ; that the exertions of the Regimental Surgeons,
" to establish themselves in their claims, were juftified
(as we were informed ) by some of the officers, who
« were ignorant of the nature andpurpofes of the General
" H ifpital ; that theabufes praOifed by them in their ex
“ orbitigt draughts from, and demands upon the General
'' Hospital, previous to Dr. Morgan's arrival, were much
" talked of, but which he took great pains to prevent
“ from the time he took the direction of the General
“ Hospital upon him ; that many of the Regimental Sur-.
'' geons, however, perilled in their claims, during the
“ campaign of ,776, uotwithflanding the express refohes
^ of Congress, July 17, 1776, forbidding the issuing stores
“ to Regimental Surgeons, (except medicines and inftru
« ments) and of October 9th, that any Regimental Hos
" pitals Ihould be allowed in the neighbourhood of the
" General Hospital ; which with the retaining many of
" their sick on hands, forbearing, (as we were informed)
" either to fend or report them to the General Hospital,
“ and their fufferings confequant upon those mifundef
" Handings, were, in the opinion of the fubferibers, tfe
« indisputable causes of those general clamors, excited a
“ gainft Dr Morgan, and not any neglect, inattention,
“ or want of activity in him, to give general fatisfac
" tion.",
Such indeed were the abuses praßifed by the Regiment
al Surgeons before my arri val, in drawing for all forts of
expensive stores; that Col. Trumbull, Commissary-Ge
neral, whofurnifhed the chief of them, complained, that
it required a greater sum of money to answer all their de
mands, than what was fu^cient to defray the expencts, of
all the well men in the army. See my memorial 011 this
fubjed to General Walhingtbn.
Foreseeing the injuries which the service might proba
bly receive from those disputes, andfr om the interference
Published every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday..]
ofthe Regimental Surgeons, and such officers as support
ed them in .their demands bn the General Hospital Depart
ment. I applied to different Members of Congress, to
know from them, what idea Congress entertained of the
duties of the Regimental Surgeons' In answer to a per
sonal application to the Hon. Mr. Hooper, Delegate from
N Oltli Carol ina, *ho came to Cambridge early in the
y/ir 1776, he informed me, ." that it was not the intention
" p[Congrefs, that they Ihould eßabJifh Regimental Hos
" pitals, or claim ahy right of drawing stores from the
" General Hospital.; that Congress did not mean to en
" ' r "^ "' e CR re of the sick to them ; that for that purpose
a General Hospital sls appointed, with Surgeons and
a Director. You, fays he, mgy &rder and do with the
" R^imental Surgeons as ypu please”
Every other Member of Congress that I conversed with
on the fubjeft, so long as I remained- in the, feryjee, gave
the fame opinion. But that 1 may not rest the matter co
verbal opinions, I cite the following extras from blotter
of the Hon.. Mr. Gerty, Delegate frm the State of Maf
hehufeits Bay, to me, on this fubjeti.
' ;S.JR, P=i'ahb>bti, November 1776.
; " Wlr * f%^ to fenmeutal Hcfpitals, I Cannot
but think them ^n unnecehary and dangerous inflituture,
“ for upon,every removal of such regiments, these Hefpi
tals are a dead weight, and must be removed or exposed
f " to the enemy. Ihe latter you will agree is by no means
tidvifeabic, and the removing such Hospitals, is attend
'' ed with hardships to the dif^afed, and prevents them
" from an early recovery. As ftp Regimental Surgeons,
“ adds he, being .otherwise wholly useless. I ha^e always
" fuppofe.d mat they were never intended to answer any
other purpose, in time of war, than to cure in camp
“ flight wounds and diseases, by which the patients were
" °m'. confined, and to attend the regiments in time of
“ action, to dress the wour.de | foldters, until they can be
“ removed to the General Hospital.
To Dr. Morgan. GRRR V?'
& Extras of a letter from His Excellency General Wash
ington. - j
Philadelphia, fan. 6, 1,79.
AHE hospitals at Cambridge being ftgticcary, and
in a country, full of every necessary for the use of the
'' patients, were well provided, and, I imagine, well at
tended, as I do not remember that any complaints were
'' made oa that head. There were then, as there have
“ been since, contentions between the Hospital and Regi
" mental Surgeons refyefting the line of duty, by which
" the service hath ever fufftred- more or lets
_ n , “geo. Washington."
To Doctor Morgan.
Thus it appears not only that such baneful differ.fions
were on foot, when I entered into office, but that they
continued : Nor can this continuance be attributed to de
fect in my endeavours to remove them. For I preferred
a memorial to His Excellency the General in February
1776, to be laid before. Congress, pointing out the defers
of the eflablifhment, and the measures the best calculated,
not Goly to prevent anarchy and confufion, but to brin^
in, and eftabhfh order, fyflem and discipline, to promote
the general benefit of the sick and wounded. On this fuh-
I pressed many of the members of Congress; 1 pressed
the Hon, Mr Samuel Adams and the Medical Committee
of Congress in particular, ' as appears by the following
iciicrs.
(to be continued. )>
xtaxM^^m^^^x^^
TO ;B E SOLD,
Agenteel pair of bl ack horses,
with a very elegant PHOTON, harneh com
pleat. Enquire of thn Printer.
_ , . Philadelphia, june 14.
To be SOLD at Public Vendue,
On Thursday rhe feventeerth infant, at Nine o'clock in
the morning, at the Magazine of Provisions next
above Market street Wharf,
a QUANTITY of HARD BREAD, and a
few barrels of SALTED PROVISIONS.
Th~ money to be paid on the ijot.
^. B The persons who purchased at the late Vendue
on A ch street and Bigty's Wharves, and have not yet
paid, are requested to call 'at the Commissary's Office in
M rket street, above Third ftieet, and fettle their ac
counts.
The HIGHEST F-rTc£-
IS GIVEN FOR
CLEAN LINEN RAGS,
B Y
JOHN DUNL A P;