The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-08-12


the staff of Gen. John A. Rathbone, at the re-
cruiting depot in Albany. During a space Of
three months only u deaths occurred from
among lao patients under his care, being less
than half of one per cent. of the whole num-
Der. On April II of the succeeding year he
received an appointment from Gov. Morgan as
auxiliary volunteer Surgeon, and went to the
front. His first step was to establish the hos
pital at White House Landing. On June II,
1862 he was commissioned by Gov. Morgan as
Medical Superintendent of the New York
troops. To render this office more effective, he
was Endorsed and commissioned by the Govern
ment as Acting Assistant Surgeon, United States
Army-the only honor of the kind ever be-
slowed upon volunteer Surgeon.
By order of Gen. Mcclellan he was placed in
charge of Savage Station, where he made i'm
mediate preparations for the relief of the sick
and wounded. During the engagements in that
section his entire time was spent in the opera
ting room; his meals were hurriedly dispatched
in the presence of the wounded and dying, and
no thought given to rest or sleep. On the 10Th
of June, when Porter retreated from Savage
Station, DIR. SWinburne voluntarily remained
q prisoner with 1000 sick and wounded men
too weak to be removed. His tenderness and
heroism in their behalf won for him the utmost
admiration and courtesy from the Confederate
officers, who permitted him to pass through
their lines on his visits to the hospitals, at all
hours, without mOlestatiOn.
During his service in the army he designed
a streteher for the conveyance of wounded men
on the field, and for the treatment of fractures
by extension. On request of the State Medical
Society he submitted the design to the head of
the Medical Department of the Army, that it
might be used in the service, bat from want
OF knowledge in the proper authorities it was
rejected. Its adoption afterwards by the Eng
lish and French Governments has proved it to
be of great value.
In 1864 he was appointed by Gov. Seymour
Health Officer of the port Of New York, the
nomination being unanimously confirmed by
the Senate. For the ensuing six years his life
was one of ineessant activity. In order to more
successfully combat the ravages of yellow fever,
ship fever, cholera, and smallpox while at
quarantine, he planned and had constructed
two artificial islands in the lower bay, the first
I of the kind ever built thereby making the
| harbor the best and most effective quarantine
| in the world. In appreciation and recognition
Of his meritoriOus services one of the islands
was by Legislative act, named Swinburne
Hospital Island.
At the beginning of the war between France
aud Germany, while travelling with his son in
/ Europe, he received an invitation from Minis
| ter Washburne, Americas representative to the
| French Government, to go to Paris and assume
charge of the American ambulance at that place.
\ With his usual ready response to humaniby's
| call, he arrived in Paris, Sept Is. and remained
on duty during the siege. His services there
| were but repetition of his untiring devotion
| TO the heroic wounded in our late war. The
/ press of Paris and the leading journals of
/ England eulOgized his unparalleled success in
military surgery and hygiene; and he was
made the recipient of the highest hOuOrs, The
/ Knights Legion of Honor and the Red Cross of
Geneva are included among the 80 decorations
that have at various times been conferred upon
him.
His career at Savage Station in becoming a
volunteer prisoner of war and remaining with
| the wounded won the admiration Of all, and
has endeared him TO those who were among
/ the wounded on that retreat. Col. McArthur
/ in describing the scenes at Savage Station,
termed them "the blOodest pictures In the
book of battles" and said the tables were red
with the life streams from loyal wounded sol
diers; that the scene was CHASTITY, sickenins
and hOrrid beyond description, and thar when
[ he found DIR. Swinburne he was washing his
| blood-stained hands after an all nights work
at tho Surgeons table.
Gen. Felix Agnus, now editor of the Balti-
more american, after describing an operation
performed on himself at Savage Station says:
From this time began my acquaintance with
| DIR. Swinburne, man who not only showed his
great eminence in great profession, but whom
| i, as well as every other soldier who knew him,
have held in the highest admiration for his
many noble qualities OF head and heart. Dur
ing my eOnyalescence Of four months / grew to
know him we'll, and there is no one / ever met
during the whole war whom / consider more
| worthy of a soldiers gratitude and esteem. He
Is every inch man, and his work in the brave
struggle of brave men for the preservation OF
the Union entities him To every iota of credit
and honor and heroism that soldiers win whG
carry the musket and WELD the saber."
In his military and civil life Dr. Swinburne
has closely adhered to the practice of conserva-
tive surgery, and holds that the use of the knife
aud the practice of amputasing as has been
/ 'argely followed is barbarOus, cruel and unset
entihc, and that at least two-t thirds of the limbs
that have been taken OFF might have been saved
as well as sparing the lives of thousands who
died during the operation or from the results.
While at Savage Station he purchased from
his own funds all available food and delicacies
for the sick soldiers, and has never asked the
| Government to reimburse him in any way
either for his services or the large amount oil
money expended.
Since the close of the war up to the present
time he has. under no circumstances charged
or taken any fee from those who wore the blue
aud his services have always been at their com
mand.
His bravery under fire is equal TO his tender.
ness and philanthropy, as shown in an incident
when he was at Savage Station. Just before
the retreat of the Union forces he was operating
on a wounded prisoner, when a cannon ball en-
tered the tent and disemboweled the soldier nexi
the one he was operating on. COolly laying
down his instruments no seized a white Gag
and sailed out amid the storm of bullets and
/. secure1 n nrOpii5a 0f nrOtpefian froua ha (nn.