The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-04-07


lie worlds llGt OF engagements. pre-
agnts no parallel Of Lexington. where
sirty men IN an open apac9 faced Two
| hgttalinna az the best drilled tFoopl N
the world At that time. received their
( fire and returned Il. Lexington stands
aIone. not 20 much a. the place where
! the aFst blood Of the Revolution was
/ shed, a. for the manner in which the
blood was shed, and the herolHm which
prompted the act
Surgeons Of the Revolutionary Army"
waa also very Interesting. Df. Baird
said In che course Of hts talk:
~. uAltIl's PnpoE.
The medical protection ~ whole,
hsa been every ready to anaWer the call
whether Il be THE arrow that illcth
| BY day" or "the pestilence that waiketh
n daFirnen"-WetheT u be ia times OF
great national peril. or IN the presence
~ those terrible epidetniea that freeze
/ the blood with horror ere they still The
| heart forever. medical men have al
ways been found who by thelF sound
iudEment and wise counsel have helped
| 10 uphold the hands OF great captains,
| and been ''as the shadow OF Q great
rock TO terror stricken multitudeS.
such, with few exceptions, we're The
surgeons OF the Revolutionary Army"
| They were, as a rule, country practt-
toners. Beyond a few 70 be presently
] noted, they were men who had never
heard = di1actlc lecture upon medleine'
and whose sole preparation for prac-
tlce over and above their oWn reading,
was the bedside instruction given them
by men 10 whom they were apprentice
ed. Their books were OF the teWeEt.
"Indeed, the only work upon their rnll-
Itary duties accessible to army SUR
| Reons a. all WAS an excellent little book
pubilhsed Ia l75s written BY DR.. John
Jones, Professor OF Surgery In kings
College, New York. This was entitled:
plain. concise, practical remarks on
the treatment OF wounds and fractures.
20 which is added an appendix on camp
| and military hospitals; principally de-
signed for the use Of young military
ana naval surgeons in North America"
! Brown Medical Department, United
States Army, from Ii75 10 1879
Their drugs were Of the crudest. They
knew nothIng OF the elegancies OF mod
EN- pharmacy, nor had chemistry FUR
DIshed thsm with aids now considered
Indispensable TO practice. One such, o.
whom the writer has hereditary knoWls
e,lre saw his phAtmacopoeiR unfold IT.
selt 10 the sun and rain in the ample
Garden surrounding his own house;
md his hlp-rOOied attic, feStooned with
bundles Of roots and barks, and ndoFn-
"a with packages OF SEEDS and leaves.
.,as the arnory whence he supplied
himself for his daily combat with DIS
ease. Quinine and morphine. TO men
| ton two aikalOids in common use, were
| not isolated until the firEt quarter OF
the present century; and above ana &c
| yOnd all, 60 men engaged IN nilHtlFy
sI,Trerv. general anasthesih by the tn
| b0latIon Of the vapor OF Gethet or chlor-
oGorm was seventy years In the future
A few OF their number were more loF-
tunatelV situated In the matter OF edu-
/ catLounl advantages. OF families more
| or less monument In the colonies, pos
| Sessed. usually, OF hereditary wealth.
! they graduated In letters at college, or
received an equivalent In private In
structiou, The inevitable apprentice
ship In medicine followed, with per-
/ mans graduation at the College OF Medi-
| cine in Plliladelpbia-otisr when \
cnurse At the venerable University Of
| TedInburOh. private instruction o. the
| Hunter, John and william, than whom
none were more Illustrious In medicine;
and one or more years spent IN walk
| inR the hospitals" OF London and PariS
l returned the young Americans 10
their native land as finished specimens
OF their kind as the times could pro-
duce. 81,
y The me- s5rEeTy which they did was that
common to the military operations OF (he
agp, The diseases with WhiCl taey con-
| .snded-notoriousl more fntal TO the sol-
| dier than WounlS--Were those produced
nv malaria. by uyer.crowding. and b.
! what may Re comprehended under the
/ Term defective police. Rsgard Tor the
non-nedIcal taste forbids EoiOE behind
the last term.
the following extract from q letter
from General Philip Schuyler: cct1inaEo.
! ing the expedition for the invasion OF
| Canada, viii give an Idea OF me d!tiicul-
| ties under which every branch OF the SER
vice Iab1red, and the eondit.oIs under
| which the Surgeons endeavoTed to per-
form their duty:
cont OF about I'VE hundred men that
] are here, near a hundred are sick, and
| haye not any kind OF hospital stores, al
though I had not forgot TO order them
| Immediately after my appointment. the
| lttSle wine I had for my own table.
! have delivered 20 the Fegimeutal sur
gems That being expended can no
| Longer bear the distress OF the sick. and,
being Impelled by feeling Of humanity,
! shall tale the liberty Immediately TO
| order a physician froT1 Albany az one
can be Got there, - believe they Inay),
| 10 IoIn me with such stores as are lIidis-
| pensably necessary. II CoDgrcsa viii APP
| prove OF this ma sure, Cl1Cy " please
| 10 signify what allowance OF pay shall be
made. II not shall discharge the per
son, whoever he may be, paying him for
the service he may have performed
! The priYafions endured by the kevolu-
,IoDary surgeons were such az. while
common 70 all, make Us wonder at the
! fortItude with which they were borne.
| For example, DR.. Thatcher, IN his Mill
| tary Journal During the American Rev
| olutIonary War" describes their suffer-
| lngs as follows:
"Our baggage Is left In the rear for
want 81 horses 10 transport Il. The snow
on the ground IS about two feet deep. and
the weather IL extremely cold; the SOL
| ilprs are destitute OF both tents and
| blankets, and some Of them are actually
] barefooted and almost naked. Tho only
| defense against the clemency OF the
weather consists of bEushwOOd thrown
together, our lodging the last night was
on the frozen ground. Those officers
who have the privilege of horse can al
| ways have a blanket at hand. Having
removed the snow, VIC wrapped ourselves
In great coats and spread our blankets
on the ground, and lay down by the side
| ~ each other, five or six together. with
| large fires OF our feet. leaving orders
| with the walters to keep Il well supplied
| with fuel during the night. We could
procure neither shelter nor forage for our
/ horses. and the poor animals were tied to
trees in the wOOdS for twenty.f four hIurs
without food. except the bark which they
peaIed from the trees
Many other hardships were related in
this connection.