Drug Supplies in the American Revolution Part 1

Drug Supplies in the American Revolution.

by George B. Griffenhagen.

_At the start of the Revolution, the Colonies were cut off from the source of their usual drug supply, England. A few drugs trickled through from the West Indies, but by 1776 there was an acute shortage._

_Lack of coordination and transportation resulted in a scarcity of drugs for the army hospitals even while druggists in other areas resorted to advertising in order to sell their stocks. Some relief came from British prize ships captured by the American navy and privateers, but the chaotic condition of drug supply was not eased until the alliance with France early in 1778._

The Author: _George Griffenhagen--formerly curator of medical sciences, United States National Museum, Smithsonian Inst.i.tution--is director of communications, American Pharmaceutical a.s.sociation, and managing editor, Journal of the American Pharmaceutical a.s.sociation._

As one historian has reminded us, "few fields of history have been more intensively cultivated by successive generations of historians; few offer less reward in the shape of fresh facts or theories" than does the American Revolutionary War.[1] This is true to some extent even in the medical history of the Revolution. The details of the feud within the medical department of the army have been told and retold.[2] Even accounts of the drugs employed and pharmaceutical services have been presented, primarily in the form of biographies and as reviews of the _Lit.i.tz Pharmacopoeia_ of 1778.[3] However, practically nothing has been published on the actual availability of medical supplies. Furthermore, the discovery of several significant but unrecorded account books of private druggists who furnished sizable quant.i.ties of drugs to the Continental Army and a careful re-evaluation of the unusually significant papers[4] of Dr. Jonathan Potts, Revolutionary War surgeon, justify a review of the drug supplies during the early years of the war.

Continental Medicine Chests

As early as February 21, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Ma.s.sachusetts appointed a committee to determine what medical supplies would be necessary should colonial troops be required to take the field. Three days later the Congress voted to "make an inquiry where fifteen doctor's chests can be got, and on what terms"; and on March 7 it directed the committee of supplies "to make a draft in favor of Doct. Joseph Warren and Doct. Benjamin Church, for five hundred pounds, lawful money, to enable them to purchase such articles for the provincial chests of medicine as cannot be got on credit."[5]

A unique ledger of the Greenleaf apothecary shop of Boston[6] reveals that this pharmacy on April 4, 1775, supplied at least 5 of the 15 chests of medicines. The account, in the amount of just over 247, is listed in the name of the Province of the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, and shows that 51 was paid in cash by Dr. Joseph Warren. The remaining 196 was not paid until August 10, after Warren had been killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The 15 medicine chests, including presumably the five supplied by Greenleaf, were distributed on April 18--three at Sudbury and two each at Concord, Groton, Mendon, Stow, Worcester, and Lancaster.[7] No record has been found to indicate whether or not the British discovered the medical chests at Concord, but, inasmuch as the patriots were warned of the British movement, it is very likely that the chests were among the supplies that were carried off and hidden.

The British destroyed as much of the remainder as they could locate.[8]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 1.--Medicine scales and oval box of medicinal herbs used by Dr. Solomon Drowne during the Revolution. Preserved at Fort Ticonderoga Museum, New York.]

Two days after the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Provincial Congress ordered that a man and horse be made available to transport medicines. On April 30, Andrew Craigie was appointed to take care of these medical stores and deliver them as ordered.

Medical supplies were an early source of anxiety to the Provincial Congress of Ma.s.sachusetts. The supply of drugs in Boston must have been largely controlled by the British after Lexington-Concord, and the limited supply in the neighboring smaller towns was soon exhausted. Four days before the Battle of Bunker Hill the Congress "Ordered that Doct. Whiting, Doct. Taylor and Mr. Parks, be a committee to consider some method of supplying the several surgeons of the army with medicines," and further "Ordered that the same committee bring in a list of what medicines are in the medical store."[9]

On June 10 the responsibility of furnishing medical supplies to the army at Cambridge shifted to Philadelphia when the Continental Congress accepted the request of the Ma.s.sachusetts Provincial Congress to a.s.sume control and direction of the forces a.s.sembled around Boston. The Continental Congress established a Continental Hospital Plan on July 27, but it was not until September 14 that the Congress appointed a "committee to devise ways and means for supplying the Continental Army with medicines." On this same day, the deputy commissary general was directed to pay Dr. Samuel Stringer for the medicines he purchased,[10] which, as we learn later, were the initial supply for the Canadian campaign.

The first recorded purchase of drugs made directly by Congress, on September 23, was "a parcel of Drugs in the hands of Mr. Rapalje, which he offers at the prime cost."[11] Then, on November 10, Congress ordered that the medicine purchased in Philadelphia for the army at Cambridge be sent there by land.[12] But difficulties of supply commenced early. On January 1, 1776, Eliphalet Dyer wrote Joseph Trumbull asking "how could the cask of Rhubarb which was sent by order of Congress and was extremely wanted in the Hospital lye by to this time. After you came way I wrote to Daniel Brown to see it delivered."[13]

In the fall of 1775 there must have been a reasonably good stock of drugs in the hands of private Philadelphia druggists, and until the end of summer there were still a number of ships from Jamaica, Bermuda, Antigua, and Barbados putting in at Philadelphia with supplies, much of which originally came from England. Philadelphia druggists included William Drewet Smith, "Chemist and Druggist at Hippocrates's Head in Second Street";[14] Dr. George Weed in Front Street;[15] Robert Ba.s.s, "Apothecary in Market-Street"; Dr. Anthony Yeldall "at his Medicinal Ware-House in Front-Street";[16] and the firm of Sharp Delaney and William Smith.[17] The largest pharmacy in Philadelphia was operated by the Marshall brothers--Christopher Jr.

and Charles. This pharmacy had been established in 1729 at Front and Chestnut Streets by Christopher Marshall, Sr., a patriot who took an active part in the care of the sick and wounded in Philadelphia hospitals during the Revolution.[18]

As the plans progressed for raising troops from New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, Congress called on the committee on medicines "to procure proper medicine chests for the battalions...."[19] The journal of the Continental Congress fails to indicate the source of these medicine chests, but the Marshall brothers' ma.n.u.script "waste book" (daily record) for the period February 21 to July 6, 1776,[20] indicates that the Marshall apothecary shop was the primary supplier. The records show that the Marshalls furnished 20 medicine chests to the following battalions from February to June:[21]

February 1776: Pennsylvania 1st Battalion March 1776: Jersey 3d Battalion April 1776: Pennsylvania 2d, 3d, and 6th Battalions May 1776: Six Virginia battalions Jersey 1st Battalion Pennsylvania 4th Battalion June 1776: Six North Carolina battalions Virginia 9th Battalion

The exact contents of each chest are indicated in the Marshalls' waste book. The chest furnished to the Pennsylvania 4th Battalion is an example of the ones supplied by Congress in the spring of 1776; its contents are listed on page 130.

Congress intended that all chests be substantially the same, but the amount of medicines demanded exceeded the stock of even the largest druggists. The first several chests were complete as ordered, but as early as April the Marshalls were running out of certain drugs. Gum opium and nitre "found by Congress" was included in the chest for the Pennsylvania 4th Battalion, and by May 11 the Marshalls were out of Peruvian bark, ipecac, cream of tartar, gum camphor, and red precipitate of mercury. The chests outfitted after June 1 also failed to include Epsom salts, and the last chest lacked jalap as well. Thus the majority of the battalions traveling north were already without some of the most necessary drugs in their chests. Blithely their medical officers thought they could obtain the missing drugs when they arrived at the general hospital.

Treason, Poison, and Siege

After the Battle of Bunker Hill, the forces around Boston settled down for a 9-month siege. Two days after General Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 2, 1775, to take command of the army, the Provincial Congress of Ma.s.sachusetts ordered a committee to prepare a letter informing him of the provisions that had been made for the sick and wounded of the army. On the very same day, July 4, the Provincial Congress appointed Andrew Craigie medical commissary and apothecary for the Ma.s.sachusetts army.[22]

Following a personal inspection by Washington on July 21 and the establishment of the general hospital plan on July 27, the Continental Congress elected Dr. Benjamin Church as director general of the newly created medical department. Soon after this, Church conferred with several Ma.s.sachusetts officials regarding the appointment of apothecaries for the medical store at Watertown. On August 3, a committee of the Provincial Congress advised "that the Medical Store in Watertown be continued where it now is, and that Mr. Andrew Craigie, appointed by the late Congress Apothecary to the Colony, be directed to take charge thereof, and prepare the necessary compositions; and that Mr. James Miller Church be appointed a.s.sistant Apothecary to put up and distribute said Medicines...."[23]

The medical supplies were slow in coming from Philadelphia, as we have already noted. On the other hand, troops were arriving daily, placing an increased demand on all types of supplies, including drugs. One event which undoubtedly resulted in delays in establishing proper supply depots was the startling discovery that Director General Church was guilty of holding treasonable correspondence with the enemy. On October 16, Congress elected Dr. John Morgan to replace Church.[24]

On December 2, by order of Morgan, Apothecary Craigie made an inventory of the medical supplies in the general hospital at Cambridge. The inventory included 120 different items, but only limited quant.i.ties of the essential drugs.[25] There were 52 pounds of Jesuits' bark, 18 pounds of cream of tartar, 76 pounds of purging salts, 1 pound of camphor, 5 pounds of jalap, 1 pound of ipecac, and 1/2 pound of tartar emetic. The 44 pounds of gum ammoniac was reported "damaged," and the 86 pounds of rhubarb was described as "bad."[26] An inventory of medicines held by the different regimental surgeons in Ma.s.sachusetts indicated that all regiments had "but few medicines"

except for Colonel Hand's, which reported "a good supply."[27]

However, this rather meager inventory of drugs probably was not inadequate. The siege of Boston resulted in few wounded soldiers, and there was a surprisingly small amount of sickness in the army during the winter of 1775-76; furthermore, towns not too distant still had a limited supply of drugs on hand. Smith and Coit, of Hartford, Connecticut, informed "their good Customers, and the public in general, that notwithstanding the entire stop to Importation which hath long since taken place, they still have on hand, small Quant.i.ties of most Articles of the Apothecary Way ... which they mean to sell at a reasonable retailing Price."[28] Jacob Isaacks of Newport, Rhode Island, similarly advertised "a complete a.s.sortment of genuine Medicines, with furniture for containing the same, to the amount of about 300 pounds sterling; which medicines were purchased with cash, and will be sold, at the prime cost and charges, without any advance.

Any of the lawful or Continental bills now current will be taken in pay for the above medicines."[29]

Drug supplies also were quite adequate in Boston during the British occupation. Sylvester Gardiner at "The Sign of the Unicorn and Mortar in Marlborow Street" reported that "all kinds of the best and freshest drugs and medicines ... are continued to be sold as usual."

However a cautionary note was added that drugs and medicines had been "constantly imported every fall and spring to June last." Implicit in the advertising is the suggestion that the securing of new supplies was highly uncertain.[30]

A letter dated December 2, 1775, from a British officer in Boston to a friend in Edinburgh observed that "many of our men are sick, and fresh provisions very dear." However, the officer added, "but the Rebels must be in a much worse condition...."[31] Drugs were imported into Boston during the siege as evidenced by an advertis.e.m.e.nt on February 22, 1776, announcing "just imported from LONDON and to be sold at Mr.

Dalton's Store, on the Long-Wharf, a proper a.s.sortment of Drugs and Medicines of the Best quality in Cases."[32]

By the end of February 1776, Washington had decided to try to end the siege of Boston by seizing Dorchester Heights and placing his artillery there in a position to bombard the town. General Howe believed it was time to leave, and the British evacuated on March 17.

As the Continental Army moved into Boston, there was an outcry that the British had poisoned a supply of drugs left behind. On April 15 the _Boston Gazette_ reported that "it is absolutely fact that the Doctors of the diabolical ministerial butcher when they evacuated Boston, intermixed and left 26 weight of a.r.s.enick with the medicines which they left in the Alms House."[33] Then, a week later, on April 22, appeared a series of testimonials that had been made by Joseph Warren, Daniel Scott, and Frederick Ridgley at Watertown on April 3d "by order of the Director-General of the Continental Hospital." Warren swore under oath that on or about March 29 he had gone into the workhouse [almshouse] "lately improved as an hospital by the British troops stationed in said town" and upon examining the state of "a large quant.i.ty of Medicine" left in the medicinal storeroom had found about 12 or 14 pounds of a.r.s.enic intermixed with the drugs, which were found "to be chiefly capital articles and those most generally in demand."[34]

Despite this incident, we have the word of Morgan that "a large, though una.s.sorted stock of medicines" was collected in Boston when the British evacuated.[35] Hospital Surgeons Ebenezer Crosby and Frederick Ridgley reported that "at the evacuation of Boston ... all the Mates of the Hospital that could be spared from Cambridge ... were employed in packing up and sending off [to Cambridge] drugs, medicines and other hospital stores, collected by order of Dr. Morgan, the quant.i.ty of which appeared great."[36]

Inasmuch as few medicines were listed in the inventory of stores left by the British on the wharfs and in the scuttled ships in the harbor,[37] it appears that most of these drugs obtained in Boston were confiscated from the homes, offices, and shops of the Loyalists who fled when the British evacuated. Morgan reported that he had taken possession of the medicines and furniture of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner's shop, and a small stock of drugs from the office of Dr. William Perkins, a private pract.i.tioner.[38] No inventory of these supplies has been located thus far, but a contemporary biographer of Sylvester Gardiner records that the confiscated drugs from his shop "filled from 20 to 25 wagons."[39] This is not unlikely because Gardiner's apothecary shop was one of the largest and most prosperous in the Colonies prior to the Revolution.[40]

Soon after the British evacuated Boston, the Greenleaf apothecary shop in Boston was again supplying medicines to the Continental Army. The Greenleaf ledger[41] shows that on May 25 the shop sold nearly 4 worth of "Sundry Medicines ... [to] the Committee of War, State of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay." Then, on June 20, the Ma.s.sachusetts a.s.sembly resolved that "Dr. John Greenleaf of Boston be requested to supply the Chief Surgeon of ... Colonels Marshall's, Whitney's and Craft's Regiments ... with medicines as may be necessary...."[42] A short time later the a.s.sembly advanced "up to 50 to Greenleaf for purchasing such medicines as he cannot supply from his own store."[43]

The Greenleaf ledger shows that over 32 worth of medicines were sold for Colonel Whitney's regiment and over 36 worth for Colonel Marshall's regiment between June 13 and November 20, 1776. Thus, drugs were available; but until the fall of '76, Greenleaf was having difficulty in obtaining an abundant supply.

From Bad to Worse

General Washington, correctly foretelling that New York City would be the next British objective, marched there from Boston with as much of his army as could be induced to stay under the colors. Had it not been for the presence of Washington's forces in New York, that colony would certainly have remained Loyalist; as it was, the Patriot committees had the greatest difficulty in keeping the Tories quiet by strong-arm methods.[44]

The availability of drugs in New York prior to the arrival of Washington's forces did not seem to be particularly affected by the war. Thomas Attwood "at his store in Dock-Street" offered for sale a wide a.s.sortment of drugs and medicines,[45] while William Stewart offered "a fresh supply of Genuine Drugs and Medicines ... on the most reasonable terms either for cash or at the usual credit."[46] The citizens of New York did not even have to do without their popular English patent medicines.[47]

Washington, however, had to provide for his own medical supplies in New York. In a letter dated April 3 he ordered Director General Morgan to remove the general hospital to New York with "all convenient speed...."[48] The fixing and completing of the regimental chests was to be deferred until Morgan arrived at New York.

Morgan remained behind in Boston for another six weeks collecting medicines, furniture, and hospital stores worth thousands of pounds.

"The like quant.i.ty ... could not be procured," so Morgan later claimed, "in any [other] part of America." He was also able to purchase drugs from Salem, Newport, and Norwich, and before departing for New York he completed a medicine chest for each of the five regiments at Boston, Salem, and Marblehead, as ordered by Washington.[49]

Morgan arrived in New York about June 3 and purchased some additional drugs there. By June 17 his staff had made up 30 medicine chests for the regiments at New York as well as for "the branches of the General Hospital at New-York, in the bowry and neighborhood and at Long-Island." But the number of regiments requiring medical supplies exceeded Morgan's expectations, particularly since he had been advised that "the Southward regiments" would be supplied by Congress in Philadelphia.[50]

By the middle of June, Morgan must have realized that the supply of drugs available was inadequate despite the sizable quant.i.ty brought from Boston and the small stock he was able to obtain in New York. It appears that many of the New York druggists were Loyalists, and somehow they and their stock of drugs disappeared when needed by Washington's army. For example, druggist Thomas Attwood "removed his store consisting of a general a.s.sortment of Drugs and Medicines" to Newark in May only to reappear in New York again under British occupation with a good stock of "Drugs and Medicines."[51]

The New York Committee of Safety had attempted to develop a stock of drugs early in the year when they were plentiful,[52] but in June this supply was valued at only 30. Even this small stock was not available to Morgan because when he asked permission to purchase the medicines at "a reasonable price ... for use of the Continental Hospital" the New York Provincial Congress rejected his plea on June 26 with the explanation that this medicine was to be "reserved for the use of the poor and other inhabitants of this city."[53]

With increasing demands to supply the troops in the Northern Department, Morgan turned to Philadelphia and the Continental Congress. Morgan owned a small stock of drugs in Philadelphia, and knew of another supply in the possession of the firm of Delaney and Smith,[54] so he sent Dr. Barnabus Binney to Philadelphia to forward "with all dispatch" what medicines he had there and whatever could be obtained from Congress.[55] Congress resolved on July 17 "to purchase the Medicines (now in Phila) belonging to Doctor Morgan,"[56] but for nearly a month Binney was unable to obtain any additional supplies either from Congress or from private sources.

On June 25 Morgan wrote to Samuel Adams asking for power "to demand a proportion of the Continental medicines left in care of Messrs.