As early as February 21, 1775, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts 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 L247, is
listed in the name of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and shows
that L51 was paid in cash by Dr. Joseph Warren. The remaining L196 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]
[Illustration: 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 Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts Provincial
Congress to assume control and direction of the forces assembled
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 Bass, "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' manuscript "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.