James Thacher and his influence on American medicine / Henry R. Viets.

  • Viets, Henry R. (Henry Rouse), 1890-1969.
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: James Thacher and his influence on American medicine / Henry R. Viets. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ored by this interview; his keen eye and power of description amply justify the meeting as recorded in his diary for November 27, 1778. The Virginia regiment gave some gay parties over Christmas and New Years. After a long din¬ ner and dancing, the officers gathered in General Muhlenburg’s quarters at the hospital, where an elegant supper was provided. Not one of the com¬ pany was permitted to retire until three o’clock in the morning. A number of ladies were present. “Thus,” comments Thacher, “have the gallant Vir¬ ginians commenced the new year.” The winter of 1779 was a mild one in Albany, although some of the soldiers suffered from expo¬ sure while living in canvas tents. By April the weather had become very pleasant, and young Thacher bought a handsome bay horse for six hun¬ dred dollars. This amount indicated tire deprecia¬ tion value of paper money, which he had received for pay; for the horse, he reports, could not be valued at much more than eighty dollars in silver. In the Spring the Virginia regiment and others were paraded before Baron Steuben, a marked dis¬ ciplinarian with a scrutinizing eye. He took into his hands the muskets and accoutrements of each soldier, examining them with particular accuracy and precision. From Thacher, the surgeon, he re¬ quired a list of the sick, with a particular state¬ ment of their accommodations and modes of treat¬ ment, and even visited some of the sick in their cabms. Steuben at the time was inspector-general with the rank of major general in the Army. As summer approached, Thacher rode around the country on his horse, visiting various military in¬ stallations and, apparently, always welcomed by the officer in charge. On the twentieth of June he was in West Point, and there he received a letter from his old friend, David Townsend, who had be¬ come surgeon to the military hospital at Providence, Rhode Island. He invited Thacher to accept the position of surgeon to the Massachusetts regiment under Colonel Henry Jackson, which was then in Providence. Thacher’s chief reason for consider¬ ing this new appointment appears to have been that the officers in the Massachusetts regiment received compensation in clothing and other articles which he could not claim while serving .with the Virginia regiment. He felt that it was proper, moreover, that officers should serve in the line of their own state, and though he had enjoyed the most friendly inter¬ course and numerous kind favors from the Vir¬ ginians, he “preferred the manners and habits of the New Englanders.” He therefore decided to join the Massachusetts regiment and left West Point on the second of July, arriving in Providence on the ninth. On the way his horse was seized with dis¬ temper, and he was forced to dispose of the animal. The journey took him through Litchfield, Farming- ton, Hartford, and across the Connecticut River to East Hartford. There he found the whole country in a state of alarm, as the enemy had landed in New Haven. He then passed through Windham and finally reached his old friend Townsend. Colo¬ nel Henry Jackson accepted him at once as a sur¬ geon to the regiment, and he commenced his duties the day he arrived. In August, 1779, the British had established a post on the Penobscot River in Maine, having ap¬ proached there from Halifax. An expedition was planned to overcome this force, as the invasion of Maine had excited great indignation among the people. Colonel Jackson’s regiment was added to the force, and they marched to Boston. The regi¬ ment consisted of four hundred men, completely uniformed and well-disciplined, and not inferior, according to Thacher, to any in the Continental Army. They completed the forced march from Providence to Boston, a distance of forty miles, in twenty-four hours. They were treated with great respect, and a dinner was given at the Bunch of Grapes tavern for the officers before they departed in transports. Even after the troops were on board, the officers returned to the Bunch of Grapes, where a liberal and elegant entertainment was provided. They sailed on a brig carrying eight guns, but had a convoy of the Renown of fourteen guns and put into Portsmouth Harbor, encamping at Kittery. In the meantime, General Lovell, in charge of the Penobscot expedition, had been forced to retire, for the British had been augmented by a large fleet which had arrived from New York. The Penob¬ scot expedition ended disgracefully, with the troops scattered and their vessels abandoned. Thacher’s regiment, which had not taken part, returned to Cambridge, where they encamped on the Common and then marched into Boston. In September the regiment returned to Provi¬ dence and almost immediately made ready to march into New Jersey. They crossed the Hudson at King’s Ferry, and in December they camped at