Statistical report on the sickness and mortality in the Army of the United States / compiled from the records ... January, 1819, to January, 1839 ; prepared under the direction of Thomas Lawson.

Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Statistical report on the sickness and mortality in the Army of the United States / compiled from the records ... January, 1819, to January, 1839 ; prepared under the direction of Thomas Lawson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    During the second quarter of the year, there was no prevailing com- plaint. In the northern division there were but 16 deaths, of which six arose from pulmonary consumption. In the southern division, the deaths numbered 61 ; of these, however, 21 occurred early in the quar- ter, being the effects of the scurvy which had prevailed, during the win- ter, on the Missouri. So far as regards the effects of climate, it will be seen that the mortality of this division must be still further reduced. At Fort Scott, Ga., the average strength of the command was 410, and the number of deaths 8. Of these fatal cases, one arose from apoplexy and another from hcematemesis; and in regard to the six others, it is re- marked by Surgeon Thomas Lawson, that life Was nearly exhausted on their arrival at the post from Fort Gadsden, and that 5 or 6 had died on the passage, in consequence of being pent up for more than twenty days in a small vessel, and deprived the greater part of the time of medi- cal aid. At Fort Gadsden, seven recruits died very soon after their ar- rival from the north. The sending of recruits to the south at unpropi- tious seasons has happened too often in our military history to be recon- ciled on the ground of necessity ; and as a specimen of the moral and physical constitution of the subjects exposed to this trial, it is remarked by Post Surgeon Walmsey, that— among 70 recruits from Philadel- phia, several are old men, three are idiots, and nearly all intemperate. The scorbutic patienfcs of the 6th Infantry and Rifle regiment, as al- ready stated, were removed to Fort Osage. The number of cases not embraced in the previous report was 119, of which 7 proved fatal. The numerical strength of the command was 117, and the sick report, at the close of the quarter, exhibited but 27 cases. The 6th Infantry, numbering from 200 to 250 men, had 92 cases, chiefly scorbutic, on the sick list at the previous quarterly report; of these, 13 died before the 15th of April, after which period no death occurred. The Rifle regi- ment, numbering about 350, became remarkably healthy ; although the sick report presented 77 cases, principally scurvy, at the beginning of the quarter, but one death took place. Fernandina, Montpelier, the Bay of St. Louis, and Petite Coquille, were extraordinarily salubrious. At Ba- ton Rouge, there were 9 deaths out of 383 cases; and at New Orleans, 8 deaths in 36 cases. During the third quarter, the diseases of the northern division pre- sented their ordinary aspect. The aggregate of deaths was only 28; of which 6 were from typhus fever, 4 from phthisis pulmonalis, and 3 from intemperance, the causes of 7 being undesignated. In the southern division, the mortality was unusually great; the ma- jority of the deaths, however, occurred at a few posts. The aggregate was 116 ; 25 at Fort Gadsden, 12 at Apalachicola Bay, 16 at Montpe- lier, 10 at the Bay of St. Louis, 8 at New Orleans, and 30 at Baton Rouge. The chief complaints at these posts, (the causes of death at Baton Rouge not being stated,) were diarrhoea and dysentery, and inter- mittent, remittent, and typhus fever. Of the deaths reported at the other stations, 6 arose from typhus fever, 30 from dysenteiy, and 28 from bil- ious remittent or yellow fever. The unhealthiness of the summer season in the south may be traced