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Portsmouth Fort Constitution
Commanded by Col - Walbeck Joseph Fordhue Post Surgeon
Situated on a peninsula, or rather Island at the mouth of the harbour of Portsmouth. Everything in & about this fort is very neat & proper. The barracks clean & well ventilated & not over crowded. The bedding is good & kept neat.
The medicine is ample in quantity & good in quality. The same may be said of the Hospital Stores , & of the surgical instruments. The surgeon is an able & experienced man & zealous to have his infirmary & all his medical matters like the rest of this garrison; but he has not the means. They have no suitable building for a hospital or surgical room, nor any thing of the kind suitable to such a respectable post. I have therefore
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hesitation in reporting that there is needed a new hospital at [deleted]the post[deleted] For Consultation. It may however be suggested that whereas it is not improbable that the fort may become but a secondary port in this harbour the government might hesitate on that account to go to any great expence in a building on the this spot, seeing the principal may hereafter be for [??] Might it not therefore be wise to build here a small hospital, similar to that at Portland, but constructed so as to be converted, with little or no expense into barracks? - There is a good garden & the garrison have they sense mixed on the grounds surrounding the fort upwards of a thousand bushes of potatoes.
The bargement have hard service at the post & require warmer clothing than the ordinary soldier especially about the throat & breast: It would be well to supply them in the winter with watchcoats, especially if they be long exposed, late at night on the wharf, for some officers I have known several men date their sickness to such exposure.
Neatness order, good food & good water & an experienced sugeon ensure health, we need not wonder that this post has enjoyed so great a share of it.
Fort Mc Clary on the opposite shore has a good spot for a garden should it be again garrisoned where they may raise medicine as well as ordinary vegetables - Convalescent many after be employed to advangate in a garden. It is also an healthy & sometimes a very pleasant occupation for an officer. We seldome found
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an English or Dutch fort without a garden. In general it is so cold here that it is uncomfortable to sit without fire during the month of may & the two last weeks of Oct.
Marblehead. Fort Sewall This compact fort is built on a peninsular of scarcely 2 acres in extent. In stormy weather the spray of sea may be felt to its centre. Even in the dryest confines there is a darmp mass on the wall, of the barracks, the quarter of the officers, rusting every thing metal & injuring other things, and disposing the garrison of catarrhs & rheumatisms. This in concurrence is however counteracted by extreme neatness in every part ot this exemplory garrison, where we found every proper thing in its proper place. In every port I have visited the men were in their uniform, but here they were in their undress; yet was it easy to discover their aspect of health, cheerfulness & [??] to my eye they appeared in select corps of picked men Their barracks was a pattern of neatness and order which conduces to health.
The medicines are prety good & the Hospital stores as good as need be. Some of the surgial instruments are good; others as trepenning instruments too bad to be sent by the apothecary general, or to be received by the surgeon. Such insturments should be reported useless Some instruments as well as medicine suffer
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the dampness of the place, but no care seems wanting to counteract it.
The water which is withing a few feet of the Sea is remarkably good. The provisions of all sorts are excellent. The bread better than at any other garrison, ^the cook is out the fort on a rock I had visited. I regretted that there was no room for a garden. There is a fishing schooner attached to this garrison that supplies them with fresh fish, & fish cured & salted. A miserable looking guard house forms a striking constrast to a fort distinguished for neatnesss & order, or what expresses the whole economy. With the exception just mentioned this [deleted]little[deleted] fort does credit to Col. Harris & to our country not just mas much may be attributed to a D S in allusion The bedframes are so well painted and exclude buggs. Should we adopt the chrome beds steady, suck as they have in British hospitals, we should find them cheapest in the end.
The appearance of the men at this post convinces me that the health and cheerfulness of troops depend almost entirely on old & correct of peers & good but easy discipline; the waste of health under new & inexperienced officers is shocking to humanity.