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(seq. 71)
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(seq. 72)
was over heated by fires, when no cooking was going forward. The upper rooms were small, dirty & too much crowded. The lower rooms were well ventilated, but the upper ones not. Such rooms must be very uncomfortable & of course unhealthy in the hottest weather. The Square parade & walks of the fort were neat, but the rooms generall the reverse. It has a garden sffct for the officers
I have remarked that the medical matters seem to rest principally on an experienced & very attentive ward master. I would observe here that no regimental hospital or infirmary is instilled to a ward master in full pay
Such an officer belongs alone to a general hospital. I therefore concluded the hospital in some measure in this point of view. But when I wished to send a man to it, because there was no suitable place for his peculiar case at the Arsenal, Col. Curtis refused him admittance.
The Surgeon of this garrison Dr Dunheim has ever condcuted as if he did not consider himself under the control of the Medical Doctor.
He would make no returns to him, until he was ordered to do it by genl Miller. He created difficulties & delays about supplies of medicine, & has given me some trouble and more room for censoring him than all the rest of the Surgeons together in the Dept. I enclose of his returns to illustrate my observations. When I have asked explanations he declined giving them; and the only time he called upon me was with a view to personal altercation rather than explanation.
I have
(seq. 73)
There have been difficulties with the medical affairs of this post. There is a great difference between a popular, convival, companionable surgeon & the grace & steady man devoted light D Sargent entirely to the duties of his Station. Dr Sargent rended nearly 10 years at this garrison, & filled up the measure of his duty to the full. I was abundantly satisfied with all his conduct. The garrison at Marblehead has now the advantages of his long experience & steady character.
The deficiencies & defects of returns, and the [deleted text], and other marks of want of due consideration render it my duty to notice the necessity of some change in the medical affairs of this important post.
A new hospital is absolutely needed here. Should one be built, would it not be well to build it of brick, or stone, and so constructed and situated as to convert it into barracks in case this fort & Island should become only a secondary post?
The Dungeon a black hole has, I have reason for believing been the death of several men. I dare not express fully my feelings on this painful subject, lest I shold be thought to wonder from my propse, & depart contrition that of the police if the garrison jurisdiction of court martials. I cannot however resist on making that confinement in these dungeons as a very unequal punishment. Some can live
(seq. 74)
Some can live through it, [underlined]but some cannot. There is something horrible in putting a man to death by the gradual torture of stiffling him day & night for a month. The effluvisum of human excrements in some of these dungeons is enough to sicken the strongest man. Cannot this horrid mode of punishment be converted for some other less revolting to humanity?
Newport Rhode Island Fort Woolcott
If the visit at the garrison at Fort [??] left not the most agreeable impression, that at fort wolcott in Newport has been compensated & more than compensated my feeling of regreat.
When I visited fort constitution in Portsmouth harbour, I thought it could hardly be exceeded untill I say the smaller fort at Marblehead; and this I was sure could not be excelled, and yet when I visited this post under the command of Col. Towson, I saw that it was possble.
Goat Island on wth fort Woolcott is built in about 20 acres, being long & narrow, & lays, about a mile from the town of Newport. It is so situated as to be shelted froom the destructive effects of violent storms especially from the south west to north east. The Island is smooth having no excavations to retain stagnant water its position is remarkably pleasant, & its soil dry, yet in a good degree fertile.
From waters edge, on every side, to the flagstaff there is such a neat & garrison like a aspect as reminds us of the forts on the Schald & the Maise in the Netherlands Everything the head of the prisn to the commanders quarters & the mens barracks appears in its proper place, & setts off
(seq. 75)
with not neatness only but taste. The barracks are in the best possible state, & every utensil as neat as at the fort of Marblehead. All the men look in perfect health; not a sick man among them.
Their provisions good & the water excellent. As is the fort & garrison so as the hospital, orderly, not & commodious, with a garden that may be denominated spacious. This & land marked out for the enclousure of the are not yet finished.
The hospital itself is of a proper size, and neat as well can be. I could discover nothing wanting for the comfort of the sick. The bedding was very good & clean. The surgery or medical room the best order, as were the Instruments; some of which however, were not of the best quanity; a defect which nothing but the difficulty of procuring English instruments during the war can be apologize for. Everything in this little hospital did its Surgeon credit. His bandages, various dressings, splints, spare cotton flannel &c were in the best possible condition in case of serious emergency. I have no hesitation in saying that D Turners hospital matters & surgical apparatus stands the first in my opinion in this Dept. Turner, Sergeant, Goodhue & Eaton reflect credit on the garrisons to which they are attached. Thence, less to find fault with or to respect in this garrison - than any one I ever visited. I have seen which bears evidence of the