ROBERT W. McCORMICK
A Union Army Medical Inspector:
Norton Townshend
Over 350,000 Union soldiers lost their
lives in the Civil War, but only
one-third of these deaths were combat
related. The remaining 225,000 soldier
deaths resulted from six million cases
of illness from disease and accidents.
As shocking as these figures are, they
represent a marked improvement over
the Mexican War, where seven men died of
disease for every man killed by the
enemy.
Before the fighting began, the Medical
Department serving the 16,000 per-
son U.S. Army in January 1861 was
composed of a superannuated Surgeon
General, eighty year-old Colonel Thomas
Lawson, thirty surgeons, and
eighty-three assistant surgeons.2 One
twentieth century authority on the
Civil War medical situation has
suggested that, "the Surgeon General of the
Army in 1861 was no doubt a worthy
gentleman, [but] he was about as pre-
pared for war as were the people of San
Francisco for an earthquake."3 Clearly
the medical services of the Union Army
were in desperate need of re-
organization and reform in 1861.
One aspect of reform and reorganization
implemented by the Medical
Department in 1862 was the appointment
of sixteen medical inspectors on the
staff of the Surgeon General. These
inspectors, appointed with the rank of
lieutenant colonel, were charged with
inspecting sanitary conditions of trans-
ports, quarters, camps, field and
general hospitals, as well as prison camps.
Congressional authorization for these
positions resulted primarily from the
lobbying efforts of the United States
Sanitary Commission, a civilian gov-
ernmental organization created somewhat
reluctantly by President Abraham
Lincoln shortly after the outbreak of
the war. The Commission was to serve
an advisory function with the government
on the "Sanitary Interests of the
United States Force."4
Robert W. McCormick is Professor
Emeritus and former Assistant Vice President for
Continuing Education at The Ohio State
University.
1. George Worthington Adams, Doctors
in Blue (New York, 1952), 3, and Allan R. Millett
and Peter Maslowski, For the Common
Defense (New York, 1984), 229.
2. Adams, Doctors in Blue, 4.
3. Louis C. Duncan, The Medical
Department of the United States Army in the Civil War
(reprinted by Butternut Press,
Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1985), 37.
4. William Quentin Maxwell, Lincoln's
Fifth Wheel: The Political History of the United
58 OHIO HISTORY
Norton S. Townshend of Avon, Ohio, was
one of the sixteen persons ap-
pointed as a medical inspector on the
Surgeon General's staff in 1863.
Although farming and not actively
practicing medicine at the time of his ap-
pointment, Townshend had received a fine
medical education for this period,
and had practiced in rural Ohio for
about ten years. He was an antislavery po-
litical associate and friend of Salmon
P. Chase, then Secretary of the
Treasury.5 Since Townshend
represented a political appointment to the post
of medical inspector, an investigation
of his performance provides understand-
ing of the performance of inspectors in
this category.
Pressure for improved health care for
soldiers in time of war was generated
by the scandal of the atrocious medical
services provided during the Crimean
War (1854-1856). The British Army had
numbered 111,313, of whom
20,899 died. Approximately 4,800 were killed
in action or died of wounds,
while more than 16,000 died of disease.
In addition to the heroic work of
Florence Nightingale, the British
Sanitary Commission also had made
recommendations which produced a
remarkable drop in the death rate in the
latter months of that conflict.6 The
recommendations of the British Sanitary
Commission were highly publicized in
Great Britain and led to the
establishment of sanitary operations in
the Crimea, reducing the death rate
from 203 per 1000 soldiers in 1854 to 25
out of every 1000 in 1856. These
results were well known by the founders
of the Sanitary Commission, but the
Army Medical Department had largely
ignored these results. At the
beginning of the Civil War the knowledge
of hospital sanitation in the Army
was so rudimentary that surgeons
marveled when tent hospitals, open to wind
and sunshine, proved healthier than
wooden buildings with dirty walls and
floors.7 The Sanitary
Commission and the Army Medical Department were
often at odds, and could be described as
rivals during the conflict.
As soon as President Lincoln called for
75,000 volunteers in April 1861,
Dr. Henry W. Bellows, minister of All
Souls Unitarian Church in New York
City, and Elisha Harris, M.D., following
consultation with Miss Dorothea
Dix, superintendent of female nurses for
the Army, initiated action which led
to the formation of the United States
Sanitary Commission. Frederick Law
Olmstead served as secretary general of
the Commission. The initial, limited
purpose of the Commission was to improve
the sanitary conditions of the
States Sanitary Commission (New York,
Longmans Green, 1956), v-viii, and
Russell F. Weigley,
History of the United States Army (Bloomington, 1984), 224, 225. John C. Rives, The
Congressional Globe, Third Session, Thirty-Seventh Congress, Washington, D.
C., 1863, 119-
124.
5. Norton S. Townshend (NST), Medical
Officer's File, Record Group 94, National
Archives, Washington, D. C., cited
hereafter as NA. NST papers, Lakewood Historical
Society, Lakewood, Ohio, cited hereafter
as LHS.
6. Maxwell, Lincoln's Fifth Wheel, 5;
Weigley, History of the United States Army, 224-25.
7. Ibid. Allan Nevins comments on the
limited knowledge of sanitation in the Army in his
preface in Maxwell's publication.
Norton Townshend
59
soldiers by providing advice to the
Medical Department. Colonel Lawson
died 15 May 1861, and Colonel Clement A.
Finley, who became Surgeon
General on the basis of seniority and
had served since he joined the Army as a
sugeon's mate in 1818, was strongly
opposed to the concept of a
Commission. Finley followed the tone
which had been set by his predeces-
sor. The Medical Department had satisfied
the peacetime needs of 15,000 sol-
diers, and Finley was not inclined to
make any changes in the expanding
Army of the Civil War. He feared the
Commission as a mischief-maker, re-
jected the advice of the Commission, and
spurned offers of cooperation.
Finley was described by a contemporary
as "utterly ossified and useless," and
apparently had few qualifications for
the post of Surgeon General other than
his forty years of Army service.8
Since many of the Commission members had
influential Republican, anti-
slavery political connections, they were
able to exert the pressure required to
convince Secretary of War Simon Cameron
to persuade President Lincoln to
sign an executive order creating the
Commission. The act stipulated that the
Commission confine its activity to the
volunteers and the Navy. The person-
nel of the Regular Army were to be
excluded from the domain of the U.S.
Sanitary Commission.9
The stage was set for an adversarial
relationship between the Medical
Department and the Sanitary Commission.
While there was an attempt at an
outward show of cooperation, as early as
September 1861, the Commission
attempted to influence members of
Congress to initiate reform in the Medical
Department. The Commission argued that
Colonel Finley was too strongly
devoted to "routine," and that
his undisguised hostility would wreck their
plans for a healthier Army. They thus
urged the removal or retirement of the
Surgeon General. In December, the
Commission opened active agitation for
legislation to create a corps of medical
inspectors.
The failure on the part of the Medical
Department in the early months of
the Civil War was part of a larger war
picture that was equally grim. In mid-
January 1862, Cameron was sent to Russia
as minister and was replaced as
Secretary of War by Edwin M. Stanton.
The Sanitary Commission believed
that this change would be beneficial to
the reforms they proposed. The
Commission, with the backing of General
George T. McClellan, drafted a re-
form bill for the Medical Department
which was introduced in the Senate by
Henry Wilson of Massachusetts in
December, 1861, and was in the hands of
the Military Affairs Committee at the
time of Stanton's appointment. The
proposed bill represented a compromise
between the reformers and Army con-
servatives. It provided for a Surgeon
General, a Sanitary Inspector General
and eight medical inspectors with the
rank of lieutenant colonel. The bill di-
8. Mary C. Gillett, The Army Medical
Department 1818-1865 (Washington D.C., 1987), 154.
9. Maxwell, Lincoln's Fifth Wheel, 6-8.
60 OHIO HISTORY
rected that the medical inspectors
should survey the sanitary condition of the
army whether in transports, quarters or
camps, and the hygiene, police, disci-
pline and efficiency of field and
general hospitals. The reports of the medical
inspectors were to relate to all
circumstances concerning the skill, efficiency,
and good conduct of medical officers and
attendants. 10
The reorganization bill was signed by the
President on 16 April 1862. The
Commission formed a pressure group,
orchestrated by Olmsted, which con-
vinced Stanton to remove Surgeon General
Finley from office, eliminating a
key barrier to reform in the Medical
Bureau. The Commission supported
William A. Hammond as Finley's
successor, and he was appointed Surgeon
General on 25 April 1862. His
appointment broke the seniority system,
since despite Hammond's eleven years of
service on the frontier, in 1860 he
had accepted a professorship at the
University of Maryland. Hence, he had en-
tered the Army at the start of the Civil
War essentially at the bottom of the
list of assistant surgeons.11
After six months in office, Surgeon
General Hammond presented his list of
desired reforms. Based upon the work of
Jonathan Letterman, medical director
of the Army of the Potomac, he
recommended the development of an ambu-
lance corps for all armies in the field.
In addition to a recommendation for an
increase in medical personnel in a
number of units, the creation of a graduate
school of medicine for medical officers,
and the creation of an Army medical
museum, General Hammond requested
another Assistant Surgeon General,
two more Medical Inspectors General and
eight more medical inspectors.12
This bill was designed to facilitate the
discharge of disabled soldiers and the
inspection of convalescent camps and
hospitals. It was only modestly contro-
versial, with some members of Congress
objecting to the relatively high rank
to be granted to the inspectors. The two
additional Medical Inspectors General
were eliminated, but the recommended
additional eight medical inspectors
were authorized, when the bill became
law on 27 December 1862.13
The medical directors of field armies
held the rank of major. Rank for sur-
geons had been granted by congressional
action in 1847, but prior to that
time the title had been
"doctor." To command the respect of the medical di-
rectors of field armies, medical
inspectors were granted the rank of lieutenant
colonel, with commensurate pay and
allowances. When the medical inspec-
tors were authorized in April 1862, the
Sanitary Commission and Surgeon
General Hammond recommended the personnel
for appointment to these posi-
tions on a merit basis. However,
senators and cabinet officers had been asked
to designate potential new inspectors.
As finally constituted, the medical in-
10. Rives, The Congressional Globe,
119-24.
11. Maxwell, Lincoln's Fifth Wheel, 122-23,
and Adams, Doctors in Blue, 28-35.
12. Adams, Doctors in Blue, 33-34.
13. Rives, The Congressional Globe, 119-24.
Norton Townshend
61
spectors consisted of four officers from
the Regular Army without regard to
seniority, and four political
appointments. When the additional eight inspec-
tor positions were created in December
1862, Secretary Stanton divided the
commissions between four officers
recommended on a merit basis by
Hammond and four who had political
influence.14
Hammond and Stanton clashed almost from
the beginning. Hammond was
closely identified with the Sanitary
Commission, which Stanton felt was
meddling in the affairs of the Army
Medical Department. Stanton favored
some reorganization of the Medical
Department, but indicated that "the
Government would act... as soon as it
sees its way clear." It is clear that
Stanton felt it was essential to temper
the Surgeon General's and the Sanitary
Commission's recommendations with his
own political appointments rec-
ommended by cabinet officers.15
Norton S. Townshend was one of the medical
inspectors with "political in-
fluence" who was appointed to a
position authorized in December, 1862.
While Townshend was not practicing
medicine at the time of his appoint-
ment, he had received a good medical
education and had practiced medicine for
about ten years before devoting his time
and efforts to farming and antislavery
politics. He became active in
third-party politics and reform in the 1840s and
was a lieutenant of Salmon P. Chase.
Townshend certainly had the political
credentials for appointment as a medical
inspector even though his military
and medical credentials for this post
may have been deficient.16 Despite the
fact that Townshend had not been
continuously engaged in the full-time prac-
tice of medicine, the evidence suggests
that he had maintained an acceptable
level of competence in medical matters.
In the two months immediately fol-
lowing his entrance into military
service he indicated that he spent much of
his time "giving direct medical and
surgical assistance to our wounded
men."17
Townshend was born in rural England in
1815 and immigrated to Lorain
County, Ohio, with his parents as a
teenager. He taught district school for
one winter before beginning the study of
medicine with a physician in Elyria,
Ohio. He attended the Ohio Medical
College in Cincinnati one winter, and
after studying another winter at the
College of Physicians and Surgeon in
New York City, received his M.D. degree
from that institution in 1840. After
obtaining his medical degree, he spent a
year furthering his medical education,
14. Adams, Doctors in Blue, 39-40.
15. Maxwell, Lincoln's Fifth Wheel, 139-43.
16. Norton S. Townshend (NST). Medical
Officer's File, RG 94. NA. Frederick J. Blue and
Robert W. McCormick, "Norton S.
Townshend: A Reformer for All Seasons," in The Origin of
Politics in Ohio, ed. by Andrew R. L. Cayton and Jeffrey B. Brown
(Forthcoming from Kent
State University Press).
17. Medical Inspector's Report of N.S.
Townshend, August 1863, Margaret Burrows
Collection (private collection,
hereafter cited as MB).
62 OHIO HISTORY
especially in operative surgery, in
Paris, Edinburgh, Dublin and London.
Upon his return from the continent in
1841, Townshend practiced medicine at
Avon and Elyria in Lorain County, Ohio,
for the next decade. His day-to-day
medical practice with rural people
provided little financial reward, but his
commitment to farming and the rural way
of life found him equally willing to
help his neighbors doctor a sick cow as
he was to provide relief from their
own illness.18
In the late forties Townshend turned his
interest away from medicine to pol-
itics and reform, and in 1848 he was
elected to the Ohio General Assembly as
a Free Soiler. As a legislator he was
instrumental in the partial repeal of the
discriminatory "Black Laws" of
Ohio. He worked closely with, and was a key
figure in the election of, Salmon P.
Chase to the U.S. Senate. Chase, who
later served as governor of Ohio,
Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice
of the U.S. Supreme Court, was
Townshend's political mentor. With his
support Townshend was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives in
1851, and to the Ohio Senate in 1854. As
a member of the second Ohio
Constitutional Convention (1850-1851),
he campaigned eloquently, but un-
successfully, for suffrage and equal
rights for African-Americans and
women.19
During the early years of the Civil War
Townshend remained active in
Republican politics, and his political
power and prestige remained dependent
on Salmon P. Chase. When the Bureau of
Agriculture (now the U.S.
Department of Agriculture) was
established in 1862, Townshend wrote to
Treasury Secretary Chase expressing
interest in the position of
Commissioner.20 Townshend did
not receive this appointment, but Chase
countered with the offer of a government
appointment in Denver, which
Townshend declined because the salary
would not have compensated him for
the costs in selling his farm.21
Townshend's interest in a government
position during the Civil War
stemmed from a variety of reasons. While
Townshend praised the rural way
of life, he did not function as a
typical farmer. He preferred to be involved in
the political process, and was not constrained
by seasonal farming activities.
Chase attempted to respond to his
friend's wishes with the best governmental
position possible. When Chase learned of
the availability of the medical in-
spector positions, he wrote Townshend,
indicating he had nominated him for
18. Ibid. George C. Jameson, "A
Doctor of the Old School," The Ohio State Medical
Journal, 38 (Feb. 1942), 141-53.
19. Blue and McCormick, "Norton S.
Townshend."
20. Norton Townshend (NST) to Salmon P.
Chase (SPC) 24 February 1862, S. P. Chase
papers in the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, cited hereafter as HSP.
21. NST to SPC, 1 July 1862, SPC papers
in HSP. NST's letter did not identify the nature of
the position in Denver.
Norton Townshend 63 |
|
one of these positions.22 Townshend responded to Chase that he had not seen the bill providing for the appointment of medical inspectors and, hence, was not certain whether he was qualified.23 Townshend obviously reviewed the qualifications, decided he was qualified, and expressed interest in the ap- pointment. After a two-month hiatus, Townshend wrote to Chase indicating he had not heard about the appointment, and also indicated he "should be very glad to be assigned to some district near home." He wondered if Chase could "by a word at the right moment secure me this favor?" A note appended to Townshend's letter to Chase indicated, "Dr. Townshend wants to be assigned to Ohio & Sec. Chase wants commission sent through him."24 The backing of a cabinet member was absolutely essential to obtain a political appoint- ment in either a military or civilian capacity, but it could not assure choice of station assignment. Three weeks later Special Order 163, dated 9 April 1863, stated, "Medical Inspector N. S. Townshend to report to Medical Inspector P. Pines at New Orleans. By order of the Sec. of War."25 It was clear that while influential
22. SPC to NST, 17 January 1863 in HSP. Chase stated, "At my request the President appointed you as one of the new Medical Inspectors under the recent law. I hope you will accept the appointment." 23. NST to SPC, 24 January 1863, SPC papers in HSP. 24. NST to SPC, 16 March 1863, NST Medical Officer's File, RG 94, NA. 25. Special Order 163, 9 April 1863, NST Medical Officer File, RG 94, NA. |
64 OHIO HISTORY
cabinet members could be most helpful in
obtaining commissions during the
Civil War, they were less successful in
determining the station assignment of
these officers. Dr. Townshend was off to
New Orleans, with a new commis-
sion as lieutenant colonel in the Union
Army, a new uniform, and little ori-
entation to military procedures or
awareness of what to expect in his new pos-
tion. Before the end of April, Lt. Col.
Townshend was aboard the steamship
Crescent off the Florida coast headed for New Orleans. He had
spent a brief
time in New York City where he picked up
his new uniforms. During the
sea voyage, Dr. Townshend treated some
of the passengers for seasickness,
including two colonels, two navy
officers, a young army surgeon, and a half-
dozen wives going to join their
husbands. On 4 May, Townshend notified
the Surgeon General Hammond that he had
arrived in New Orleans and had re-
ported for duty.26
Townshend's duties included a round of
inspections of camps, hospitals and
prisons in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and
Pensacola. As reported in his offi-
cial correspondence each month,
Townshend's assignment lacked challenge
and was quite routine. But he did not
restrict his activities nor his communi-
cation to military matters. A letter he
wrote to Secretary Chase shortly after
he arrived in New Orleans alerted Chase
to the fact that many Texas refugees
in New Orleans "look to you for
help & appear to have little hope in the
powers at W. except through your
interception." Townshend suggested that
"if a boat could be sent to the
mouth of the Rio Grande occasionally, they
think thousands might yet escape."27
There is no evidence that Secretary
Chase solicited this report; rather,
Townshend apparently volunteered the in-
formation.
By early August 1863, four months after
entering medical service,
Townshend requested a leave of absence
to return home during the month of
September. He indicated he had not felt
well since he had arrived in New
Orleans, and had asked Ohio Congressman
John Hutchins when he visited
New Orleans to contact the Surgeon
General or the Secretary of War about a
leave. In his letter to Chase, Townshend
enclosed a letter of resignation to
the Surgeon General "in the event
of my not being permitted to return home
in some other way."28 As
the end of August approached, Townshend sent
another urgent letter to Chase
indicating he was "exceedingly anxious" to get
to Ohio from the middle of September to
the middle of October. The Ohio
State Fair was to be held in Cleveland
in 1863 and Townshend, as president
of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture,
had indicated he "ought to be at the
Fair." He suggested to Chase that
he had urgent business matters to attend
26. NST to wife, Margaret B. Townshend
(MBT), 28 April 1863, NST papers LHS and NST
to Surgeon General, 4 May 1863, NST,
Medical Officer File, RG 94, NA.
27. NST to SPC, 20 May 1863, SPC papers,
HSP.
28. NST to SPC, 8 August 1863, SPC
papers, HSP.
Norton Townshend
65
to, and while he did not wish to resign,
if he could not go home any other
way "I shall be glad to
resign."29 Townshend was granted his leave through
Chase's intervention with Secretary of
War Stanton and returned to Ohio in
early September.30 Although
Townshend's leave was scheduled to expire at
the end of the month, he indicated to
Chase that he had applied for an exten-
sion and had "mailed the application
today and think it will be granted."31
A lack of commitment to his medical post
is indicated by Townshend's
persistence in obtaining a leave after
such a short period of time in the Army.
Many factors contributed to his desire
for leave, including absence from his
family, illness, and boredom with the
nature of his responsibilities. But the
desire to perform his role as president
of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture
was likely the most important reason he
wished to return to Ohio at that spe-
cific time. This was a prestigious
position in Ohio in the mid-nineteenth
century.
Townshend did not confine his role to
medical questions but also reacted to
the South's racial turmoil. He reported
to Chase that there was a need "to
mend the Pres. patchwork" evident
in the Emancipation Proclamation. "The
exception from its effects of all parts
of Louisiana held by Union Troops is a
great injustice .... It applies to all
locations where we have no means of
enforcing it, while every place were we
could enforce it is excepted ...."
Townshend concluded by expressing some
strong personal opinions: "I trust
no attempt at reconstruction will be
made in Louisiana or any other state
without considering the interests &
rights of the colored people slave & free.
I don't believe that God will show
himself on the side of this nation until all
our oppressions of the African race have
been repented of & reparation to
some extent made."32 Townshend's
actions reflected his commitment to an-
tislavery principle and his English
heritage more than his brief military expe-
rience. His reactions were consistent
with those of other liberals and aboli-
tionists and indicated he did not fully
comprehend the limitation of the presi-
dent's constitutional powers. Lincoln
was acting under his war powers which
permitted him to seize enemy resources,
but felt he had no constitutional au-
thority to move against slavery in areas
loyal to the United States.33
As a result of his extended leave,
Townshend failed to submit several
monthly reports, and was ordered by the
Surgeon General to explain his ac-
tions. In addition to submitting a
formal explanation to General Hammond,
Townshend also informed Secretary Chase
and suggested that "I should not
29. NST to SPC, 26 August 1863, SPC
papers, HSP.
30. NST to John Hutchins 12 August 1863
and Hutchins to SPC 28 August 1863 in Chase
correspondence, Library of Congress.
31. NST to SPC 29 September 1863, SPC
papers, HSP.
32. Ibid.
33. James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of
Freedom: The Civil War Era (New York, 1988),
557-58.
66 OHIO HISTORY
like to have my head cut off & shall
be glad if you can induce the Gen'l to
mercy in case he is disposed to be
severe."34 Chase intervened on his friend's
behalf, indicating in a memorandum to
General Hammond that "Dr.
Townshend is an old friend and is
incapable of neglecting any duty."35
General Hammond's response is not a part
of Townshend's file, but the ex-
tension of the leave must have been
approved since no reprimand appears in
the file.
Townshend returned to New Orleans
following the controversial leave.
Subsequent assignments took him to
Knoxville to inspect the hospitals of
General Burnside's Army of the Ohio in
December 1963, then to
Chattanooga, and in January he inspected
the Rock Island prison camp and
stations in Iowa and Illinois. After
January 1864, Townshend was headquar-
tered at Louisville, where Assistant
Surgeon General Robert C. Wood had es-
tablished his office, but he traveled
extensively from that base. In September,
1864, shortly after the occupation of
Atlanta by Union forces, Townshend re-
ported inspecting troops and hospitals
in that area. In October 1864,
Townshend reported to Colonel Wood that
he was in Marietta, Georgia, and
had made all inspections possible in
Atlanta and vicinity, and "as soon as I
can travel with safety, I shall endeavor
to reach Chattanooga." Townshend
indicated he was sending his report by
"private conveyance to Chattanooga
without much assurance that it will
reach its destination."36
A glimpse of the nature of Townshend's
inspection activities is provided in
his reports. While working in the New
Orleans area, Townshend inspected
the general hospital at Baton Rouge.
This hospital included twelve wards,
ranging in size from 70 to 239 beds,
with a surgeon in charge of each ward.
These wards were located in a former
barracks, an arsenal, a theater, a church,
an academy, and the court house. In
addition, there was a 1062-bed convales-
cent ward located in 150 tents.
Townshend indicated he visited all of
the wards frequently and made sugges-
tion to the surgeons in charge. On one
occasion he reported that his sugges-
tions "received prompt
attention" from the surgeons in charge. While he re-
ported that the sick and wounded had
been well cared for, he found that the
bread furnished by the post bakery in
Baton Rouge was made from inferior
quality flour. He personally called on
Colonel Edward G. Beckwith, the Chief
of Commissariat for the Department of
the Gulf, and after consultation and
investigation by the colonel, the
quality of the bread improved.37 It is un-
34. NST to SPC, 25 November 1863, NST
Medical Officer File, RG 94, NA.
35. NST to Surgeon General, 29 November
1863, NST Medical Officer File, RG 94, NA.
36. NST to Robert C Wood, 30 September
and 15 October 1863, NST Medical Officers File,
RG 94, NA.
37. NST inspection report, August 1863,
in MB collection.
Norton Townshend
67
clear whether Townshend's farming
background or his medical education was
more important in the investigation of
the defective flour.
In addition to routine inspections of
hospitals and troops, Townshend was
ordered to make a special inspection of
the prison at Rock Island, Illinois,
which held Confederate prisoners. He was
to inspect the accommodations,
medical supplies, and the sufficiency of
the medical staff. He was authorized
by Assistant Surgeon General Wood to
make requisitions for medical sup-
plies, and to make contracts with
"competent medical men" if needed.38
Townshend's report of this inspection
included a detailed description of con-
ditions at the huge (1000 acres) Rock
Island prisoner of war camp located on
an island in the Mississippi River near
Davenport, Iowa. The press had re-
ported a high incidence of sickness and
death in this camp, and Townshend
was sent to investigate. He reported
that the general conditions in the camp
were good, and that the sickness and
deaths were due primarily to transporta-
tion of prisoners during the cold winter
weather and to an outbreak of small-
pox. He concluded that "the
statements in the papers were for the most part
untrue or greatly exaggerated."39
In February 1865 Townshend received a
communication from the prison
chaplain at Alton Military Prison,
Alton, Illinois, requesting him to make a
special representation through the
Surgeon General to Secretary of War
Stanton. The chaplain sought the release
of civilians who were from locations
within the "rebel lines," and
"Galvanized Yankees" who had entered the
Confederate Service "as the
quickest means of escape."40 There is no evidence
that Townshend acted upon this request,
but it is likely that he was
sympathetic with the chaplain's point of
view.
Townshend returned to Ohio several more
times during the final year of the
War. On 27 March 1864 he reported that
he traveled to Columbus to see the
executive secretary of the Ohio State
Board of Agriculture.41 In the late
summer of 1864 Townshend was in Ohio
again seeking a location for the
asylum for the mentally retarded which
had just been funded by the Ohio leg-
islature. Townshend was a member of the
board of the asylum, and had been
instrumental in initiating legislation
for its creation in the antebellum
years.42
Although Dr. Townshend was a political
appointee in the ranks of medical
inspectors, he did not resign his
position when Secretary Chase resigned from
38. Assistant Surgeon General to NST, 6
January 1864, in MB collection.
39. The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies, Series II, Vol. 6 (Washington, D.C., 1899), 848, and
Joseph K. Barnes,
Medical and Surgical History of the
War of the Rebellion (1861-1865), 52.
40. A. H. Lackey, to NST, 11 February
1865, in MB collection.
41. NST to MBT, 27 March 1864, NST
papers, LHS.
42. NST to MBT, 12 August 1864, NST
papers, LHS.
68 OHIO HISTORY
the Lincoln Cabinet in late June 1864.
He continued his routine of inspec-
tions until November 1865 when he was
discharged from the service.
In addition to the inspection at the
Rock Island Prison, two additional re-
ports submitted by Lieutenant Colonel
Townshend were deemed sufficiently
important to become part of the medical
and surgical history of the Civil
War. While serving in the Department of
the Gulf at New Orleans,
Townshend documented in May 1863 that
the proportion of white soldiers af-
fected with malarious diseases was ten
times larger than the African-American
soldiers affected.43 Surgeon
General Hammond reported this finding to
Secretary Stanton on 30 June 1863,
indicating that the result was not unex-
pected since the British had experienced
the same result in Jamaica, Bahamas,
Honduras, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, and
Ceylon. Hammond concluded that
the advantages rested with "the colored
troops, who are shown to be far more
capable of resisting the morbid
influences of malaria than white men simi-
larly situated."44
One of Townshend's reports from
Louisville conveyed his observation that
"colored troops" suffered more
than white troops when confined to the estab-
lished Army ration. He felt that hard
bread made of "thoroughly bolted flour"
created problems with the digestive
system of African-American troops.45
Joseph T. Glatthaar documents that
illness from diseases took a much heav-
ier proportionate toll on
African-American troops in the Union Army than it
did on white volunteer units. Separate
and inferior medical facilities, lack of
properly trained physicians for black
units, and the assumption that blacks
were immune to all tropical diseases
contributed to the increased death from
disease among African-Americans.
Black troops were used extensively as a
part of the Army of the Gulf under
General Nathaniel Banks in the battle
for Port Hudson in May 1863. They
demonstrated dash and courage in the
face of overwhelming odds, despite be-
ing unable to penetrate the Confederate
fortifications.46 Townshend must
have inspected these troops, since his
report on their susceptibility to malaria
was based on this time and this
location. Whether or not Townshend and
other medical inspectors applied the
same criteria to the medical services
available for black and white troops
cannot be ascertained with certainty.
Nevertheless, Townshend's antebellum
record of crusading for the rights of
43. Official Records Series III,
Vol. 3, 455, and Barnes, Medical and Surgical History, Part
Three, 85.
44. Hammond to Stanton, 30 June 1863, Official
Records of the War of the Rebellion Series
III, Vol. 3 (Washington, D.C, 1899),
454-55.
45. Barnes, Medical and Surgical
History Part I1, Vol. I, 100. "Bolted flour" refers to flour
that has been passed through a sieve.
46. Joseph T. Glatthaar, Forged in
Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White
Officers (New York, 1990), 187-88.
Norton Townshend 69 |
|
African-Americans suggests that he would have campaigned vigorously to eradicate the inequities in medical care for black troops. What impact did medical inspectors have upon the health of the Union Army? Any attempt to quantify their contribution must be highly specula- tive. Sixteen inspectors spread over the entire Union forces permitted limited surveillance of the health of the troops. Nevertheless, the mere existence of this force of inspectors did have some positive influence on sanitary condi- tions. The evidence indicates that by the close of 1864 the overall number of patients admitted to Army hospitals was dwindling because of a lowered dis- ease rate produced primarily by improved sanitation.47 Several twentieth-century authors have commented on the effectiveness of the Medical Department generally, and the medical inspectors specifically dur- ing the Civil War. Russell F. Weigley indicates that "by the standards of the day, the Union armies received good medical services . ...48 George W. Adams concludes that "the medical and sanitary record of the Civil War was on the whole a good one." He also observes that army surgeons discovered that cleanliness was important and surgical infections could be kept from
47. Gillett, Army Medical Department 1818-1865, 231. 48. Weigley, History of the United States Army, 226. |
70 OHIO HISTORY
spreading if sanitary precautions were
observed.49 Stewart Brooks concludes
that the sixteen medical inspectors were
"central to the success" of the Union
Medical Department by identifying
shortcomings so that remedial measures
could be instituted.50 Recent
scholarhip continues to indicate that disease was
a greater threat to Civil War soldiers
than enemy weapons by a margin of two
to one. But the margin in the Napoleonic
Wars had been eight to one and in
the Crimean wars four to one. Thus James
M. McPherson indicates that,
correctly, "Only by
twentieth-century standards was Civil War disease
mortality high."51
Norton Townshend's performance as a
medical inspector appears to have
been fairly typical. While he may have
been a bit more active politically
than some of the inspectors, his actions
were motivated in large part by his
strong antislavery posture and his
compassion for African-Americans.
Despite his frequent trips to Ohio,
there is no indication that he failed to per-
form his assignments. But the patronage
system of appointments meant that
men like Townshend, who had adequate
credentials, performed essentially as
civilians in uniform. The successful
prosecution of the War was their objec-
tive, not the long-term reform of the
Medical Department.
During the final year of the war,
Townshend provided insight into his feel-
ings about his absence from wife and
family when he wrote, "Can we not,
ought we not to attain a higher &
nobler station of heart & intellect and to
outlaw of so much anxiety and pain . ..
I feel that it ought to be, because
only great and substantial benefits . .
.would compensate me for so long an
absence from those who are so dear to
me.52
The evidence indicates that Townshend
entered the military service because
of his strong antislavery political
views and to aid in reforming a system
which enslaved African-Americans. While
his close relationship with
Salmon P. Chase was unquestionably the
primary cause of his appointment
as medical inspector, one cannot
overlook the fact that his concern for the
improvement of the welfare of blacks was
a strong motivation for his accep-
tance of this position.
49. Adams, Doctors in Blue, 228-29.
50. Stewart Brooks, Civil War
Medicine (Springfield, Illinois, 1966), 26.
51. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom,
487.
52. NST to MBT, 25 July 1864, NST papers
LHS.
ROBERT W. McCORMICK
A Union Army Medical Inspector:
Norton Townshend
Over 350,000 Union soldiers lost their
lives in the Civil War, but only
one-third of these deaths were combat
related. The remaining 225,000 soldier
deaths resulted from six million cases
of illness from disease and accidents.
As shocking as these figures are, they
represent a marked improvement over
the Mexican War, where seven men died of
disease for every man killed by the
enemy.
Before the fighting began, the Medical
Department serving the 16,000 per-
son U.S. Army in January 1861 was
composed of a superannuated Surgeon
General, eighty year-old Colonel Thomas
Lawson, thirty surgeons, and
eighty-three assistant surgeons.2 One
twentieth century authority on the
Civil War medical situation has
suggested that, "the Surgeon General of the
Army in 1861 was no doubt a worthy
gentleman, [but] he was about as pre-
pared for war as were the people of San
Francisco for an earthquake."3 Clearly
the medical services of the Union Army
were in desperate need of re-
organization and reform in 1861.
One aspect of reform and reorganization
implemented by the Medical
Department in 1862 was the appointment
of sixteen medical inspectors on the
staff of the Surgeon General. These
inspectors, appointed with the rank of
lieutenant colonel, were charged with
inspecting sanitary conditions of trans-
ports, quarters, camps, field and
general hospitals, as well as prison camps.
Congressional authorization for these
positions resulted primarily from the
lobbying efforts of the United States
Sanitary Commission, a civilian gov-
ernmental organization created somewhat
reluctantly by President Abraham
Lincoln shortly after the outbreak of
the war. The Commission was to serve
an advisory function with the government
on the "Sanitary Interests of the
United States Force."4
Robert W. McCormick is Professor
Emeritus and former Assistant Vice President for
Continuing Education at The Ohio State
University.
1. George Worthington Adams, Doctors
in Blue (New York, 1952), 3, and Allan R. Millett
and Peter Maslowski, For the Common
Defense (New York, 1984), 229.
2. Adams, Doctors in Blue, 4.
3. Louis C. Duncan, The Medical
Department of the United States Army in the Civil War
(reprinted by Butternut Press,
Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1985), 37.
4. William Quentin Maxwell, Lincoln's
Fifth Wheel: The Political History of the United