Ohio History Journal

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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