quantities of drugs to the Continental Army and a 

 careful re-evaluation of the unusually significant 

 papers* of Dr. Jonathan Potts, Revolutionary War 

 surgeon, justify a review of the drug supplies during 

 the early years of the war. 



Continental Medicine Chests 



As early as February 21, 1775, the Provincial 

 Congress of Massachusetts appointed a committee to 

 determine what medical supplies would be necessary 

 should colonial troops be required to take the field. 

 Three days later the Congress voted to "make an 

 inquiry where fifteen doctor's chests can be got, and 

 on what terms"; and on March 7 it directed the 

 committee of supplies "to make a draft in favor of 

 Doct. Joseph Warren and Doct. Benjamin Church, 

 for five hundred pounds, lawful money, to enable 

 them to purchase such articles for the provincial 

 chests of medicine as cannot be got on credit." * 



A unique ledger of the Greenleaf apothecary shop 

 of Boston ^ reveals that this pharmacy on April 4, 

 1775, supplied at least 5 of the 15 chests of medicines. 

 The account, in the amount of just over £247, is 

 listed in the name of the Province of the Ma.ssachusetts 

 Bay, and shows that £51 was paid in cash by Dr. 

 Joseph Warren. The remaining £196 was not paid 

 until August 10, after Warren had been killed in the 

 Battle of Bunker Hill. 



The 15 medicine chests, including presumably the 

 five supplied by Greenleaf, were distributed on 

 April 18 — three at Sudbury and two each at Concord, 

 Groton, Mendon, Stow, Worcester, and Lancaster.^ 

 No record has been found to indicate whether or not 

 the British discovered the medical chests at Concord, 

 but, inasmuch as the patriots were warned of the 

 British movement, it is very likelv that the chests were 

 among the supplies that were carried off" and hidden. 



■• Jonathan Potts Papers, four volumes of miscellaneous manu- 

 scripts at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 

 (hereinafter referred to as Potts Papers). 



•'Journals of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay, 

 quoted in Owen, op. cit. (footnote 2), pp. 22-23. 



« Greenleaf Ledger, 1765-1778, at the American .Antiquarian 

 Society, Worcester, Mass. (The Greenleaf pharmacy was 

 established by Elizabeth Greenleaf in 1726 or 1727. See J. L. 

 Sibley, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in 

 Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, 1920, vol. 5, pp. 472-476; 

 Jonathan Greenleaf, .-1 Genealogy of the Greenleaf Family, New 

 York, 1854, pp. 89, 91, 205, 207; Boston Post-Boy and Boston 

 Gazette, November 8, 1762, obituary of Elizabeth Greenleaf.) 



" Owen, op. cit. (footnote 2), p. 23, 



Figure i . — Medicine scales and oval bo.\ of medicinal 

 herbs used by Dr. Solomon Drowne during the 

 Revolution. Preserved at Fort Ticonderoga Museum, 

 New York. 



The British destroyed as much of the remainder as 

 they could locate.* 



Two days after the battles at Lexington and 

 C'.oncord, the Provincial Congress ordered that a man 

 and horse be made available to transport medicines. 

 On April 30, Andrew Craigie was appointed to take 

 care of these medical stores and deliver them as 

 ordered. 



Medical supplies were an early source of anxiety 

 to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. The 

 supply of drugs in Boston must have been largely 

 controlled by the British after Lexington-Concord, 

 and the limited supply in the neighboring smaller 

 towns was soon exhausted. Four days before the 

 Battle of Bunker Hill the Congress "Ordered that 

 Doct. \\hiting, Doct, Taylor and Mr. Parks, be a 

 committee to consider some method of supplying the 

 several surgeons of the army with medicines,"" and 

 further "Ordered that the same committee bring in 

 a list of what medicines are in the medical store."' ' 



On June 10 the responsibility of furnishing medical 

 supplies to the army at Cambridge shifted to Phila- 

 delphia when the Continental Congress accepted the 



s J. R. .Mclen, The .American Revolution, New York, 1954 p. 23. 

 » Owen. op. cil. (footnote 2), pp. 12-13. 



PAPER 16: DRUG SUPPLIES IN THE .AMERICAN REVOLUTION 



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