ments . . . with medicines as may be necessary ....'"*- 

 A short time later the Assembly advanced "'up to 

 £50 to Greenleaf for purchasing such medicines "as 

 he cannot supply from his own store." " 



The Greenleaf ledger shows that over £32 worth 

 of medicines were sold for Colonel \Vhitney's regiment 

 and over £36 worth for Colonel Marshall's regiment 

 between June 13 and November 20, 1776. Thus, 

 drugs were available; but until the fall of '76, Green- 

 leaf was having difficulty in obtaining an abundant 

 supply. 



From Bad to Worse 



General Washington, correctly foretelling that New- 

 York City would be the next British objective, marched 

 there from Boston with as much of his army as could 

 be induced to stay under the colors. Had it not 

 been for the presence of Washington's forces in New 

 York, that colony would certainly have remained 

 Loyalist; as it was, the Patriot committees had the 

 greatest difficulty in keeping the Tories quiet by 

 strong-arm methods.** 



The availabOity of drugs in New York prior to the 

 arrival of W^ashington's forces did not seem to be 

 particularly affected by the war. Thomas Attwood 

 "at his store in Dock-Street" offered for sale a wide 

 assortment of drugs and medicines,*^ while William 

 Stewart offered "a fresh supply of Genuine Drugs and 

 Medicines ... on the most reasonable terms either 

 for cash or at the usual credit." *^ The citizens of 

 New York did not even have to do without their 

 popular English patent medicines.*" 



Washington, however, had to pro\ide for his own 

 medical supplies in New York. In a letter dated 

 April 3 he ordered Director General Morgan to 

 remove the general hospital to New York with "all 

 convenient speed. . . ."**The fixing and completing 



<2 American Archives, ser. 5, vol. 1, pp. 282, 284. 



« Ibid., p. 314. 



** S. E. Morison and H. S. Commager, The Growth of the 

 American Republic, New York, 1950, vol. 1, p. 210. 



*' New-Tork Journal, Ju\y 13, 1775. 



<«/i!W., May 11, 1775. 



" New-Tork Gazette, January 1 and January 29, 1776. For a 

 history of the English patent medicines in America, see G. B. 

 Griffenhagen and J. H. Young in The Chemist and Druggist, 

 1957, vol. 167, pp. 714-722, and in U.S. .Valional .Museum 

 Bulletin 218, 1959, pp. 155-183 (Contributions from the Muse- 

 um of History and Technology, Paper 10). 



•" George Washington. The ^^'ntings of George Washington, 

 edited by John C. Fitzpatrick, Washington, 1931, vol, 4, 

 pp. 464-465. 



of the regimental chests was to be deferred until 

 Morgan arrived at New York. 



Morgan remained behind in Boston for another 

 six weeks collecting medicines, furniture, and hospital 

 stores worth thousands of pounds. "The like 

 quantit\- . . . could not be procured," so Morgan 

 later claimed, "in any [other] part of America." 

 He was also able to purchase drugs from Salem, 

 Newport, and Norwich, and before departing for 

 New York he completed a medicine chest for each of 

 the fi\'e regiments at Boston, Salem, and Marblehead, 

 as ordered by Washington.*^ 



Morgan arrived in New York about June 3 and 

 purchased some additional drugs there. By June 17 

 his staff had made up 30 medicine chests for the regi- 

 ments at New York as well as for "the branches of the 

 General Hospital at New- York, in the bowry and 

 neighborhood and at Long-Island.'" But the number 

 of regiments requiring medical supplies exceeded 

 Morgan's expectations, particularly since he had 

 been advised that "the Southward regiments" would 

 be supplied by Congress in Philadelphia.''" 



By the middle of June, Morgan must have realized 

 that the supply of drugs available was inadequate 

 despite the sizable quantity brought from Boston and 

 the small stock he was able to obtain in New York. 

 It appears that many of the New York druggists were 

 Loyalists, and somehow they and their stock of drugs 

 disappeared when needed by Washington's army. 

 For example, druggist Thomas Attwood "removed 

 his store consisting of a general assortment of Drugs 

 and Medicines" to Newark in May only to reappear 

 in New York again under British occupation with a 

 good stock of "Drugs and Medicines." ^' 



The New York Committee of Safety had attempted 

 to develop a stock of drugs early in the year \vhen they 

 were plentiful,^- but in June this supply was valued 

 at only £30. Even this small stock was not available 

 to Morgan because when he asked permission to 

 purchase the medicines at "a reasonable price . . . 

 for use of the Continental Hospital" the New York 

 Provincial Congress rejected his plea on June 26 with 

 the explanation that this medicine \vas to be "reserved 



*« Morgan, op. cit. (footnote 35), pp. 4, 9, 68; Pennsylvania 

 Packet, June 19, 1779; and Washington, op. cit. (footnote 48), 

 vol. 4, pp. 464-465. 



'"Duncan, op. cit. (footnote 2), p. 135; Morgan, op. cit. 

 (footnote 35), p. 1 1 . 



»' .\'ew-Tirk Gazette, May 6 and December 23, 1776. 



'- American Archives, ser. 4, vol. 4, p. 1026. 



P.APER 16: DRUG SUPPLIES IN THE .AMERICAN REVOLUTION 



115 



