36 AEMY, UNITED STATES. 



ASIIMUN, GEORGE. 



Disabled soldiers and sailors supported or cared for 

 by the Board of Managers during the year at Cen- 

 tral Asylum, near Dayton, Ohio 2,101 



At Eastern Branch, near Augusta, Maine 719 



At Northwestern Branch, near Milwaukee, Wis 798 



At Philadelphia Soldiers' Home, Philadelphia, Pa. . . 451 



Out-door relief. 125 



Total 4,194 



Whole number supported or aided during the year 

 ending November 1, 1869 3,802 



Increase over last year. 



So far as reported, the disabled soldiers so 

 supported in the general asylum come from 

 the several States as follows : Maine, 72 ; New 

 Hampshire, 51 ; Vermont, 44 ; Massachusetts, 

 136 ; Connecticut, 44 ; Ehode Island, 53 ; New 

 York, 837; Pennsylvania, 729; New Jersey, 

 96 ; Delaware, 44 ; Maryland, 40 ; District of 

 Columbia, 34; Ohio, 559; Indiana, 317; Illi- 

 nois, 269 ; "Wisconsin, 63 ; Michigan, 148 ; Iowa, 

 33 ; Minnesota, 30 ; Missouri, 43 ; Kansas, 36 ; 

 California, 5 ; West Virginia, 8 ; Kentucky, 20 ; 

 Louisiana,'5 ; Texas, 6; and Tennessee, 13. 



Of those cared for at the regular asylums, 

 59 were under the age of twenty ; 1,502 be- 

 tween the ages of twenty and thirty; 1,651 

 between the ages of thirty and fifty, and 406 

 over the age of fifty. Of the whole, 1,065 

 were married, with wives or minor children 

 still living, and 2,553 unmarried; 1,455 were 

 native-born, and 2,163 of foreign birth ; 157 

 belonged to the regular army, 37 to the navy, 

 and 3,413 to the volunteer service. 



All of these are either partially or totally 

 incapacitated for self-support, by injuries or 

 diseases entailed upon them by active service 

 in the late war. So far as reported, their con- 

 dition is as follows : 8 lost both arms ; 5 both 

 legs; 2, each an arm and a leg; 309, each an 

 arm ; 388, each one leg ; and 1,245 were dis- 

 abled by other wounds received in the service ; 

 113 were blind, the most of them totally; and 

 48 insane, made so in most cases by the cruel- 

 ties to which they were subjected in rebel 

 prisons. The remainder were disabled by sick- 

 ness contracted in the service, as shown by the 

 number treated in the hospital, which during 

 the year was 1,667, and for the diseases fol- 

 lowing: Consumption, 217; rheumatism (acute 

 and chronic), 182; diarrhoea and dysentery, 

 126 ; paralysis, 71 ; ulcers and old gunshot- 

 wounds, 165; chronic bronchitis, 57 ; asthma, 

 24; epilepsy, 16 ; ophthalmia and other diseases 

 of the eye, 28 ; disease of the heart, 35 ; dis- 

 ease of the ear, 13 ; dyspepsia, etc., 33 ; mias- 

 matic diseases, 67 ; hernia, 27 ; chronic in- 

 flammation of the liver, 13 ; diseases of the 

 urinary and genital organs, 83 ; diseases of the 

 bones and joints, 22 ; other chronic diseases, 

 156 ; other acute diseases, 161, etc. 



Those who are able to do any kind of work 

 are employed in and about the asylums, and 

 receive compensation, varying, according to 

 their efficiency as laborers, from $5 to $25 per 

 month. During the year there were so em- 

 ployed at the Central Asylum 366 inmates, 

 who received $32,617.19 ; Eastern Branch, 200 



inmates, who received $22,723.29 ; Northwest- 

 ern Branch, 97 inmates, who received $11,195.- 

 01 ; being a total of 663 disabled soldiers so 

 employed during the year, who received from 

 the asylum the sum of $66,535.49. 



Workshops have been established at each 

 asylum, and the trades carried on are shoe- 

 making, cigar-making, plumbing, gas-fitting, 

 printing, book-binding, cabinet-making, bas- 

 ket and broom making, painting, trimming and 

 knitting with machines, wagon-making, black- 

 smithing, and harness-making. 



Farms and gardens are also cultivated, and 

 there were realized from these sources during 

 the year the following sums : 



At Central the sum of $9,728 70 



At Eastern the sum of 9,148 60 



At Northwestern the sum of. 10,420 08 



Making a total of $29,297 38 



Each asylum has its library and reading- 

 room, which are constantly used by the in- 

 mates with much zeal. The libraries are now 

 as follows : Central, 3,264 volumes number 

 taken out and read during the year, 13,853 ; 

 Eastern, 2,138 volumes number taken out and 

 read during the year, 5,725 ; Northwestern, 1,- 

 500 volumes number taken out and read dur- 

 ing the year, 4,990 ; making a total number of 

 volumes of 6,902, and a total number of books 

 taken out and read during the year of 24,568. 



The reading-rooms are regularly supplied 

 with the following newspapers and periodicals : 

 Central, 80 dailies, 63 weeklies, and 80 periodi- 

 cals ; Eastern, 29 dailies, 149 weeklies, and 22 

 periodicals; Northwestern, 10 dailies, 48 week- 

 lies, and 11 periodicals. 



The books are mostly donated by friends of 

 the institution, and the periodicals are gener- 

 ally supplied by publishers. Schools are also 

 kept, where the more practical branches of 

 education are taught, the instruction being, so 

 far as possible, to fit for self-support such as 

 are not totally disabled. The attendance dur- 

 ing the year has been as follows : Scholars 

 Central, 272 ; Eastern, 50 ; Northwestern, 76 : 

 total, 398. 



Of the whole number aided during the year, 

 142 died 14 while absent on furlough, and 80 

 (being more than one-half of the whole) of 

 consumption ; 891, having recovered health or 

 been prepared in schools, workshops, or other- 

 wise, to support themselves, were honorably 

 discharged ; 68, for repeated violations of the 

 rules, have been dishonorably discharged. 



ASHMUN, GEOEUE, an American lawyer 

 and political leader, born in Blandford, Mass., 

 December 1804; died in Springfield, Mass., 

 July 17, 1870. He graduated from Yale Col- 

 lege in the class of 1823, and entered the legal 

 profession, at Springfield, in 1828. While he 

 rapidly attained a high position in his profes- 

 sion, from the wide range of his general attain- 

 ments, as well as his thorough mastery of 

 legal science, and his extraordinary tact and 

 adroitness in the management of his cases, he 

 early took an active interest in political affairs. 



