452 SURGEONS REPORTS IOWA FIRST DISTRICT. 



Monld be diflBcnIt, tbcrefore, to more than approximate the actual iminber of men that conld be 

 physically examined per day with accuracy. 



So far as my experience enables me to speak upon the frauds practiced by enrolled men to 

 avoid the draft, and drafted men for exemption, they are about the same. I would mention ukers 

 of the lower extremities, mild in their nature, but i)urpose]y aggravated by local irritants. Ulcers 

 have also been induced by application of corrosive sublimate, sulphate of copper, tartar emetic, or 

 croton-oil, each easily detected, especially when there is an entire absence of constitutional dis- 

 turbance. Stiflness of joints, rlieumatism, "l)rcast comi)laints," weak back, are commonly brought 

 forward with all the eloquence and grimaces imaginable. Blindness of the right eye is occasionally 

 alleged, and sometimes with great and annoying pertinacity. The same att'ections, when real, are 

 attempted to be concealed by the recruit or substitute. 



The Germans, in my ot)inion, possess the greatest military aptitude. 



I know of no soldierly quality in which the negro is wanting. What he may lack in courage 

 (in his present novel status) he makes up in ready obedience. 



On the subject of the enrollment-law I w ill oli'er no suggestions, believing it to be in its genei'al 

 features all that can be desired. 



ISAAC M. NEELT, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Thirteenth Bistrict of Illinois. 



Cairo, III., Ulay 31, 1865. 



IOWA-FIRST DISTRICT. 

 Extracts from report of Dr. J. M. Shaffer. 



* • * The First Congressional District of Iowa is mostly situated within the 



forty first degree of north latitude. It embraces eight counties, namely, Lee, Van Euren, Davis, 

 Jefferson, Henry, Des Moines, Louisa, and Washington. It comprises a superficial area of 2,400,000 

 acres, or 3,750 scjuare miles, of which 1,500,000 acres, or more than one-half, are not under fence 

 or under cultivation. 



The Mississipi)i River forms the entire eastern boundary of the district, and the southern 

 boundary in part is made by the Des Moines River. The Mississippi is the eastern boundary of 

 the counties of Lee, Des Moines, and Louisa, throughout their whole extent. The Des Moines 

 Eiver touches Jefferson and Davis Counties at opposite corners, passes quite through the center 

 of Van Buren County in a southeast direction, makes the southern boundary of Lee County, and 

 empties into the Mississippi seven miles below Keokuk. 



Skunk River, a stream of no mean proportions, not navigable by steamboats, yet affording 

 splendid water-power in all the region through which it passes, runs through the southwest part of 

 Washington County, touches the northeast coruer of Jefferson County, and runs some distance 

 along its east border, passes through Henry and Lee Counties in a southeast direction, and empties 

 into the Mississippi twelve miles below the city of Burlington. 



The Des Moines and Skunk Rivers in the whole State are about eight hundred miles long, 

 and drain a space of country equal to 19,000 square miles. The altitude of the Mississippi above 

 the sea-level at the mouth of the Des Moines, the extreme southeastern part of the district, is 444 

 feet; at Fairfield, Jefferson County, a point a little west of the geographical center of the district, 

 the elevation above the sea-level is 040 feet. Along all these streams, thus briefly named, 

 there are heavy bodies of timber, affording an abundant supply of oak, walnut, elm, hickory, &c., 

 for building, fencing, and for the mechanic arts in which such material is demanded. 



The entire surface of the district is further watered and drained by numerous streams smaller 

 than those mentioned, all of which have a general southeast course, and have their banks lined 

 with timber. There are likewise extensive tracts of prairie-land, a formation almost ready for the 

 reception of the seed of the husbandman ; a rich, deep, blactk alluvial dejiosit that cannot be excelled 

 for fertility, and which does not fail to return a sure reward to the industrious farmer. Inexhaust- 

 ible beds of coal underlie much of the surface, and stone is abundant in many places. 



