surgeons' KEPOKTS MICHIGAN — FOUKTU DISTRICT. 4G3 



Nearly all the men mustered in from this district liave been natives of tlie United States, and 

 tbe proportion of those of foreign birtli is too small to allow any dednctioii of value in regard to 

 the physical aptitude for military service of different nationalities. Norwegians were found liable 

 to be rejected on the ground of being flat fooled, and Germans on account of /(«•«/«. 



I have had no experience as to the physical (pialilications of the colored race for military 

 service. 



I would recommend a revision of the Eegulations in regard to the musteringin of men, so that 

 they may be examined with si>ecial reference to the difl'erent arms of the service. Recruits are 

 often presented who are unfit for infantry, yet who are not disqualified for cavalry or artillery. The 

 minimum age for recruits should not, in my opinion, be less than eighteen. 1 am convinced that it 

 would be an advantage to have two members of the board of enrollment physicians or surgeons. 

 Doubtful points come up for decision, and the surgeon needs assistance that cannot be obtained 

 under the present constitution of the board. Such an arrangement would also permit of a provis- 

 ion in the law directing one of the surgeons to visit different points of the district before the com- 

 mencement of a draft, for the jmrpose of examining applicants for exemption from eniollment. 

 This would result in an advantage to the Department, and afford the people of the whole district 

 the same facility for purging their lists of those disqualified for service as is now enjoyed by those 

 residing near headquarters. 



If it is true, as stated in the annual report of the Provost-Marshal General, November 15, 1864, 

 " that surgeons of boards of enrollment, as a class, are gentlemen of education and ability, reliable 

 and honest, &c.," was it not an act of gross injustice to them, nay, an insult to their intelligence, 

 to have boards of inspection clothed with power to reject (perhaps arbitrarily) any men piouounced 

 fit for service by the surgeon of the board of enrollment, and to cause to be charged the expenses of 

 recruiting those thus rejected to the provost-marshal and surgeon of the district? * # * 



EICUAKD STEBBINS, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Sixth Congremonal District of Iowa. 



Waterloo, Iowa, May 31, 1805. 



MICHIGAN— FOURTH DISTRICT.' 



Extracts from report of De. Alonzo Platt. 



• * * The whole number of men examined by me, including enrolled and drafted 



men, recruits, and substitutes, has been about eigl^ thousand. 



The Fourth Congressional District of Michigan is situated in the northwestern part of the 

 Lower Peninsula, with the excei)tion of Manitou and Beaver Islands in Lake Michigan, and the 

 ciunty of Delta, on the western side of the lake. It embraces twenty-five counties; is bou7iiled on 

 the west by Lake Michigan, and on the north by the Straits of Mackinac ; is situated between 4:^o 

 and 45° north latitude, and is eight hundred miles from the ocean. 



The surface of the country is gently undulating, the soil various, rich, and fertile, producing 

 winter-wheat of the finest quality. It is well watered ; the streams are rapid, affording an abun- 

 dance of water-power, and emptying their waters int.o Lake Michigan. 



The timber is mostly beech, maple, and oak, with belts of pine. The district is located 

 between two inland seas. Lake Huron on the east and Lake Michigan on the west. The climate is 

 more or less modified by its location both in summer and winter, the prevailing winds being from 

 the west and southwest. During all seasons, the atmospherical changes are more equal, if con- 

 trasted with the territory both e.st and west, and more particularly with the western side of the 

 lake. This results from its being in proximity to two large bodies of water, from the surface of 

 whi(;h is constantly ascending, through the medium of the atmosphere, from the action of the solar 

 rays, a large amount of aqueous vapor, rendering the atmosphere moist and the dews copious. 

 This moisture emanating fresh from such i)ure bodies of water cannot be mingled with any deleteri- 



' No reports were received i'loiii the first, seeoud, tbird, and sixtli districts. 



