Inventory of
medical books from Ward "H" at N.Y. Conesus Centre Army Hospital 1865
At the end of the War, there
was a directive to all hospitals to inventory and return supplies
and library books to the Medical Purveyor. This communication is in
the Medical and Surgical History of the War of Rebellion. The
following inventory is from Ward ‘H’, at Conesus, N. Y, 1865.
The following is typed from the hand-written inventory, the number
in ( ) is how many books they returned to the Medical Purveyor in
1865. (A big 'thank you' to Christian Mackensie for
providing this list from his personal collection.)
"Of the 65,000
patients in general hospitals in June 1865, only 97 remained a year
later. The rapid decrease in the number of patients led to a
corresponding decrease in the amount of medicines and supplies
needed for their care and in the number of facilities designed to
shelter them. Surgeon General Barnes was called upon to disband the
ambulance corps; to close supply depots; and to sell or otherwise
dispose of hospital transports, hospital trains, and general
hospitals.
Some institutions were turned over to individual states
for use as homes for wounded veterans, and others were returned to
their original owners.
By the end of the fiscal year 1866 the
Medical Department had received more than four million dollars from
the "sales of old or surplus medical and hospital Property." By the
summer of 1866 only the depots at New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis,
New Orleans, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., remained open. "
1.
1. (Quotation
above
from WD, ARofSG, 1866, p. 1; ibid., pp. 2, 5; in RG 112,
NARA: Ltr, Crane to McCormick, 18 Jul 1865, Entry 7, and Ltrs, W. C.
Spencer to O. P. Morton, 16 Nov 1865, Crane to Conrad Baker, 25 Nov
1865, Spencer to J. M. Richard, 25 Oct 1866, SG to W. W. Corcoran, 9
Nov 1866, Entry 2, and Telg, SG to C. Baker, 17 Jan 1866, Entry 2.)
James A. Tobey,
The Medical Department of the Army
history
The following inventory list
was assembled to document returned surplus supplies and in
particular medical text books to be returned at the end of the War.
The copies are at the bottom of the page:
Page I (plus first five additions not copied
on sheet I)
Anatomy Grays (1)
Surgery (of arteries) Powers (9)
Chemistry Towne's (3)
Dictionary medical Dunglison's (5)
English Websters (3)
Dispensatory Wood & Bache (4)
Dungilson’s Medical Dictionary (5)
Webster’s English Dictionary (1)
Dispensatory Wood & Bache (7)
Hygiene ? Wood & Bache? (6)
Pharmacy Parish (2)
Physiology Dalton’s (6)
Practice of Medicine, Woods (11)
Practice of Medicine, Bennett (1)
Surgery, Principles of, Erichsen (6)
Surgery, Principles, Smith, Stephen (2)
Surgery, Gutherie Commentaries (2)
Regulations Army (1)
Therapeutics, Stiles or Woods (3)
Surgery Minor (1)
Longmore on gunshot wounds (1)
Toynbee on diseases of the ear (1)
Wilson on diseases of the skin (1)
Hospital Stewards Manual (5)
Bartholow's Manual (5)
Thomson’s Conspectus (2)
Page II
Hygiene (6)
Pharmacy, Parish (3)
Physiology Dalton’s (8)
Practice of Medicine, Watson’s or Woods (12)
Practice of Medicine, Bennet (1)
Surgery Principles of, Erichsen (6)
Surgery Principles of, Smith’s Stephen (2)
Surgery Gutherie Commentaries (2)
Surgery minor (1)
Therapeutics Stiles or Woods (3)
Longmore on gunshot wounds (1)
Toynbee on disease of the ear (1)
Wilson on diseases of the skin (1)
Hospital Stewards Manual (5)
Register of Patients (1)
Regulations Army (1)
Bartholows Manual (6)
Thompson’s Conspectus (2)
Register of Surgical operations (2)
Copy of the hand-written inventory:
