Edwin M. Stanton to Edwin M. Stanton, October 20, 1865

Secretartj of War:

Sir: I have the honor to submit the following statement of finances and general transactions of the Medical Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1865:

Balance in the Treasury July 1, 1864 _ _ _ $914, 135.

Balance in the hands of the disbursing officers _ 324, 061.

Balance remaining of appropriation for artificial limbs for soldiers

and seamen, per act of July 16, 1862, chapter 182, section 6 _ 4, 265.

Annual appropriation for the year ending June 30, 1865, by act of

June 15, 1864, chapter 124, section 1 _ _ 8, 930, 640.

Deficiency appropriation for the current fiscal year, by act of March

2, 1865, chapter 73, section 8 _ _ _ 3,251,000.00

Annual appropriatmn for the year ending June 30, 1866, by act of March 3, 1865, chapter 81, section 1, required for disbursement during the present fiscal year, and placed to the credit of the

Medical Department for that purpose March 22, 1865 . . . . _ 6, 000, 000.

Amount drawn from appropriation made by joint resolution of April 29, 1864, to cover expenditures for medical attendance and

medicine for 100-day’s volunteers _ 300,000.00

Amount refunded by the Subsistence Department for board of sick

and wounded soldiers in private hospitals _ _ 64, 293.

Amount refunded for medical attendance and supplies furnished

prisoners of war. – – – – – 140, 506.

Amount received for subsistence of officers in hospitals _ 286, 281 .

Amount disallowed in account of Ebenezer Swift, U. S. Army, for June, 1863, and refunded from appropriation for pay of volun¬ teers – 17,762.91

Proceeds of sales of condemned and unserviceable hospital property 59, 671.

Proceeds of sales of ice not required for hospital use _ 12, 352.

Value of books and surgical instruments sold to medical officers

and private physicians _ 8,311.30

Received for hospital property sold to the Quartermaster’s Depart¬ ment – 7,003.61

Received for medicines, &c., issued to refugees and freedmen _ 554.

Recovered for hospital property lost or damaged in transportation. 534.

Recovered of Actg. Asst. Surg. J. S. Geltner, U. S. Army, for

property and moneys illegally disposed of _ 1,000.00

Amount received for care of patients belonging to the U. S. Navy. 283.

Amount received from all other sources _ 446.

Total credits for the year _ _ _ 20, 323, 102.

Amount over-expended by disbursing officers _ 166,578.34

For medical and hospital supplies _ _ $15, 204, 497.

F or pay of private physicians _ _ 1 , 865, 821 .

For pay of hospital employes _ 949, 462.

For expenses of purveying depots _ 683.’ 830.” 33

For care of sick soldiers in private hospitals _ 24o’ 476! 11

For artificial limbs for soldiers and seamen a _ 126, 538.

Expenses of hospitals for officers _ 243,’ 876.

Miscellaneous expenses of the Medical Department _ I3′, 996! 94 Balance in the Treasury June 30, 1865 _ 1, 161, 181.

a Furnished during the year— artificial legs, 1,388; arms, 1,121.

my last annual report was increased during the ensuing months until a maximum of 204 general hospitals, with a capacity of 136,894 beds, , was reached. Field hospitals, hospital transports and cars, ambulance corps, and the purveying depots were kept in condition to meet all I possible requirements, and General Sherman’s army was met at ; Savannah by four first-class sea-going steamers, thoroughly equipped ; as hospital transports, with extra stores and supplies for 5,000 beds, should it have become necessary to establish large hospitals upon his line of operations.

Upon the receipt of General Orders, No. 77, dated War Depart-; ment, Adjutant-General’s Office, April 28, 1865, immediate measures ! were taken to reduce the expenses of this department. Of the 201 gen¬ eral hospitals opened on January 1, 1865, 170 have been discontinued. ‘ Three of the four sea-going hospital transports have been discharged ; the fourth is now constantly engaged in the transfer of sick and wounded from Southern ports to the general hospitals in New York i Harbor. All of the river hospital boats have been turned over to the Quartermaster’s Department, and but a single hospital train is retained in the Southwest.

The vast amount of medicines .and hospital supplies becoming sur- i plus through the reduction of the Army have been carefully collected at prominent points and are being disposed of at public auction, most of the articles bringing their full value, and in some instances their cost price.

Since April, 1861, there have been appointed 547 surgeons and assistant surgeons of volunteers; mustered into service, 2,109 volununteer regimental surgeons and 3,882 volunteer regimental assistant: surgeons; employed as acting staff surgeons, 75; as acting assistant surgeons, 5,532.

As far as returns have been received during the war 34 officers of the medical staff have been killed or died of wounds received in action, 24 wounded, and 188 have died from disease or accident incurred in the service ; 1 died in a rebel prison ; 6 of yellow fever. A completed record will increase this number.

Two hundred and fourteen surgeons and assistant surgeons of volunteers, reported as supernumerary, have been mustered out.

In compliance with the act of Congress hospital chaplains have been reported for muster out when the hospitals to which they were attached have been discontinued. Of the 265 appointed during the war 29 are still in commission.

The business of this office has been largely increased by the neces¬ sity for immediate examination and settlement of the accounts of staff and regimental medical officers mustered out of service, while the number of applications from the Pension Bureau for “official evidence of cause of death” now averages 1,550 a month, the number received and acted upon in the last fiscal year being over 19,000. Other official inquiries requiring reference to records and hospital registers are very numerous.

The returns of sick and wounded show that of white troops 1,057,423 cases have been treated in general hospitals alone from 1861 to July 1, 1865, of which the mortality rate was 8 per cent. In addition to the alphabetical registers of dead, not yet fully completed, the records of the Medical Department contain 30,000 special reports of the more important forms of surgical injuries, of disease, and of operations. These reports, with statistical data and a pathological collection num- bering 7,630 specimens, furnish a mass of valuable information which is being rapidly arranged and tabulated as a medical and surgical his¬ tory of the war, for the publication of the first volumes of which an appropriation will be asked.

In this connection and as illustrating more in detail the importance of this work the Army Medical Museum assumes the highest value. By its arraj^ of indisputable facts, supported and enriched by full reports, it supplies instruction otherwise unattainable and preserves for future application the dearly-bought experience of four years of war. Apart from its great usefulness it is also an honorable record of the skill and services of those medical officers whose contributions constitute its value and whose incentive to these self-imposed labors has been the desire to elevate their profession. A small appropriation has been asked to continue and extend this collection.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1865, an Army Medical Board was appointed to meet in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 18th day of October, 1864, for the examination of candidates for the medical staff of the Army and of assistant surgeons of that corps for promotion. Nine applicants for admission into the medical staff were invited to present themselves before this board. Of this number two were fully exam¬ ined and approved, one withdrew before his examinations were con¬ cluded, two were rejected as unqualified, and four failed to appear. Six assistant surgeons were examined for promotion and found quali¬ fied. Two assistant surgeons were reported for re-examination. Of the approved candidates two have been appointed assistant surgeons.

Boards have been in session at New York; Washington, D. C. ; Hilton Head, S. C. ; New Orleans, La.; Memphis, Tenn. ; Little Rock, Ark., and Cincinnati, Ohio, for the examination of candidates for appoint¬ ment in the volunteer medical staff. One hundred and fifty-two can¬ didates were invited before these boards, fiftj^-eight of whom passed satisfactory examinations and were appointed accordingly. The remainder were rejected, failed to appear, or withdrew before exami¬ nation was completed. These boards were discontinued in June, 1865.

The casualties in this corps since June 30, 1864, are as follows: Appointed, 96; promoted, 40; restored, 2; resigned, 32; declined, 1; died, 7; dismissed, 3; discharged, 3; dropped, 1; mustered out, 19; canceled, 7.

Boards for the examination of candidates for appointment as med¬ ical officers to colored troops have been in session permanently at Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Saint Louis, and at such other points from time to time as the necessities of the service demanded.

In nearly all sections of the country the health of the troops has been fully equal to that of the preceding years, though militaiy mo vements of unprecedented magnitude have been pushed to successful termination without regard to seasons. An epidemic of yellow fever prevailed in New Berne, N. C., in September, October, and November,

. 1864, causing 278 deaths among the troops stationed there, of whom cities by our troops, to be an absolute protection against the In conclusion, I desire to bear testimony to the ability, courage, and zeal manifested throughout the war by the officers of the Medical Department under all circumstances and upon all occasions. With hardly an exception they have been actuated by the highest motives of national and professional pride, and the number who have been killed and wounded bears most honorable testimony to their devotion to duty on the field of battle.

To the medical directors of armies in the field and of military geo¬ graphical departments especial praise is due for the successful execu¬ tion of their arduous and responsible duties.

very respectfully, your obedient servant, Surgeon-General^ Brevet Major-General, U. S. Army.