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To George Washington from Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh, 26 April 1778

From Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh

A Report of the general Hospitals. 26th April 1778.
Hospitals In What Time Men
now in
Hospital		 Dead
and
Deserted		 discharged
and
sent to
Camp		 Other Occurances & Remarks.
Prince Town, Jersey From 14th Jany
  to 8 april ’78		  53  52 135 All the Hospitals in Jersey were removed to this.
Easton, pensylvania 1st May to the
  10th april 1778		 110 Removed to Bethleham 27th March last
Bethleham 1st Jany to
  12th april ’78		  81  25 122 11 Men at Shoe Factory. 2 attendg Sick & wounded Officers all the removed, by order of Dr shippey.
Allentown 10th March to
  14th april ’78		  53  10  14 no accot can be found of this Hospital before 10th March ’78 when Capt. Child came to it. the rest removed.
Reading 20th Sept. to
  16th april ’78		  32 132 902 367 Men, of those said to be discharged, were Sent to Lancaster County—and 22 had Furloughs.
Schefferstn1 Heidelburg 1st Jany to
  19th april ’78		  76   7 103 this is an accurate accot from the first Instito. of the Hospital
Three Churches. Warwick2 20th Jany to
  9th april 1778		  41  72 Removed 7th april. 2 Men Sent to Manheim
Liditz 1st Feby to
  20th april ’78		  39  83 142 the Accot of the first Docters cannot be found—this is a Convenient & pleasant place for an Hospital & is so near Lancaster that the Same Officer and Surgeons may attend both. that at Schefferstown & Ephraata should be removed to there both being very inconvenient
Lancaster 1st Jany to
  26th april 1778		 203  98 340 It is a qu[estio]n if those discharged from Liditz are not included in the 340 Men as they were Sent to Lancaster.
Ephraata. Dunkerstown 18th Decemr to
  26th april ’78		  34  57 168 An Inconvenient place for a Hospital.
571 615 1998

sir

I have ordered all those now in Hospital who will be fit for any Duty to be Sent to Camp as soon as they can March, which may be about one half. the rest are disabled by wounds & old Chronick Disorders, unfit for any other Service than the Invalid Corps. or to be discharged which many of them request, my feelings induces me to think, that not only Humanity & gratitude, but Justice Demands some retaliation to these unfortunate Sufferers from their Country, if they should prefer Spending the remains of a Miserable Life at home with their Friends.

I have brought the Names of all the Men in the above report with the Regiments they belong to, for your Excellency’s Inspection if Necessary, & from the earliest Date they can be obtained. & have ordered the Officers Commanding at each Hospital to make such Returns regularly, so as to be at the Adjutant Generals Office by the 25th Day of every Month hereafter, to which every Officer may have recourse before his Men are Mustered, & prevent the Inconveniencys & uncertainty hitherto Complained of.

Permit me to inform your Excelly that I think Lancaster (which includes Liditz as one Hospital) and princeton in Jersey the most Convenient & best Situated for fixed Hospitals, & that all the rest should immediately be removed to either of them, which will Save the public an amazing Expence, & furnish the Army with a Sufficient Number of good Surgeons.

The Hospitals in the Vicinity of the Camp, at Uchland, Yellow Springs & French Creek, are not included in the above Report, as they were founded since the 20th Decr last, when the Army came to the Valley Forge, they have none of the ⟨illegible⟩ of the old Hospitals prior to that Date—but Men continualy Sent to, & from the Camp which no carefull Officer can be at a loss to know, I will report them seperately when I receive a Return from Yellow Springs which was promised to be Sent me.3

The arms of the Sick in Lancaster County were delivered to Mr Henry, who I am informed is appointed Armourer General by Congress.4 those in the other Hospitals are very few. I have the Honour to be Your Excellencys most obt Hble servt

Lachn McIntosh

ALS, DNA: RG 93, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783.

1. The hospital at Schaefferstown, eight miles southeast of Lebanon, Pa., in what was then Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County, used the German Lutheran Church.

2. The hospital in Warwick Township, Lancaster County, made use of a Lutheran church at Brickerville, Pennsylvania.

3. The hospital in Uwchlan Township, Chester County, was established in the Quaker meetinghouse at the Red Lion Tavern (now Lionville). The hospital at French Creek, north of Yellow Springs in Chester County, used the Lutheran Zion Church (on Schuylkill Road in East Pikeland Township) and the German Reformed Church about a mile away (on Ridge Road in East Vincent Township). McIntosh signed another report as “Visiting Officer” on 27 April:

A Report of the Camp Hospitals. The 27th April 1778.
Hospitals In what Time Men
now in
Hospital		 Dead
&
Deserted		 Remarks. Notes, Men are continualy going to, and from Camp, & these Hospitals as there is occasion, therefore no accot can be had of the discharged.
Uchland, red Lyon From 20th Jany to
  27 april ’78		  61  27
Yellow Springs 26th Feby to
  27th april ’78		 182  58 the accots prior to 26th Feby cannot be found
French Creek Church 21st March to
  27th April ’78		  66  11 the accots before 21st March cannot be found. 31 discharg’d
In the Camp Hospitals 309  96
Yorktown  23 these are now Sick in York, exclusive of Colo. Hartleys Regimt Station’d there, who makes his own returns regularly.
Rheims Town 21st Jany to
  17th March		  19 this Hospital was broke up the 17th March last and the Men removed to Ephraatah.
He added that lists of the men in that report would “be Lodged in the Adjutt General’s Office . . . for the Inspection of the Officers” (DNA: RG 93, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783).

4. The Board of War had reported to Congress in a letter of 21 April that they had appointed William Henry of Lancaster “superintendent of arms and military accountrements,” and Congress confirmed the appointment on 23 April (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 10:380–81).

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    Washington Papers
    Title
    To George Washington from Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh, 26 April 1778
    Author
    McIntosh, Lachlan
    Recipient
    Washington, George
    Date
    26 April 1778

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To George Washington from Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh, 26 April 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-14-02-0580. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 14, 1 March 1778 – 30 April 1778, ed. David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004, pp. 651–654.]

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