and Frederick Ridgley at Watertown on April 3d "by order of the Director-General of the Continental Hospital." Warren swore under oath that on or about March 29 he had gone into the workhouse [almshouse] "lately improved as an hospital by the British troops stationed in said town" and upon examining the state of "a large quantity of Medicine" left in the medicinal storeroom had found about 12 or 14 pounds of arsenic intermixed with the drugs, which were found "to be chiefly capital articles and those most generally in demand."[34]

Despite this incident, we have the word of Morgan that "a large, though unassorted stock of medicines" was collected in Boston when the British evacuated.[35] Hospital Surgeons Ebenezer Crosby and Frederick Ridgley reported that "at the evacuation of Boston ... all the Mates of the Hospital that could be spared from Cambridge ... were employed in packing up and sending off [to Cambridge] drugs, medicines and other hospital stores, collected by order of Dr. Morgan, the quantity of which appeared great."[36]

Inasmuch as few medicines were listed in the inventory of stores left by the British on the wharfs and in the scuttled ships in the harbor,[37] it appears that most of these drugs obtained in Boston were confiscated from the homes, offices, and shops of the Loyalists who fled when the British evacuated. Morgan reported that he had taken possession of the medicines and furniture of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner's shop, and a small stock of drugs from the office of Dr. William Perkins, a private practitioner.[38] No inventory of these supplies has been located thus far, but a contemporary biographer of Sylvester Gardiner records that the confiscated drugs from his shop "filled from 20 to 25 wagons."[39] This is not unlikely because Gardiner's apothecary shop was one of the largest and most prosperous in the Colonies prior to the Revolution.[40]

Soon after the British evacuated Boston, the Greenleaf apothecary shop in Boston was again supplying medicines to the Continental Army. The Greenleaf ledger[41] shows that on May 25 the shop sold nearly £4 worth of "Sundry Medicines ... [to] the Committee of War, State of Massachusetts Bay." Then, on June 20, the Massachusetts Assembly resolved that "Dr. John Greenleaf of Boston be requested to supply the Chief Surgeon of ... Colonels Marshall's, Whitney's and Craft's Regiments ... with medicines as may be necessary...."[42] A short time later the Assembly advanced "up to £50 to Greenleaf for purchasing such medicines as he cannot supply from his own store."[43]

The Greenleaf ledger shows that over £32 worth of medicines were sold for Colonel Whitney's regiment and over £36 worth for Colonel Marshall's regiment between June 13 and November 20, 1776. Thus, drugs were available; but until the fall of '76, Greenleaf was having difficulty in obtaining an abundant supply.

From Bad to Worse

General Washington, correctly foretelling that New York City would be the next British objective, marched there from Boston with as much of his army as could be induced to stay under the colors. Had it not been for the presence of Washington's forces in New York, that colony would certainly have remained Loyalist; as it was, the Patriot committees had the greatest difficulty in keeping the Tories quiet by strong-arm methods.[44]

The availability of drugs in New York prior to the arrival of Washington's forces did not seem to be particularly affected by the war. Thomas Attwood "at his store in Dock-Street" offered for sale a wide assortment of drugs and medicines,[45] while William Stewart offered "a fresh supply of Genuine Drugs and Medicines ... on the most reasonable terms either for cash or at the usual credit."[46] The citizens of New York did not even have to do without their popular English patent medicines.[47]

Washington, however, had to provide for his own medical supplies in New York. In a letter dated April 3 he ordered Director General Morgan to remove the general hospital to New York with "all convenient speed...."[48] The fixing and completing of the regimental chests was to be deferred until Morgan arrived at New York.

Morgan remained behind in Boston for another six weeks collecting medicines, furniture, and hospital stores worth thousands of pounds. "The like quantity ... could not be procured," so Morgan later claimed, "in any [other] part of America." He was also able to purchase drugs from Salem, Newport, and Norwich, and before departing for New York he completed a medicine chest for each of the five regiments at Boston, Salem, and Marblehead, as ordered by Washington.[49]

Morgan arrived in New York about June 3 and purchased some additional drugs there. By June 17 his staff had made up 30 medicine chests for the regiments at New York as well as for "the branches of the General Hospital at New-York, in the bowry and neighborhood and at Long-Island." But the number of regiments requiring medical supplies exceeded Morgan's expectations, particularly since he had