Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution

Diary of
Ezra Green, M.D.
from November 1, 1777,
to September 27, 1778

The New York Times & Arno Press

Reprinted from a copy in The State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library

Reprint Edition 1971 by Arno Press Inc.

LC# 75-140867
ISBN 0-405-01190-3

Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution,
Series III
ISBN for complete set: 0-405-01187-3

Manufactured in the United States of America

Ezra Green
When 100 years old.

DIARY

OF

EZRA GREEN, M.D.,

SURGEON ON BOARD THE CONTINENTAL SHIP-OF-WAR "RANGER,"
UNDER JOHN PAUL JONES, FROM NOVEMBER 1, 1777,
TO SEPTEMBER 27, 1778.

BORN IN 1746; DIED IN 1847.

WITH HISTORICAL NOTES AND A BIOGRAPHY,

BY

COMMO. GEO. HENRY PREBLE, U.S.N.,

AND

WALTER C. GREEN.

Reprinted, with Additions, from the
Historical and Genealogical Register
for January and April, 1875.

BOSTON:
FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION.
1875.

David Clapp — Son, Printers,
334 Washington Street.

PREFATORY NOTE.

A few words may be necessary in respect to the Diary of my father, Dr. Ezra Green, which I am quite sure he never suspected would appear in print before the public eye.

When quite a lad I was, out of curiosity, rummaging over an upper chamber closet, where in promiscuous order were odd volumes,—school books, speeches, sermons, &c.,—when this unpretentious pamphlet turned up in marbled paper-cover. All the particulars of it I had heard my father frequently recount, and hence did not at that early age appreciate its value, and so I gave it to my cousin James D. Green, who, after preserving it with scrupulous care for more than sixty years, has deposited it in the library of the New-England Historic, Genealogical Society, together with important authentic remarks relative to his and my father's progenitors. There this Diary came under the eye of Commodore George Henry Preble, who requested my permission for its publication in the Historical and Genealogical Register, together with such facts as he might gather of my father's public life during five years service as surgeon in the army and navy during the American revolution. To this request I gave my willing assent, promising as a sequel thereto a memoir of his private life.

Walter C. Green.

Boston, Nov. 16, 1874.

BIOGRAPHY OF DR. EZRA GREEN.

I.

HIS PUBLIC CAREER.
By Commodore Geo. Henry Preble, U.S.N.

In June, 1775, the Sunday after the battle of Bunker Hill, Dr. Ezra Green, in the capacity of surgeon, joined the American army, then under the command of Gen. Artemas Ward, and was stationed with Reed's New-Hampshire regiment on Winter Hill in Charlestown. Here he received the smallpox by inoculation, and was secluded in the hospital at Fresh Pond, Cambridge, for seventeen days, returning to his regiment in camp on Winter Hill the 20th of March, 1776.

After the evacuation of Boston by the British, he left with our army for New-York, going by way of Providence, Norwich and New-London, where they embarked. Having remained in New-York a few weeks, they proceeded up the Hudson to Albany, thence by batteaux to Saratoga; landed, and marched to Lake George; remained about a fortnight; went down Lake George in batteaux, and stopped at Ticonderoga; thence proceeded by Lake Champlain to St. John's; thence to Montreal, and joined Arnold. There the army suffered greatly from sickness. Dr. Green was with the troops which occupied Mount Independence until December, when, on the advance of the British under Sir Guy Carleton, the American forces retreated to Ticonderoga.

The following letter, addressed to his friend Mr. Nath'l Cooper, at Dover, New-Hampshire, graphically describes the situation of the American army at that time.

Dr. Green remained with the troops which occupied Mount Independence until they left the position in December, when he returned to