THE OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SURGEON-GENERAL WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, U.S.A., AND THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE ARMY, RELATIVE TO THE FOUNDING OF THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM, AND THE INAUGURATION OF THE MEDICAL AND SURGICAL HISTORY OF THE WAR. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 8, and 5 BOND STREET. 1883. When the General Order issued from the Adjutant-General's office, headquarters of the army, announcing the death of Surgeon-General Joseph K. Barnes, was published in the newspapers of the day, I ob- served that it contained erroneous statements relative to his connec- tion with the Army Medical Museum and Medical History of the War. I therefore addressed the following letter to the Adjutant-General : 43 West 54th Street, New York, April 13, 1883. General : I have the honor to request a copy of the General Order issued from your office, relative to the death of Surgeon-General Joseph K. Barnes. I am, General, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, William A. Hammond, Surgeon-General U. S. A. (retired). Brigadier-General R. 0. Drum, Adjutant-General U. 8. A. K To this letter the following answer was returned : ' War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, April 17, 1883. General W. A. Hammond, U. S. Army (retired), New York City. General: Agreeably with your request of the 13th, I inclose herewith a copy of the order announcing the death of Surgeon-General Barnes. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, R. 0. Drum, Adjutant- General. In the order inclosed to me, I found it stated in regard to the de- ceased Surgeon-General : "He inaugurated the Medical History of the War ; he founded the Medical Museum." As these statements were incorrect, I wrote the following letter to the Adjutant-General : 43 West 54th Street, New York, April 23, 1883. General: I have the honor to thank you for the copy of General Orders No. 22, dated headquarters of the Army, Adjutant-General's office, April 5, 1883, an- 4 nouncing the death of Surgeon-General Joseph K. Barnes, sent to me in accord- ance with the request expressed in my letter of the 13th inst. In that order I find it stated that "he [Surgeon-General Barnes] inaugurated the Medical History of the War; he founded the Army Medical Museum." When I saw these statements published in the newspapers and in the medical journals, as being contained in a general order, issued from the office of the Ad- jutant-General of the Army, I could scarcely believe that they had been so made. I did not suppose that any one in the army or out of it questioned the facts that both these important works were entirely conceived and inaugurated by me, and that they were in full and successful operation when Surgeon-General Barnes was appointed to the charge of the bureau. I am quite sure that he never made any claim for himself on these points. On the contrary, I know very wrell (and as I shall presently show by quotations from the publications of his office) that he awarded to me whatever credit attaches to them. I can only believe, therefore, that the statements in the General Order referred to were made inadvertently, and without due inquiry, or upon erroneous information, or without mature considera- tion of the purport of the language employed. From my stand-point it appears to be a work of supererogation to offer evi- dence of the correctness of what I have said; but, since the publication of the order in question, I have no right to assume that you are as well acquainted with the circumstances of the case as I am myself. Besides, I am anxious to construct a complete basis for the request I am about to prefer. I have, therefore, to invite your attention to certain facts which go to establish a claim which, till now, I had not imagined was disputed in any quarter: I. Army Medical Museum. In circular No. 2, issued from the Surgeon-General's office, May 21, 1862, you will find the following paragraph : " As it is proposed to establish in Washington an Army Medical Museum, medi- cal officers are directed diligently to collect and to forward to the office of the Sur- geon-General all specimens of morbid anatomy, surgical or medical, w7hich may be regarded as valuable, together with projectiles and foreign bodies removed, and such other matters as may prove of interest in the study of military medicine or surgery. These objects should be accompanied by short explanatory notes. Each specimen in the collection will have appended the name of the medical officer by whom it was prepared. William A. Hammond, " Surgeon- General.''' In regard to this order, it is stated in the book "entitled " The Medical Depart- ment of the United States Army, compiled under the direction of the Surgeon- Gen- eral [Barnes], hy Haney E. Brown, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army, Washington, D. 0., Surgeon-General's Office, 1873," p. 225, that "very soon after his appoint- ment, Surgeon-General Hammond saw the great advantage that would accrue to the cause of scientific medicine and surgery by rendering the enormous experience of the war available for future study. Hardly ever in the history of the world had such an opportunity been offered for the collection of statistics upon all points of military medicine, surgery, and hygiene, and of obtaining specimens illustrative of pathological anatomy. It was therefore determined to commence such a collec- tion in Washington, and the initiatory steps were taken by the promulgation of the following circular." 5 Dr. Brown then cites the circular of May 21, 1862, from -which I have just quoted. To the charge of this museum Surgeon J. H. Brinton, now Professor of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, was assigned as curator. Under his care it grew rapidly, and a catalogue describing several thousand specimens was prepared by him, and published by my direction. A large building was put in order to receive it, and it had already gained the commendation of the medical profession, both at home and abroad. In my report for 1862 to the Secretary of War, I made many suggestions in re- gard to increasing the efficiency of the corps, and among others the following: " Considerable progress has been made in the establishment of an Army Medi- cal Museum. The advantages to the service and to science from such an institu- tion can not be overestimated. I respectfully recommend that a small annual appropriation be made for its benefit." I have not access to the official records, but I am quite sure that several appro- priations were made, in accordance with this suggestion. That you may see that this matter was not a subject of dispute seventeen years ago, I subjoin the following extract from the " History of the United States Sani- tary Commission," by Dr. Charles J. Stille, late Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, published in 1866 (p. 449): "He [Surgeon-General Hammond] instituted at Washington an Army Medical Museum, in which was collected and arranged a vast number of specimens from the different hospitals, illustrating the nature of the peculiar disorders to which soldiers are liable, and the character of the wounds which are inflicted by the new missiles of war." It would be very easy to adduce many other contemporaneous statements to a like effect from the medical journals of this country and of Europe, but the foregoing will doubtless be sufficient to convince you that the statement in General Orders No. 22, in regard to the founding of the Army Medical Museum, is an error calculated to do me very great injustice. II. The Medical and Surgical History of the Rebellion. In a circular issued from the Surgeon-General's office, June 9, 1862, I an- nounced to the medical corps of the army the intention to prepare a medical and surgical history of the rebellion, and invited their co-operation in the undertaking. To the surgical division of this work I assigned Surgeon J. H. Brinton, United States Volunteers, and to the medical division Assistant-Surgeon J. J. Woodward, United States Army. I have no copy of this circular, but it is doubtless on file in the bureau in Washington. I have, however, to make the following references to it and others on the subject. In my report for 1862 to the Secretary of War, I said: " Soon after my appointment I issued circulars to medical officers, inviting them to co-operate in furnishing materials for a medical and surgical history of 'the re- bellion. A large number of memoirs and reports of general interest to science and military surgery especially have been collected, and are now being systematically arranged. The greatest interest in this labor is felt by medical officers of the army, and by physicians at large." 6 in the preface to " Outlines of the Chief Camp Diseases of the United States Army, as observed during the Present War," by Assistant-Surgeon Woodward, and published with my sanction, before Dr. Barnes became Surgeon-General, I find this statement: ยป 11 Engaged for many months in the laborious duty of preparing for the medical department the medical history of the rebellion," etc. In a prefatory note, signed by Surgeon-General Barnes, to the first volume of " The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion," is the following statement: "War Department, Surgeon-General's Office, November 12, 1870. " In the first year of the war, it became evident that the forms of returns of sick and wounded then in use were insufficient and defective, and on May 21, 1862, measures were taken by the then Surgeon-General of the Army, William A. Ham- mond, to secure more detailed and exact reports of sick and wounded, by impor- tant modifications in the returns from medical officers. On June 9, 1862, the in- tention to prepare for publication a medical and surgical history of the rebellion was announced to the medical staff in a circular from the Surgeon-General's office. On July 1, 1862, a consolidated statement of gunshot-wounds, by Surgeon J. H. Brinton, then in charge of the surgical records, and Curator of the Army Medical Museum, and, on September 8, 1863, ' A Report on Sickness and Mortality of the Army, during the First Year of the War,' prepared by Assistant-Surgeon J. J. Woodward, United States Army, in charge of the medical records, were published by this office." Although it is not so stated, it is scarcely necessary to say that all the acts re- ferred to in the foregoing extract were performed during my administration of the bureau.* You will also see that distinct reference is made to an Army Medi- cal Museum, with a curator, as being in existence on July 1, 1862. Finally, I have to ask your attention to the following extract from a "Report of the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate of the United States," made to that body on February 19, 1878, by its chairman : " Your committee deem it proper to call attention to the facts shown by the rec- ord that Dr. Hammond organized and founded the Army Medical Museum in the city of Washington, an institution universally admitted to be one of the proudest scientific monuments of any age or country. He was also the projector of the Government publication known as 'The Medical and Surgical History of the Re- bellion,' a work highly prized and eagerly sought for by the medical profession of all countries." The foregoing will doubtless be sufficient for the purpose I have in view. The order in question has been largely circulated, and the statements referred to have excited a great deal of surprise. There are few things in my professional career in which I take more pride than that the ideas of the Army Medical Museum and of the Medical and Surgical History of the Rebellion were con- ceived by me, and that both were in successful operation when Dr. Barnes suc- ceeded to the office of Surgeon-General. All that he had to do was to continue * Dr. Barnes was appointed acting Surgeon-General September 3, 1863, during my ab- sence on a tour of inspection. The report of Dr. Woodward, though issued on the 8th, was prepared before the 3d, and by my direction. . 7 works of which he found the machinery and personnel ready prepared for his hands. That he did this well I would be the List to deny. In view of these facts, it appears to me (and I am very certain that you will see the matter in a similar light) that the statements which I have shown to be erroneous should be rectified in the same way in which they were made, and that nothing short of this would be the full measure of justice to which I am entitled. I have, therefore, respectfully to request that a general order may be issued from your office embodying the necessary corrections, and that the same degree of pub- licity be given to it as to the order in which the erroneous statements in question appeared. I ask this not only on my own account, but in behalf of the large number of intelligent and accomplished medical officers who by their efficient aid did good service in the inauguration of the museum and the history. I am, General, Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, William A. Hammond, Brigadier-General R. 0. Drum, Surgeon- General U. S. Army (retired list). Adjutant-General U. S. Army, To this letter the following answer was received : War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, April 27, 1883. Brigadier-General William A. Hammond, U. S. Army (retired), 43 West 54th Street, New York City. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d inst., and to inform you that General Orders No. 22, Adjutant-General's office, April 5, 1883, has been recalled and amended. A copy of the amended order will be sent to you. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, R. 0. Drum, Adjutant- General. A few days afterward I received from the Adjutant-General's office a copy of the corrected order, in which the following words are substi- tuted for those in the original order, against which I had protested : "Under the fostering care of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, he accomplished the successful establishment of the Medical History of the War and the Medical Museum." I then wrote the following letter : 43 West 54th Street, New York, May 7, 1883. General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communica- tion of the 27th ult., informing me that General Orders No. 22, War Department, Adjutant-General's office, April 5, 1883, had been recalled and amended, and that a copy of the amended order would be sent to me. I have also to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the amended order. I desire to express my thanks for the action taken in the case to which I requested your attention. Using the word "accomplished" in its primary signification of "completed," I 8 think it exactly describes the part taken by the late Surgeon-General of the Army in the work connected with the Army Medical Museum and the Medical and Surgical History of the War. He " completed " their successful establishment. I am, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, William A. Hammond, Surgeon-General U. S. Army'(re>tjrfA list). Brigadier-General R. C. Drum, Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. History is very frequently made by the passive acceptance of errone- ous statements. The Adjutant-General's Office of the War Department is the highest official source for most of the knowledge of military affairs that goes to constitute history. The order against which I con- sidered it my duty to protest would, if uncontradicted, have gone on the files not only of the office at Washington, but of every garrison, regiment, and hospital of the army, and in the course of a few years would have become an undisputed authority. As it is, nearly every prominent newspaper and medical journal has aided in its circulation. That very few of these would, under ordinary circumstances, see the corrected copy, is not a matter of doubt. Under these circumstances, I have thought it proper to place the official correspondence in regard to the matter before the medical pro- fession and the general public. WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, Surgeon-General U. S. Army (retired list). Note.-Since the foregoing was written, I have obtained a copy of the circular inaugu- rating the Medical and Surgical History of the War, and I append it, as follows: Surgeon-General's Office, Washington, June 9,1862. It is intended to prepare for publication '' The Medical and Surgical History of the Re- bellion." The medical portion of this work has been committed to Assistant-Surgeon J. J. Wood- ward, United States Army, and the surgical part to Brigade-Surgeon John II. Brinton, United States Volunteers. All medical officers are therefore requested to co-operate in this undertaking by forward- ing to this office such sanitary, topographical, medical, and surgical reports, details of cases, essays, and results of investigations and inquiries, as may be of value for this work, for which full credit will be given in the forthcoming volumes. Authority has been given to both the above-named gentlemen to issue from time to time such circulars as may be necessary to elicit the desired facts, and the medical officers are desired to comply with the requests which may thus be made of them. It is scarcely necessary to remind the medical officers of the regular and volunteer ser- vices that through the means in question much may be done to advance the science which we all have so much at heart, and to establish landmarks which will guide us in future. It is therefore confidently expected that no one will neglect the opportunity of advancing the honor of the service, the cause of humanity, and his own reputation. William A. Hammond, Surgeon-General U. S. Army.