Diary of Dr. Alfred L. Castleman, August 26, 1861

I was visited by my Colonel to-day. He introduced the subject of reducing my hospital force. I was extra-polite, and replied that I had not the slightest objection, provided it was done with the understanding that it would shift the responsibility of the care of the sick from my shoulders to those of others. The subject was dropped, and will hardly be renewed. The jealousy existing in the military towards the medical department of the army astounds me. The military commanders claiming that the medical have no authority except through them, has driven the medical officers to assume the other extreme, and claim that they are the only officers in the army who are really independent of command. This quarrel is often bitter, and makes not only themselves uncomfortably captious, but subjects the sick and wounded to suffering whilst these settle their unnecessary quarrels.

SOURCE: Alfred L. Castleman, The Army of the Potomac. Behind the Scenes. A Diary of Unwritten History; From the Organization of the Army, by General George B. McClellan, to the close of the Campaign in Virginia about the First Day January, 1863, p. 19

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne, September 11, 1862

We heard heavy firing this morning, from the direction of the city, which we at first thought must be fighting going on there, but which we afterwards learned was practice for the gunners at Fort Henry, and on the gunboats, both of which lie somewhere off in that direction. We kept on cleaning up our camp ground to-day and it begins to look real nice. A running vine, which was all over the ground, has poisoned a great many, although some that handled it the most did not get any. Philip Allen's face looks like a bladder. The doctor has fixed up a wash that he says will soon cure it. We had just about enough to do to-day to give us a good appetite. A storm is brewing, and we are wondering what it will do to us with only a strip of muslin to keep it off.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, p. 24

Thomas H. Clay, June 16, 1852

My father is to-day decidedly worse than he has been since my arrival. I wrote to Mr. Theobald this morning that there was but little or no change in his condition; since then, I am satisfied he is worse. He has had a copious perspiration, which has greatly weakened him. The attending physician, Dr. Hall, rubbed him all over the person with brandy and alum. He told me this morning that he did not think he should last more than ten days.

I have been constant in my attendance on him. I think I can see a marked change in his countenance.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 635

Senator John C. Calhoun to Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson, April 10, 1849

Fort Hill 10th April 1849

MY DEAR DAUGHTER, I had a safe and pleasant journey home. The weather was pleasant and Spring was rapidly advancing. The Jessamine and Dogwood were in bloom, and the forest had just commenced clo[th]ing itself with green. The contrast was great between being pent up in a boarding house in Washington and breathing the pure fresh air of the country, made fragrant by the blossoms of Spring.

Patrick accompanied me to your Uncle James, where we met your Mother and Sister. They, with your Uncle, were well. I remained there four days, when we took our departure for Fort Hill, leaving Patrick with his Uncle. We found all well on our arrival, and the place in good order and business forward, considering that the measles had passed through the negro quarter during the winter, and that none, but a few had escaped, but with the loss of only one, an infant of a constitution too feeble to survive the attack. I shall finish planting cotton today, and the whole of my crop this week. The small grain looks well, and the place bears the appearance of good order.

We have no local news, in which you would take interest.

John returned from Milledge Ville by the last Stage but one. He looks well and I think his health is much improved by the Water cure. His cough is much better. He is quite a convert to the system. I advise him to visit the establishment at Brattleborough in Vermont, both to complete his cure and perfect himself in the practise. He says, that Gen' McDuffie has improved wonderfully under the process. He is entirely relieved from the Dyspepsia and his nervous affections, and has recovered the free use of his arms, is cheerful, sleeps well, and eats heartily. With the exception of his paralized leg [he] may be said to be well.

I have for some time believed, that the process, carried to a certain extent, would be of service to me; and have determined, under John's superintendence, to make a trial. I began this morning with what is called the wet sheet, or rather the damp sheet, which in effect is no more nor less, than a safe and efficient form of the vapour bath. I remained wrapt round with the sheet, and covered with 8 or 9 blankets for 11⁄2 hours, and ended in a warm bath, and an effectual rubbing dry. The process was soothing and pleasant. It has cleansed the skin effectually, and I doubt not, done much to open the pores-the one thing, in my opinion, needful to me. I shall persist in it until I give it a fair trial; and if I find it as beneficial as I expect, I shall fix up a complete bathing establishment. I am pleased with the first essay; and I hope it will prove a substitute for brandy tody and hot punch. They have, I doubt not done me good; but, I think, the water cure will do me still more.

All join their love to you, Mr Clemson and the Children. Kiss them for their Grandfather and tell them how much I miss them.

[P. S] You see I substitute a C for an M in your name. I hope you will adopt the change.¹

_______________

¹ The letter is addressed "Mrs. A. C. Clemson" instead of, as in previous letters, "Mrs. A. M. Clemson."

SOURCE: J. Franklin Jameson, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1899, Volume II, Calhoun’s Correspondence: Fourth Annual Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Correspondence of John C. Calhoun, p. 763-4

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: October 2, 1864

Coming cool weather and it braces me right up. Sailors are going away to be exchanged. Ate some sweet potato to-day, and it beats everything how I am gaining. Drink lots of gruel, and the more I drink the more I want. Have vinegar and salt and water mixed together given me, also whiskey, and every little while I am taking something, either food or medicine, and the more I take the more I want. Am just crazy for anything, no matter what. Could eat a mule's ear. Eat rice and vegetable soup. All the talk that I hear is to the effect that the war is most over. Don't want to be disturbed at all until I am well, which will not be very long now. All say if I don't eat too much will soon be well. Mike lives high. Is an ingenious fellow and contrives to get many good things to eat. Gives me anything that he thinks won't hurt me. Setting up in my bunk. Have washed all over and feel fifty per cent, better. Just a jumping toward convalescence.

SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p. 99-100

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: September 17, 1864

Four in each tent. A nurse raises me up, sitting posture, and there I stay for hours, dozing and talking away. Whiskey given us in very small quantities, probably half a teaspoonful in half a glass of something, I don't know what. Actually makes me drunk. I am in no pain whatever.

SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p. 95

In the Review Queue: Civil War Pharmacy

Civil War Pharmacy: A History, 2nd Edition

By Michael A. Flannery

When the Civil War began, the U.S. pharmaceutical industry was concentrated almost exclusively in Philadelphia and was dominated by just a few major firms; when the war ended, it was poised to expand nationwide. Civil War Pharmacy is the first book to delineate how the growing field of pharmacy gained respect and traction in, and even distinction from, the medical world because of the large-scale manufacture and dispersion of drug supplies and therapeutics during the Civil War. In this second edition, Flannery captures the full societal involvement in drug provision, on both the Union and Confederate sides, and places it within the context of what was then assumed about health and healing. He examines the roles of physicians, hospital stewards, and nurses—both male and female—and analyzes how the blockade of Southern ports meant fewer pharmaceutical supplies were available for Confederate soldiers, resulting in reduced Confederate troop strength. Flannery provides a thorough overview of the professional, economic, and military factors comprising pharmacy from 1861 to 1865 and includes the long-term consequences of the war for the pharmaceutical profession.

Winner (first edition), Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences, Best Book Award.

About the Author

Michael A. Flannery, professor emeritus of UAB Libraries, University of Alabama at Birmingham, has written, cowritten, or coedited six books. He is the recipient of the Kremers Award, which honors excellence in the history of pharmacy by an American, and continues to teach for the Honors College at UAB.

ISBN 978-0809335923, Southern Illinois University Press, Second Edition © 2017, Paperback, 336 pages, Graphs, Tables, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliographical Essay, Appendices (available online only and are accessible through QR Codes which are scattered throughout the book) & Index. $34.50. To purchase this book click HERE.

Diary of Sergeant Major Luman Harris Tenney: March 2, 1863

Helped about the meat and bread. My back gets worse. Mason has given me some liniment which he warrants sure cure. Invited to Mr. Rice's. Charles, Tully, and Theodore went. M. and I couldn't. Commenced a letter to Fannie Andrews and wrote a short letter to Fred.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 58

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: January 24, 1864

We are all troubled with heart-burn, sour stomach, &c. Drink weak lye made from ashes for it. Every day some new ones come inside, but they know nothing as to the prospects of our being exchanged. All are considerably surprised to find themselves in quite so bad a place, and the subject of prison life begins to interest them. Good deal of gambling going on among prisoners. Chuck-a-luck is the favorite game. You lay your ration of bread down on a figure on a board, and a fellow with a dice-box shakes it up a little, throws out the dice, and your bread is gone Don't understand the game myself. That's all I ever saw of the game. Lay down the bread and it's gone. Rather a one sided affair. Some men are very filthy, which makes it disagreeable for those of more cleanly habits. I believe that many, very many, who now die, would live if they adopted the rules that our mess has, and lived up to them. It is the only way to get along.

SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p. 26-7

Diary of Sergeant Major Luman Harris Tenney: Saturday, November 22, 1862

Took a blue pill and three quinine powders during the day. Kept very quiet. Went to bed early and rested well. Still did my usual duties. Letter from home.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 44

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Monday, August 8, 1864

Letter to General Lee goes this morning, probably. Another wretched, painful, weary day. Mustard poultice on bowels this morn. Never passed such a horrible night as last; awake all night, passing blood freely. The doctor couldn't know anything about his business, and doesn't care. Keeps giving me pills. Bought pint of brandy, $25; miserable stuff. Apple brandy, tastes like burning-fluid.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 123-4

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Sunday, August 7, 1864

Beautiful Sabbath morning, 11 A. M. I wonder if they are at church now at home. It must have been an anxious week for them, but they don't dream of what I have been suffering, fortunately for them. Doctor gives me some new pills; my liver is deranged. Read Moore; wish I had my little Church Service here, I could be reading the same lesson that Agnes is this morning. Hattie's birth-day, I believe. I should like to be at home to-day. Began to carve out a pipe yesterday.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 123

William Cullen Bryant to Dr. Dewey, August 17, 1862

August 17, 1862

 . . . I must answer your letter a little. Neither you nor I understand war nor medicine ; but of medicine we know enough not to employ a physician who regularly doses all his patients, nor one who proposes to cure an inflammation of the bowels by poulticing the little finger, I judge of the merits of military men in the same way. Again, I have a right to choose between the opinions of men well acquainted with the military art, and I know that officers of great merit hold that McClellan has mismanaged the campaign throughout. Pope, one of the most successful of them, does so. (I know this;) so does Wadsworth; so does General Hitchcock, a veteran officer personally kind toward McClellan, and disposed to judge him candidly (I speak from personal knowledge); so also, I have reason to believe, do hundreds of other officers.

What the “Evening Post” has said in regard to the course taken by the Government I said in still stronger terms to Mr. Lincoln himself ten days since, when I went to Washington for the purpose. With me was Mr. K—, a millionaire (or millionary — which?) of this city, who said to him that unless the war was prosecuted with greater energy — far greater — and the confiscation and emancipation act carried into vigorous execution, not sixty days would elapse before the Government securities would be so depressed that the administration would not have a dollar to carry on the war.

Mr. Lincoln knows that McClellan is wanting in some of the necessary qualities of a general officer. He said to Mr. Field: “McClellan is one of the most accomplished officers in all the army. No man organizes or prepares an army better, but when the time for action comes he is greatly deficient.”

As to emancipation, I have none of the fears which you entertain, and the conduct of the blacks already freed — more than fifty thousand of them — convinces me that there is no ground for them. Their peaceful and docile behavior assures me that we have neither “wild disorder nor massacre to dread.” The rebellion has buried its roots so firmly into the social system of the South that they must both be pulled up together.

You anticipate a bad effect upon the recruiting service from such criticisms on the conduct of the Government as the “Evening Post” had thought it necessary to make. The mischief was done before the “Evening Post” began to criticise. A gloomy and discouraged feeling prevailed, throughout this city and this State at least, which seemed to make the raising of the necessary number of volunteers hopeless. The only remedy that the case seemed to admit was the adoption by the press and by public speakers of a more vigorous style of animadversion on the conduct of the war, and the representations of disinterested persons made personally to the President. Mayor Opdyke, William Curtis Noyes, Dr. Charles King, and many others, singly or in pairs, have visited Washington for this purpose. There is not one of these men to whom such conclusions as you have reached would not be matter of exceeding surprise. They have all regarded the cause of the Union as drifting to ruin if instant and powerful means were not applied to give things a new direction. I believe their representations, and the language held in public meetings, and to some degree also the comments of the press, have had a certain effect. I hear this morning that it was Pope who recommended Halleek to the President as a fit person to force McClellan into action, and to push on the war with vigor. Other proceedings of the administration within a few days give token that it is waking to a sense of the danger we are in from causes very much like those of which you speak.

I have written thus largely because I had some things to say which I cannot print. If I could, I would have received your rebuke without a reply.

SOURCE: Parke Godwin, A Biography of William Cullen Bryant, Volume 1, p. 176-8

Diary of Sarah Morgan: Thursday, January 22, 1863

What a rush of visitors last night! One would imagine they had all come by appointment, expressly to have an impromptu dance, which they certainly enjoyed, by the way. There was little Captain C––, the Susceptible and Simple, who so innocently says “I seen” and “I done it,” without the faintest suspicion of the peculiarity, and looks so sweet, and guileless, and amiable, and soft, that I can't help wondering if he would be sticky if I touch him. Indeed, I think his hands stick, at least; for when he told me good-bye, it was with the greatest difficulty that I extracted mine from his grasp (he having forgotten to return it during a long farewell address), and even when I succeeded in recovering it, by being almost rude, it was not released without a very sensible pressure from the putty, or whatever it is that is so tenacious. I am afraid it is rather a habit of his, which has lost all force or meaning by being too frequently repeated. Then there was a horrid little wretch, vulgar and underbred (to my idea), to whom I was introduced as Mr. G–– . . . . But here is Lieutenant Dupré, whom I have not yet introduced, though we have met before. Tall, good-looking, a fine form, and not a sparkling face, I am inclined to believe that his chief merit lies in his legs. Certainly when he dances he puts his best foot forward, and knows it, too. Miriam, who adores dancing, is flirting openly with this divinity of the “Deux Temps” and polka, and skims around with his arm about her (position sanctified by the lively air Lydia is dashing off on the piano) with a grace and lightness only equaled by his own. And Lieutenant Duggan, with his good, honest, clever face which so unmistakably proclaims him “Tom,” we know already, so no further description is needed. Captain Fenner, too, is well known, with his short, though graceful figure, his good-humored, intelligent face, irresistible imperial, and that roguish expression about that large mouth which displays such handsome teeth, and seems to say, “Don't trust me too far.”

Little Captain C–– tells me a long story about how Colonel Steadman had come to him and asked if he believed it possible that Miss Morgan had put her life and happiness in the hands of a homoeopathic physician; how he considered her fate sealed; and what a shame it was to trifle with such a sad affair, at my age, too, ruined for life! It was dreadful! Too sad! Hereupon, as continuing the story, he remarks that being asked his opinion by the Colonel, he agreed perfectly and thought with him it was an appalling sacrifice, and oh, all sorts of things! Anything, just to make me miserable and unhappy!

Well, what is written will come to pass. First comes a doctor with a butchering apparatus who cups and bleeds me unmercifully, says I’ll walk ten days after, and exit. Enter another. Croton oil and strychnine pills, that’ll set me up in two weeks. And exit. Enter a third. Sounds my bones and pinches them from my head to my heels. Tells of the probability of a splinter of bone knocked off my left hip, the possibility of paralysis in the leg, the certainty of a seriously injured spine, and the necessity for the most violent counter-irritants. Follow blisters which sicken even disinterested people to look at, and a trifle of suffering which I come very near acknowledging to myself. Enter the fourth. Inhuman butchery! wonder they did not kill you! Take three drops a day out of this tiny bottle, and presto! in two weeks you are walking! A fifth, in the character of a friend, says, “My dear young lady, if you do, your case is hopeless.” What wonder that I am puzzled? A wiser head would be confused. I want to believe all, but how is it possible? “What will be, will be.”

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Bon! here comes a note from Mr. Halsey! Ah ça! Lend him “Zaidee”? Certainly! Here is a postscript three times the length of the note; voyons. Will Miss Sarah make the annotations he requested, in “Kate Coventry”? He is anxious to have the lady's opinion on the questions of taste and propriety which so frequently occur in the book. ... I'1l not attempt such a display; yet there are several passages I am dying to mark. One in particular, speaking of the peculiarities of men, of how they are always more at ease when they have their hands employed, drawing confidence and conversation from a paper-knife and book to tumble, a pair of scissors and a thread to snip, or even from imbibing the head of a cane, I am anxious to call his attention to. If I dared add to the list, “or a cord and tassel to play with”! This nervous Mr. Halsey is wearing out my pretty blue tassel that Frank admires so much; he says he can talk better when he dangles it. Think the hint might save it in the future!

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 312-6

Diary of Sarah Morgan: November 16, 1862

I was interrupted yesterday morning by Mrs. Badger, who wished to apply a few dry cups to my back, to which I quietly submitted, and was unable to move afterwards without pain, as a reward for my patience. But towards sunset came two dear letters that made me forget what I had suffered, one from George, and one from Jimmy, dated Bermudas. For the first time I know what my dear little brother suffered during those long months when we could not hear if he were dead or alive. He kept the secret until he no longer needed either friends or money; and now he tells it with a simplicity that made me cry fit to break my heart when I was left alone in the twilight with no one to see. . . .  George comforts me with hopes of Peace, and a speedy return. If it could only be! . . .

This morning the boom of Yankee guns reached my ears; a sound I had hoped never to hear again. It is only those poor devils (I can afford to pity them in their fallen state) banging away at some treasonable sugar-houses that are disobedient enough to grind cane on the other side of the river. I hear that one is at Mrs. Cain's. The sound made my heart throb. What if the fight should come off before I can walk? It takes three people to raise me whenever it is necessary for me to move; I am worse than helpless.

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 288-9

Diary of Sarah Morgan: Saturday, November 15, 1862

I think I grow no better rapidly. Fortunately on Wednesday night they succeeded in turning me over; for my poor elbows, having lost all their skin, were completely used up. Now, if I go slowly and carefully, I can turn myself at the cost of some little suffering. . . .

Yesterday Colonel Steadman, of the First Alabama, called with his father. He sent me many messages of condolence, and the rather unpleasant advice to be cupped and scarified. His profession was that of a physician before he became colonel. His surgeon, whose name is Madding, told him he was satisfied that I was seriously injured, though I had not complained. The Colonel is the same who called when we were in Clinton. They readily accepted our invitation to dinner, and remained until late in the afternoon, when Captain Bradford came in. More messages of condolence and sympathy upstairs, which produced no visible effect on my spine, though very comforting to the spirit.

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 288

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 15, 1865

Lawrence says Miss Chesnut is very proud of the presence of mind and cool self-possession she showed in the face of the enemy. She lost, after all, only two bottles of champagne, two of her brother's gold-headed canes, and her brother's horses, including Claudia, the brood mare, that he valued beyond price, and her own carriage, and a fly-brush boy called Battis, whose occupation in life was to stand behind the table with his peacock feathers and brush the flies away. He was the sole member of his dusky race at Mulberry who deserted “Ole Marster” to follow the Yankees.

Now for our losses at the Hermitage. Added to the gold-headed canes, and Claudia, we lost every mule and horse, and President Davis's beautiful Arabian was captured. John's were there, too. My light dragoon, Johnny, and heavy swell, is stripped light enough for the fight now. Jonathan, whom we trusted, betrayed us; and the plantation and mills, Mulberry house, etc., were saved by Claiborne, that black rascal, who was suspected by all the world. Claiborne boldly affirmed that Mr. Chesnut would not be hurt by destroying his place; the invaders would hurt only the negroes. “Mars Jeems," said he, "hardly ever come here and he takes only a little sompen nur to eat when he do come.'”

Fever continuing, I sent for St. Julien Ravenel. We had a wrangle over the slavery question. Then, he fell foul of everybody who had not conducted this war according to his ideas. Ellen had something nice to offer him (thanks to the ever-bountiful Childs!), but he was too angry, too anxious, too miserable to eat. He pitched into Ellen after he had disposed of me. Ellen stood glaring at him from the fireplace, her blue eye nearly white, her other eye blazing as a comet. Last Sunday, he gave her some Dover's powders for me; directions were written on the paper in which the medicine was wrapped, and he told her to show these to me, then to put what I should give her into a wine-glass and let me drink it. Ellen put it all into the wine-glass and let me drink it at one dose. “It was enough to last you your lifetime,” he said. “It was murder.” Turning to Ellen: “What did you do with the directions?” "I nuwer see no d'rections. You nuwer gimme none.” “I told you to show that paper to your mistress.” “Well, I flung dat ole brown paper in de fire. What you makin' all dis fuss for? Soon as I give Missis de physic, the stop frettin' an' flingin' 'bout, she go to sleep sweet as a suckling baby, an' she slep two days an' nights, an' now she heap better.” And Ellen withdrew from the controversy.

“Well, all is well that ends well, Mrs. Chesnut. You took opium enough to kill several persons. You were worried out and needed rest. You came near getting it — thoroughly. You were in no danger from your disease. But your doctor and your nurse combined were deadly.” Maybe I was saved by the adulteration, the feebleness, of Confederate medicine.

SOURCES: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 364-6

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Monday, January 9, 1865

We remained in camp all day.¹ It rained most of the day. No news of any importance.

_______________

¹ I had been suffering with the doctor some days when on this day it became so bad that I made up my mind to go to the doctor and have the tooth extracted. I arrived at the doctor's tent, he directed me to an ancient chair and asked me to show him the tooth. I pointed out the exact tooth, he hooked on, at the same time telling me to hold on to the chair, and pulled. He succeeded in bringing the tooth, but it was not the aching one. I however, concluded that one tooth at a time was enough, even if it was the wrong one, and returned to my rancho with the hope that it would soon quit aching. But the last state of that tooth was worse than the first.—A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 245

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, April 18, 1864

April 18, 1864.

. . . The General has been reviewing troops to-day. I did not go out with him, but shall to-morrow.

By the latest information in the papers it would appear that the enemy is moving troops from Johnston's army to that of Lee. If so, you may expect battle here before we are prepared to bring it on. Yet, strong as we are, we hope to be able to whip the enemy whenever he chooses to attack. I would much prefer their waiting for us to take the initiative. There is always a moral strength given the attacking party that nothing but strong fortifications can resist. No news from our front. The Richmond papers have it that Macgruder has whipped Banks near Shreveport badly. This can hardly be so. Our forces, if Banks is obeying the orders sent him, should ere this be returning from the Red River. This would naturally give foundation for such a report. The fact is Banks ought now to be back in New Orleans, but I fear he will be tardy in his movements.

I tell you I shall ever look with distrust upon any man who ever in the whole course of his life could conjure up the contingency and give expression to it in which he would “let the Union slide.” Such men are not the ones to trust too much to, I assure you.

The surgeon was here to-day (two of them) and sounded my lungs thoroughly and is satisfied nothing is the matter with them. They say nothing ails me but the chronic bronchitis, which I will recover from with proper care of myself. They also say that I have from over-exertion greatly prostrated my whole physical organization and that I need rest and good living. They have prescribed Codliver Oil as my principal medicine, and I shall follow their prescription most faithfully. ...

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 419-20

Why Is It?

Clark County has always been considered one of the healthiest localities in the state; in fact, the healthiest in the West.  In by-gone days, doctors could not make a living by the practice of medicine here; no one needed medical advice. – They had, in many cases to lay aside th[eir] pill bags and turn their attention [missing text] other direction in order to save [missing text] from want.  But how is it [missing text]ime? Do we not need [missing text] disease prevalent to a [missing text].  We hear, complaints [missing text]flicted with sore [missing text]tism – has had [missing text] another has [missing text]ced by goo[missing text] other [missing text]

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, October 17, 1862, p. 1.  This page of the newspaper was torn diagonally from the lower left to the upper right the rest of the article is missing, and since this was a local article I am not able to reconstruct it using any other sources.