.- v 
 
 THE MILITARY HOSPITALS 
 
 Bethlehem and Lititz, Penn'a, 
 
 DUBING THK 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 
 
 JOHN WOOLF JORDAN, 
 
 ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 AND A CORRESPONDING TIMBER OF THE 
 
 WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 A Paper read kefore the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 
 April io, 1896, and before the Historical Society of 
 Pennsylvania, May, 1896. 
 
 Reprinted from the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 
 July, 1896. 
 
 WILKES-BARRE, PENN'A. 
 
Class. 
 Book 
 
 ££3 
 
 ■ J* 2- 
 

THE MILITARY HOSPITALS 
 
 Bethlehem and Lititz, Penn'a, 
 
 DURING THE 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 
 
 JOHN WOOLF JORDAN, 
 
 ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 AND A CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE 
 
 WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 A Paper read before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 
 April io, 1896, and before the Historical Society of 
 Pennsylvania, May, 1896. 
 
 Reprinted from the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 
 July, 1896. 
 
 WILKES-BARRE, PENN'A. 
 

 433890 
 
THE MILITARY HOSPITALS 
 
 AT 
 
 BETHLEHEM AND LITITZ 
 
 DURING THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 For six years, from 1775 to 1781, Bethlehem was a thor- 
 oughfare for troops ; twi^e in that interval it was the seat 
 of a general hospital, and, in addition to the heavy baggage 
 and munitions of war of the army and Washington's pri- 
 vate baggage being parked in its suburbs, with its guard 
 of two hundred Continentals commanded by Colonel Wil- 
 liam Polk, of North Carolina, many of its houses were oc- 
 cupied by American troops and British prisoners of war, 
 and Congress found a temporary refuge there. The inhabit- 
 ants, therefore, witnessed not only the horrors and expe- 
 rienced the discomforts of war, but also its " pomp and cir- 
 cumstance," for at times there were sojourning among them 
 Generals Washington, Lafayette, Greene, Knox, Sterling, 
 Schuyler, Gates, Sullivan, De Kalb, Steuben, Pulaski, and 
 Arnold, with members of their staff, and General Charles 
 Lee's division of the army, in command of General Sulli- 
 van, was encamped opposite the town. 
 
 3 
 
4 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 The population of Bethlehem averaged about five hundred 
 souls, mainly domiciled in that pile of solidly built and 
 commodious structures, buttressed and hip-roofed, which 
 bound three sides of the quadrangle on Church Street, in 
 the " Widows' House" over the way, and in the building 
 of the single brethren, which fronted on the square. There 
 was also the " Church Store" on Market Street, opposite the 
 cemetery, the superintendent of which, on a certain occa- 
 sion, with some asperity, remarked " that he had sufficient 
 rope in the store to hang all the members of Congress," and 
 thereby rendered his position uncomfortable, if not preca- 
 rious. In its capacious cellars were stored the commissary 
 and medical stores belonging to the hospital, and in the 
 dwelling part sick and wounded officers found desirable 
 quarters. Near by was the dwelling of Timothy Horsfield, 
 who, during the French and Indian War, was a well-known 
 magistrate and a colonel in the Provincial service, where 
 refugees from Philadelphia and New York were provided 
 with a temporary home. Beyond, to the west, resided Wil- 
 liam Boehler, where Captain Thomas Webb, the founder of 
 Methodism in America, and a British prisoner of war, with 
 his family of seven persons, were comfortably accommo- 
 dated. On what is now Main Street, and north of the 
 " Brethren's House," stood the " Family House," for mar- 
 ried people, in which for three weeks in 1777 were confined 
 two hundred and eighteen British prisoners, one hundred 
 of whom were the partisan Highlanders of Donald Mac- 
 Donald, from the Cross Creek settlement, near Fayetteville, 
 North Carolina. Their guard of one hundred Continentals 
 were given quarters in the water-works building. When 
 they marched for Reading and Lancaster, the surgeons of 
 the hospital occupied the building. 
 
 Farther up the thoroughfare, clustered about the " first 
 house," were the farm buildings, and not far distant the 
 dwelling of Frederick Boeckel, the farmer-general of the 
 Moravian estates, where Lafayette, who was wounded at 
 Brandywine, was tenderly nursed to convalescence by Dame 
 Barbara Boeckel and her pretty daughter Liesel. The lat- 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 5 
 
 ter was still living when the marquis revisited the United 
 States. The last house, on the high ground overlooking 
 the valley of the Monocacy, was the Sun Inn, a hostelry 
 with a reputation unsurpassed in the Colonies for the excel- 
 lence of its table and exquisite old Port and Madeira wine ; 
 and we question whether any other inn in the country can 
 lay claim to have entertained and sheltered under its roof 
 so many of the leading patriots, statesmen, and military 
 chieftains of the American Revolution. 
 
 Strung along the banks of the Monocacy Creek, which 
 then formed the western bounds of this old historic town, 
 were the water-works, mills, and shops, some of which were 
 occupied by the hospital guard, convalescent soldiers, and 
 surgeons. The guard-house of the detail of troops on duty 
 was located near the saw-mill, and close by one of the prin- 
 cipal fords over the Lehigh. Such is a partial description 
 of Bethlehem during the period under consideration. 
 
 Almost unheeded, in so far as its massive stone walls 
 have been assimilated with the brick and mortar of the 
 modern structures with which it has been incorporated, 
 stands what was formerly the " Single Brethren's House," 
 but now the middle building of the Moravian Seminary and 
 College for Women. It has weathered the storms of well- 
 nigh a century and a half, and outlived great changes in 
 the history of our country and in the history of the people 
 by whom it was built. Twice during the Revolution it was 
 occupied as one of the general hospitals of the army, the 
 first time from December of 1776 to April of 1777, and for 
 the last time from September of 1777 to April of 1778, 
 where were witnessed suffering and death, revolting to hu- 
 manity, in all their details of misery. 
 
 Turning to the chronicles of Bethlehem, we find that the 
 corner-stone of the " Single Brethren's House" was laid on 
 April 1, 1748; that its dimensions were eighty- three by 
 fifty feet ; in height three stories, and above a broken roof, 
 surmounted by a belvedere forty feet long, — a fine specimen 
 of the style of building to which the Moravians of the last 
 century were partial. The interior was arranged so as to 
 
6 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 separate the youths from the single men, on the first floor, 
 four rooms being assigned to each. On the second floor 
 were the refectories, the rooms of the superintendents, and 
 the chapel ; and on the third, and under the roof, the dormi- 
 tories and extra rooms. In the summer of 1762 an east 
 wing and in 1769 a west wing were added, in which some 
 workshops for the trades conducted by the inmates were 
 fitted up. The belvedere, from which a fine view of the 
 valley of the Lehigh could be obtained, in ante-revolutionary 
 days was a favorite resort for some of the governors of the 
 Province, where they were entertained with cake, wine, and 
 music, when en route to Easton to make treaties with the 
 Indians, or on social visits to the Aliens at Trout Hall. 
 
 After the defeat of the American army on Long Island, 
 in August of 1776, General Washington withdrew his troops 
 to New York, which city, however, a few days subsequently, 
 fell into the hands of the enemy. This loss was followed 
 by that of Fort Washington and Fort Lee in quick succes- 
 sion. Having crossed the North River into New Jersey, 
 the commander-in-chief continued his retreat to Newark, 
 New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, closely pursued 
 by Cornwallis. It was at this crisis in the affairs of the 
 army that the removal of its general hospital, in which over 
 one thousand sick and wounded were lying, from Morris- 
 town to some points in the interior of Pennsylvania became 
 an imperative necessit}^, and Bethlehem was one of those 
 selected. Its situation, which, while somewhat interior, was 
 not too remote from the line of military operations, and its 
 commodious buildings were points of importance which 
 the American officers were not slow in appreciating. In 
 addition, the commissary department knew that its wants 
 could be well supplied by an agricultural community who 
 were in possession of large and fertile farms. On Decem- 
 ber 3, 1776, the brotherhood were excited by the arrival of 
 Dr. Cornelius Baldwin, of the New Jersey Line, direct from 
 the army, who rode up to the clergy house and delivered to 
 the Rev. John Ettwein, to whom he was directed, the fol- 
 lowing order : 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 7 
 "To the Committee of the Town of Bethlehem, or others 
 
 WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 
 
 " Gentlemen, — According to his Excellency General Washington's 
 Orders, the General Hospital of the Army is removed to Bethlehem, 
 and you will do the greatest Act of humanity by immediately providing 
 proper buildings for their reception, the largest and most capacious will 
 be the most convenient. I doubt not, Gentlemen, but you will act upon 
 this occasion as becomes men and Christians. Doctor Baldwin, the Gen- 
 tleman who waits upon you with this, is sent upon the Business of Pro- 
 viding proper Accommodations for the sick ; begging therefore that you 
 afford him all possible assistance, I am Gentlemen 
 
 " Your most obedient humble Servant 
 
 " John Warren 
 " Gen' I Hospital Surg'n. and P. 1. Direct." 
 
 He also brought a letter from Abraham Berlin, of the 
 Northampton County Committee of Safety, addressed to 
 Bishop Nathaniel Siedel, requesting that suitable accom- 
 modations for the sick be furnished. 
 
 Towards evening Drs. William Shippen and Warren 
 arrived and made arrangements with the Kev. Mr. Ettwein 
 for the reception of about two hundred and fifty of the sick. 
 Dr. Shippen stated that all the patients at the Morristown 
 hospital had been ordered to Bethlehem, but since " we had 
 shown such a willingness to provide for them, he would now 
 arrange to quarter the greater number at Easton and Allen- 
 town." 
 
 The ensuing two days were days of unrest for the peace- 
 loving Moravians, for the sick, in charge of their surgeons, 
 commenced to arrive in large numbers and in all manner 
 of conveyances. Their sufferings from exposure to the 
 weather and improper transportation made them pitiable 
 objects to behold, and two died while waiting to be removed 
 from the wagons. When it was learned that they were 
 famishing for the want of food, the benevolent Moravians 
 relieved them, for three days elapsed before the hospital 
 and commissary supplies arrived. Room had been prepared 
 for their reception, so that it was not necessary for the one 
 hundred and twenty-two single brethren to vacate their 
 building ; and by giving up some rooms and increasing the 
 
8 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 number of occupants of others, it enabled the surgeons to 
 establish five wards. 
 
 On December 7 two deaths occurred in the hospital, 
 whereupon it became necessary that a burial-place should 
 be selected, and the site chosen was on the bluff on the 
 west bank of the Monocacy Creek, near the line of the pres- 
 ent Monocacy Avenue, in "West Bethlehem. In digging 
 the cellars for new buildings in that section of the borough, 
 portions of coffins and human bones have been unearthed, 
 which of recent years have been reinterred in the burial-lot 
 of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Dr. 
 Shippen, writing from Bethlehem to Hon. Richard Henry 
 Lee, states, " After much difficulty and expense, I have re- 
 moved all the sick to Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown ; 
 their number is now much reduced and all are in a good 
 way. I send twenty or thirty weekly to join the army. 
 There is no Paymaster General near us and I am almost 
 out of cash ; I must therefore beg the favor of you to pro- 
 cure me $5000 and send them by the bearer Dr. Hailing." 
 
 On December 10 the Rev. Mr. Ettwein commenced his 
 visits to the sick in their wards in the hospital, speaking 
 words of cheer and giving spiritual comfort when needed, 
 a practice which he continued semi-weekly during the en- 
 suing three months. Two days later the wife and family 
 of Dr. Shippen joined him, and were given accommodations 
 to the end of March, 1777. During their sojourn their in- 
 fant son, William Arthur Lee Shippen, died, and, at the 
 request of the parents, was buried in the Moravian ceme- 
 tery. The wife of Dr. Isaac Foster (who had been ordered 
 to the New England hospitals) was also provided with a 
 room. 
 
 At the vigils of Christmas Eve all the doctors not on duty 
 were present; but the pleasures of Christmas Day were in- 
 terrupted by the arrival of a courier with orders for Dr. 
 Shippen and his principal surgeons to report at once to the 
 army of Washington, who was moving to the surprise of 
 the Hessians at Trenton. 
 
 On New Year's Day, 1777, the Rev. Mr. Ettwein visited 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 9 
 
 every inmate of the hospital and wished them God's bless- 
 ing, and on January 8, Dr. John Morgan and a number of 
 the surgeons were ordered to New England. Towards the 
 end of February the small-pox was brought to the town 
 by some soldiers, forty of whom were inoculated, as well as 
 some children, and by this prompt action its spread was 
 averted. 
 
 On March 14, Dr. Jonathan Potts, who had been ap- 
 pointed to succeed Dr. Samuel Stringer, director of the 
 hospitals of the Northern Department, with his staff of sur- 
 geons and several wagon-loads of medical stores, passed 
 through the town en route to Albany; and Dr. James Hous- 
 ton, who Mr. Ettwein records " was the most skillful and 
 attentive of the surgeons in the Hospital here," pursuant to 
 orders, set out to join the army in the Jerseys. 
 
 On March 27 orders were received to transfer the hospital 
 to Philadelphia, and after thirty convalescents were de- 
 spatched to the army and the sick removed, the building 
 was turned over to the cleaners, and in a short time the 
 vacated rooms were reoccupied by their former inmates. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Ettwein, who virtually acted as chaplain of 
 the hospital, has recorded that during the month of Decem- 
 ber sixty-two deaths occurred, in a large degree due to the 
 effects of exposure in removal, and that by the close of the 
 winter the number had been increased to one hundred and 
 ten. Many attentions were extended to the sufferers by 
 the single brethren who remained in the house and by 
 members of the congregation, and the sisters prepared lint 
 and bandages. Furthermore, the Moravian carpenters 
 made the coffins and dug the graves of those who died, 
 charitable offices which are not unworthy the remembrance 
 of posterity. 
 
 It may also be stated that Colonel Isaac Reed, of the 
 Fourth Virginia Line, who since December 5, 1776, had 
 been provided with quarters at the " Church Store" for med- 
 ical treatment, was unable to leave before Sunday, June 22, 
 1777; that eighteen single brethren took turns in carrying 
 him to the ferry over the Lehigh, where a chair and two 
 
10 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 horses were in waiting, and that two of their number 
 accompanied his physician, Dr. Alexander Skinner, of 
 " Light-Horse Harry Lee's Legion," and Paymaster John 
 Sutton, of his regiment, to assist in the journey to Philadel- 
 phia, where, unfortunately, the colonel died, and was buried 
 August 21. Dr. John Duffield, who had lain sick at "Wil- 
 liam Boehler's for months, left on July 7, " the last of the 
 sick attached to the Hospital here," states the chronicler of 
 Bethlehem. 
 
 The final occupation of the "Single Brethren's House" 
 as a general hospital occurred between September 20, 1777, 
 and April 15, 1778, and was due to the unsuccessful stand 
 for the defence of Philadelphia made by Washington at the 
 Brandywine, and the subsequent movements of the British. 
 Dr. Shippen expostulated against the removal of the 
 wounded to Bethlehem, owing to the distance, as many 
 deaths would be sure to follow, but the commander-in- 
 chief felt that there was no alternative. 
 
 On the evening of September 13 the news reached Beth- 
 lehem that Washington's army had been compelled to fall 
 back on Philadelphia, and three days later a letter was re- 
 ceived from David Rittenhouse stating that all the military 
 stores of the army, in upwards of seven hundred wagons, 
 had been ordered to the town. The church bells of Phila- 
 delphia, with " Independence Bell," were also transported 
 to Bethlehem, en route to Allentown, and the wagon on 
 which " Independence Bell" was loaded broke down on 
 descending the hill in front of the hospital, and had to be 
 unloaded while repairs were being made. 
 
 On Tuesday, September 19, Dr. Hall Jackson arrived 
 from Trenton with the following letter, addressed to the 
 Rev. Mr. Ettwein : 
 
 " My D'r Sir, — It gives me pain to be obliged by Order of Congress 
 to send my sick and wounded to your peaceable village, but so it is. 
 Your large buildings must be appropriated to tbeir use. We will want 
 room for two thousand at Bethlehem, Easton, Northampton, &c, and 
 you may expect them Saturday or Sunday. I send Dr. Jackson before 
 them, that you may have time to order your affairs in the best manner. 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 11 
 
 These are dreadful times, consequences of unnatural wars. I am truly 
 concerned for your Society and wish sincerely this stroke could be 
 averted, but 'tis impossible. I beg Mr. Hasse's assistance — love and 
 compliments from my d'r sir, 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " humble serv't 
 
 " William Shippen 
 "D. G." 
 
 " Seeing ourselves," writes Mr. Ettwein, " under the 
 necessity of relieving the distress of the country, we gave 
 orders for the vacation of the Single Brethren's House, and 
 its inmates to be distributed in Nazareth and adjacent set- 
 tlements. On Saturday we began to realize the extent of 
 the panic that had stricken the inhabitants of the capital, as 
 crowds of civilians as well as men in military life, began to 
 enter the town in the character of fugitives, among the 
 number, the Hon. Richard Henry Lee and Benjamin Harri- 
 son, of Virginia; Cornelius Harnett, of North Carolina; 
 and William Duer, of New York, Delegates to Congress, 
 and Dr. William Brown, who came to inspect the house for 
 the Hospital." By Sunday morning the building was 
 cleared, with the exception of the kitchen and cellar and the 
 saddler's shop, which were to be occupied by a few of the 
 single brethren who were to remain. Hon. Henry Laurens 
 and other notables arrived in time to attend service in the 
 chapel, and towards evening the first of the sick and 
 wounded began to arrive, among them Lafayette, wounded 
 in the leg, accompanied by his aide De Gimat; General 
 William Woodford, wounded in the hand; and Colonel 
 Armstrong, late from the field of Brandywine. 
 
 By Monday the hospital was filled, and tents were erected 
 for those who could not be accommodated in the building; 
 and the apothecary's shop was opened in one of the small 
 buildings on the grounds. The doctors then began to look 
 around for another building, and suggested either the 
 "Sisters'" or "Widows' House," but to this Mr. Ettwein 
 demurred. While escorting Mr. Laurens, Mr. Adams, and 
 other delegates to Congress through these buildings, he 
 
12 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 took occasion to plead for their inmates and to represent 
 the distress an ejectment from their houses would cause. 
 He was listened to respectfully, and the assurance given 
 that these houses would he exempt from hospital purposes. 
 On returning to the Sun Inn, Mr. Laurens requested Hon. 
 Richard Henry Lee to issue the following order, the original 
 of which is preserved in the Moravian archives : 
 
 " Bethlehem, September 22, 1777. 
 " Having here observed a diligent attention to the sick and wounded, 
 and a benevolent desire to make the necessary provision for the relief 
 of the distressed as far as the power of the Brethren enable them — 
 
 " We desire that all Continental officers may refrain from disturbing 
 the persons or property of the Moravians in Bethlehem ; and, particu- 
 larly, that they do not disturb or molest the houses where the women 
 are assembled. 
 
 " Given under our hands at the place and time above mentioned. 
 " John Hancock, William Duer, 
 
 " Samuel Adams, Cornelius Harnett, 
 
 " James Duane, Richard Henry Lee, 
 
 " Nathan Brownson, Henry Laurens, 
 
 " Nathaniel Folsom, Benjamin Harrison, 
 
 " Richard Law, Joseph Jones, 
 
 " Eliphalet Dyer, John Adams, 
 
 "Henry Marchant, William Williams, 
 
 " Delegates to Congress." 
 
 The same evening the archives and money of Congress, 
 under an escort of fifty troopers and fifty infantry, arrived 
 from Trenton, to which point they had been transported 
 from Philadelphia. 
 
 On October 7 some of the wounded from the battle of 
 Germantown began to arrive, and by the 22d the patients 
 in the hospital numbered upwards of four hundred, and 
 fifty were being treated in tents, when the doctors refused 
 to receive any more. The next day a cold rain-storm set 
 in and " the sun was hid for six days." 
 
 Hospital Commissary Hugh James arrived October 28, 
 with orders from Dr. Benajmin Rush to provide for one hun- 
 dred additional patients until the weather would permit of 
 their removal elsewhere ; and to make room a frame build- 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 13 
 
 ing fifty feet long was erected in the garden, to which the 
 hospital kitchen was transferred, and the invalid guard was 
 quartered in the water-works building, and in the fulling- 
 mill a number of the doctors and mates opened their 
 office. 
 
 Dr. Shippen, writing to Congress, states, "The pressing 
 necessity of the Hospitals which begin to feel the effects of 
 cold and dirt (I foretold in my last to the Medical Commit- 
 tee) calls on me to address you in a serious manner and 
 urge you to furnish us with an immediate supply of cloth- 
 ing, requisite for the very existence of the sick now in the 
 greatest distress in the hospitals and indispensably neces- 
 sary to enable many who are now well and detained solely 
 for want of clothing to return to the army." 
 
 At his solicitation, the Moravians made several collections 
 of blankets for the destitute soldiers, also shoes, stockings, 
 and breeches for the convalescents, many of whom had 
 arrived in rags swarming with vermin, while others had 
 been deprived of their all by their comrades. In the col- 
 lection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania there is 
 an original document in which a soldier accuses his wife of 
 robbing an officer who was wounded at Brandywine : 
 
 " To Major Johnson, 
 
 " Sir, — I do hereby accuse my wife with the Robbery committed on 
 the Body of Capt. [James] Grier, of the First Pennsylvania Regiment 
 commanded by Col. Chambers, sd Robbery consisting of one Silver 
 watch, two Thirty Dollar bills, one Five Dollar Virginia Bill, and some 
 small bills at present not Remembered — the above Thief Mary Myler 
 lives at the Fullin Mill Hospital under Dr. Otto. 
 
 (signed) " Mat Myler." 
 
 There is preserved in the Moravian archives at Bethle- 
 hem the following brief but pithy notes of Surgeon Samuel 
 Finley, of the hospital staff; Lieutenant-Colonel John 
 Cropper, of the Eleventh Virginia Line; and Rev. John 
 Ettwein, all written on the same sheet of paper : 
 
 "Sir, — The Bearer, Mr. Carr, is in possession of Part of a House 
 near the Fulling Mill, the owner of which wants him put out. He has 
 
14 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution . 
 
 applied to me for leave to stay until he is sufficiently well to shift for 
 himself, as he is to all Intents and purposes an invalid. I have told 
 him it was not in my power to do anything in his favor. He then de- 
 sired me to write to you for advice and assistance, for if he is turned 
 out, he has no chance of having his cure completed. 
 
 "lam 
 
 " With respect 
 
 " your very humble serv't. 
 
 "Samuel Finley. 
 " Bethlehem, Jan. 6, 1778. 
 
 " To Col. Cropper." 
 
 "In complyance with the request afs'd, these do certify, that Mr. 
 Carr is not to be moved until my orders. Given under my hand at 
 Bethlehem 6th Jan. 
 
 "John Cropper, 
 
 "Lieut. Col." 
 
 " Col. Cropper has none to command in Bethlehem but his soldiers. 
 Therefore we cannot receive his orders. Mr. Carr does not belong to 
 the Hospital ; we want the place where he is and he must move without 
 
 e a ^' " John Ettwein. 
 
 "N.B.— Was directly fetched away by Mr. Finley into the Hospital." 
 
 During the month of November the Rev. Mr. Ettwein 
 was occasionally called to the hospital to visit the dying 
 and also to preach, and I find that he notes four deaths : 
 Dr. Aquila Wilmot, of the hospital staff; Hospital Steward 
 Robert Gillespie, a native of County Carlow, Ireland ; Robert 
 Lepus, of the Maryland Line ; and a Narragansett Indian. 
 Dr. Wilmot and Steward Gillespie were buried in the Mo- 
 ravian cemetery, the first in the row set apart at that time 
 for members of other persuasions, now known as the 
 " Strangers' Row." 
 
 Early in December great numbers of sick soldiers were 
 transferred from the hospitals in New Jersey to Bethlehem. 
 They came in open wagons, often amid snow and rain, with 
 clothing insufiicient to cover their fevered bodies from the 
 piercing cold, and between Christmas and New Year up- 
 wards of seven hundred were reported in the " Single 
 Brethren's House" alone. The mortality from putrid fever 
 rapidly increased, and especially was this the case on the 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 15 
 
 upper floors of the hospital, where the ventilation was de- 
 fective and the filth and pollution intolerable. Here was a 
 field for Christian benevolence which the Moravians cheer- 
 fully entered, and Mr. Ettwein, with his assistant, the Rev. 
 Jacob Fries, were indefatigable in their attentions. They 
 braved the pestilence in its stronghold, smoothing the pil- 
 lows of the dying and imparting the consolations of religion. 
 The doctors made every effort to suppress the number of 
 the deaths that took place; even the making of coffins and 
 digging of graves, which the winter before had been gen- 
 erously performed by the Moravians, was now delegated 
 to the soldiers of the hospital guard ; but, nevertheless, Mr. 
 Ettwein states that upwards of three hundred died during 
 the last three months of the year 1777. 
 
 Director-General Shippen, in explaining some of the 
 causes of this great mortality, states, " The want of clothing 
 and covering necessary to keep the soldiers clean and warm, 
 articles at that time not procurable in the country ; — partly 
 from an army being composed of raw men, unused to camp 
 life and undisciplined ; exposed to great hardships, and 
 from the sick and wounded being removed great distances 
 in open wagons." 
 
 Dr. James Tilton, of the Delaware Line, who was recover- 
 ing from a severe and tedious case of the fever, and was 
 resting for a few days at Bethlehem on his way home, was 
 told by Dr. Samuel Finley, of the hospital staff, " that they 
 were very deficient in even the commonest necessaries; 
 that when the wounded arrived they immediately became 
 affected with the fever; and that the commissary, matron, 
 nurses and waiters, and all but one of the surgeons had 
 had the infection. All the doctors were of the opinion that 
 only about two hundred patients should have been admitted, 
 whereas from five to seven hundred had been crowded into 
 the building at times. To enable me to form some idea of 
 the great mortality, he asked me whether I was acquainted 
 with the Sixth Virginia Regiment, commanded by Colonel 
 Gibson, reputed to be one of the best in the army, and 
 stated that forty had been admitted, but not three would 
 
1 6 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 return to their regiment, all the rest had been buried. 
 He had no hesitation in declaring that we lost from ten 
 to twenty of camp diseases for one by weapons of the 
 enemy." 
 
 Dr. "William Smith, also of the hospital staff, states " that 
 he had known from four to five patients die on the same 
 straw before it was changed, and that many of them had 
 been admitted only for slight disorders. Of the eleven 
 junior surgeons and mates, ten took the infection, most of 
 them dangerously so, and one, Dr. Joseph Harrison, had 
 died ; and of the three hospital stewards, two had died and 
 the third narrowly escaped. Owing to the crowded wards, 
 and the want of almost every necessary, it was impossible 
 to prevent an increase of the infection, and that the suffer- 
 ings of the sick could not be attributed to negligence or 
 inattention of the surgeons and physicians." 
 
 Dr. William Brown, who began to compile, while at the 
 hospital in Bethlehem, the first Pharmacopoeia published in 
 America, states " that when the hospital was opened it was 
 many weeks without so necessary articles as brooms, and 
 that at last he was obliged to have them taken from the in- 
 habitants of the town." 
 
 Dr. Moses Scott, of the New Jersey Line, who was at the 
 hospital for three months, writes that during that time 
 " between eight and nine hundred patients were admitted, 
 thirty-four of whom died, and that owing to the moving of 
 the Hospitals in the beginning, it was almost impossible to 
 make exact returns of the sick and wounded. Upon com- 
 putation, allowing four feet for each patient, we concluded 
 that the house would hold three hundred and sixty without 
 crowding." 
 
 Towards the close of December information was received, 
 through Dr. Thomas Bond, that the hospital was to be re- 
 moved to the west of the Schuylkill, but as the process was 
 naturally a slow one, it was early in the spring before it was 
 effected. This year the vigils of Christmas Eve were at- 
 tended by forty of the hospital staff and convalescent offi- 
 cers. On the last day of the year the son of the Rev. Mr. 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and IAtitz during the Revolution. 17 
 
 Ettwein died of the fever, which he had probably contracted 
 from the visitations of his father to the hospital. 
 
 During the first weeks of the new year, 1778, there was 
 little or no abatement in the mortality-rate, and the effluvia 
 from the hospital carried sickness into the town. Seven of 
 the single brethren died during the occupation of their 
 building. 
 
 The following letter from Hon. Richard Henry Lee to 
 Dr. Shippen refers to plans which the latter had proposed 
 for the relief of the hospitals : 
 
 " Baltimore, January 1, 1778. 
 " My deak Sir,— A happy New Year is my wish for you and your 
 family ; that it will be a year of freedom, our brave troops appear de- 
 termined. . . . The Congress have lately invested General Washington 
 with complete power to displace and place and direct anything relative 
 to the military Hospitals. To him therefore let me advise you to make 
 your immediate application, lay your plans before him, and prove as 
 you have done to me, the propriety of adopting them. No doubt can 
 remain but that they will meet with his approbation and support. 
 Seasons for expecting the strongest friendship from France and Spain 
 multiply upon us every day. If they can be prevailed with to make 
 war, farewell the glory of England ! . . . 
 
 " Our best love attends. 
 
 " Farewell 
 " Richard Henry Lee. 
 " Dr. William Shippen, Jr. 
 " at Bethlehem, 
 
 " Favored by Col. Stewart." 
 
 Colonel James Wood, of the Twelfth (later the Eighth) 
 Virginia Line, who had lain sick at William Boehler's, and 
 a number of convalescent soldiers, left for the army, but the 
 removal of the sick progressed slowly. At last, on April 8, 
 the hearts of the inhabitants of Bethlehem were gladdened 
 by the arrival of the final order to close the hospital ; but 
 it was not until June 27 that the single brethren reoccu- 
 pied their building, and the trades resumed work after its 
 renovation. 
 
 General Lachlan Mcintosh, who was in Bethlehem super- 
 intending the transfer of the hospital, reports, under date 
 of April 26, " to his Excellency the Commander-in-chief," 
 
18 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 that from January 1 to April 12, 1778, " eighty-one soldiers 
 died; twenty-five deserted; one hundred and twenty-two 
 were discharged and sent to the army ; eleven were at the 
 shoe factory [in Allentown], two attending on sick and 
 wounded officers, and all the rest removed from the hos- 
 pital." 1 
 
 The late Jedediah "Weiss, of Bethlehem, who was an 
 inmate of the "Single Brethren's House" in his youth, 
 informed me that he remembered seeing the marks of the 
 iron-shod crutches on the floor of the chapel, where the 
 convalescents were wont to exercise. But these traces of 
 hospital life disappeared when the building, in 1815, was 
 converted to school purposes. 
 
 In October of 1779, Lewis "Weiss, Esq., attorney for the 
 Wardens of the Single Brethren of Bethlehem, petitioned 
 Congress to reimburse them for the actual outlays in re- 
 storing their building to its former condition, inasmuch as 
 no charge for rent had been made or damages claimed for 
 loss to the trades, and rendered the following account : 
 
 £ s. d. 
 Glazing 121 panes of glass, painting 27 rooms, 
 
 130 window frames, stair banisters and 
 
 presses 188 15 6 
 
 Mason work, white-washing and 55 Barrels of 
 
 Lime 76 5 
 
 Cleaning house, yard and scraping walls 45 
 
 8 Earthen stoves 12 
 
 Repairs to locks of doors &c 9 
 
 Carpenter and joiner work 27 7 6 
 
 Penna. cy £358 8 
 
 The following list of the medical officers at the Bethle- 
 hem Hospital, though not complete, is, however, authentic, 
 and is given as matter for record : William Shippen, Jr., 
 of Pennsylvania; John Morgan, of Pennsylvania; John 
 Warren, of Massachusetts; Thomas Bond, Jr., of Pennsyl- 
 vania; Moses Scott, of New Jersey; William Brown, of 
 
 1 This was the only report from this hospital found in the various 
 government departments at Washington, D.C. 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 19 
 
 Maryland; William Smith, of Pennsylvania; William P. 
 Smith, of New York; Cornelius Baldwin, of New Jersey; 
 Bodo Otto, of Pennsylvania; Samuel Finley, of Massachu- 
 setts ; James B. Finley, of Massachusetts ; Aquila Wilmot, 
 of Pennsylvania ; James Houston, of Pennsylvania; Joseph 
 Harrison, of Virginia; John Duffield, of Massachusetts; 
 S. Hailing, of Pennsylvania ; John Hindman, of Maryland ; 
 Francis Allison, Jr., of Pennsylvania; John Scott, of Mary- 
 land; Hall Jackson, of New Hampshire. Hugh James, 
 Commissary of Hospitals ; Robert Gillespie, Hospital Stew- 
 ard ; Joseph Shippen (brother of the Director), Paymaster ; 
 and John Brown Cutting, Apothecary of Middle Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 The following officers and privates I have ascertained 
 were patients at the hospital : Ensign Jacob Fiss, Eleventh 
 Pennsylvania Line; Corporal Robert Carson, of Captain 
 Samuel Moore's company, Third Pennsylvania Line, 
 wounded in the leg at Brandywine ; George Filsin, First 
 Pennsylvania Line, shot through left leg at Trenton, trans- 
 ferred to hospital at Lititz and to Yellow Springs ; Samuel 
 Nichols, Sixth Pennsylvania Line; George Berkman, Sec- 
 ond Pennsylvania Line; John Nagle, Captain Joseph Er- 
 win's company, Ninth Pennsylvania Line ; Thomas Powel, 
 Maryland Line; Robert Lepus, Maryland Line; Lucas 
 Sherman, Virginia Line; Richard Thompson, Virginia 
 
 Line ; John Chaffs ; Preus, a native of the Tyrol ; and 
 
 Matthias Ambrett, private Captain James Grier's company, 
 Tenth Pennsylvania Line. No official lists are preserved. 
 
 A fair computation of the number of deaths at the Beth- 
 lehem Hospital is upwards of five hundred, — a startling 
 mortality-rate, indeed, when we consider the number of sick 
 and wounded admitted. But this was not exceptional, for 
 the death-rate at the hospitals at Reading, Lititz, and 
 Ephrata was proportionately as great as at Bethlehem. 
 
 But Bethlehem was not the only settlement of the Mora- 
 vians in which an army hospital was established during the 
 Revolution. Their little village of Lititz, in Lancaster 
 County, with a population less than half that of Bethlehem, 
 
20 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 but with the usual collection of substantial and commodious 
 buildings, for upwards of eight months was the seat of 
 one. 
 
 On December 14, 1777, Dr. Samuel Kennedy, formerly 
 surgeon of Wayne's battalion, arrived at the village with a 
 written order of General "Washington to provide for the 
 quartering of two hundred and fifty sick and wounded sol- 
 diers. After listening to the objections and representations 
 of Bishop Hehl, he selected the building of the single men, 
 in which almost every trade was carried on except printing, 
 and ordered that it be immediately vacated, as some of 
 the sick were on the way hither. The inmates were 
 lodged elsewhere, but retained the use of the kitchen and 
 cellar. 
 
 The first sick to arrive — about eighty — occurred on De- 
 cember 19, and the following day fifteen wagon-loads more, 
 from the Jerseys, filled all the rooms and halls of the build- 
 ing. The two doctors in charge and the commissary were 
 also given rooms. In a few days putrid fever broke out to 
 an alarming extent ; both doctors were taken down with it, 
 and the village physician, Dr. Adolph Meyer, took their 
 place until relieved, ten days later, " by a Doctor who was 
 a German from Saxony," whose name I have failed to ascer- 
 tain. Some of the soldiers who were able to be about, fear- 
 ing the malady, absented themselves from the hospital, but 
 a snow-storm a few days later compelled them to return. 
 On the last day of the year a wagon-load of sick arrived 
 from Reading. Seven deaths were reported in ten days, 
 all from the fever. 
 
 The first convalescents — twenty in number — were de- 
 spatched to the army on January 9, 1778 ; and thus it con- 
 tinued almost daily, convalescent soldiers leaving only to 
 make room for sick and wounded ones. On the 18th, Dr. 
 "William Brown arrived from Bethlehem, with a letter from 
 the Rev. Mr. Ettwein, requesting that quarters be given to 
 his family ; but this could not be done at this time. Dr. 
 Brown, who took charge of the hospitals of the district, was 
 born in Virginia in 1748, and received his degree of M.D. 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 21 
 
 from Edinburgh University in 1770. On the breaking out 
 of the Revolution he offered his services, and for a time 
 served as surgeon of the Virginia regiment commanded by 
 Colonel William Woodford. In February of 1778 he was 
 appointed Physician-General of the Middle Department to 
 succeed Dr. Benjamin Rush. He resigned from the service 
 July 21, 1780, and died near Alexandria, Virginia, January 
 11, 1792. The preface to Dr. Brown's " Pharmacopoeia" is 
 dated at Lititz, March 12, 1778. 
 
 Dr. Francis Allison, Jr., who had also been serving in the 
 hospital at Bethlehem with Dr. Brown, was transferred to 
 Lititz. After the removal of the hospital to Lancaster, his 
 family resided in the village for ten months. 
 
 Daring the month of January the fever became epidemic, 
 and five of the Moravians who had volunteered as nurses 
 and the assistant pastor of the congregation, the Rev. John 
 J. Schmick (who had served for a number of years in the 
 Indian mission), died of the malady. On March 22 the 
 Rev. Mr. Ettwein learned from Dr. Shippen that it was 
 proposed to establish a general hospital at Lititz, and as 
 this would practically necessitate the abandonment of the 
 village, he wrote a personal letter and despatched it to head- 
 quarters at Valley Forge, soliciting that the order, if issued, 
 be countermanded. Washington's reply is dated March 
 28, the day on which he appointed Baron Steuben inspector- 
 general of the army. 
 
 « Sir,— I have received your letter of 25 th by Mr. Hasse, setting forth 
 the injury that will be done to the Inhabitants of Letiz by establishing 
 a General Hospital there — it is needless to explain how essential an 
 establishment of this Kind is to the welfare of the Army, and you must 
 be sensible that it cannot be made any where without occasioning in- 
 convenience to some set of people or other — At the same time it is 
 ever my wish and aim that the public good be effected with as little 
 sacrifice as possible of individual interests — and I would by no means 
 sanction the imposing any burthens on the people in whose favor you 
 remonstrate, which the public service does not require. The arrange- 
 ment and distribution of the Hospitals depends entirely on D r Shippen, 
 and I am persuaded that he will not exert the authority vested in him 
 unnecessarily to your prejudice. It would be proper, however, to repre- 
 
22 Hospitals at Bethlehem and Lititz during the Revolution. 
 
 sent to him the circumstances of the inhabitants of Letiz, and you 
 may if you choose it, communicate the contents of this letter to him. 
 
 " I am Sir 
 
 " Your most obed't Serv*, 
 
 "Go Washington." 
 
 A few days later Bishop Hehl wrote to Dr. Shippen, at 
 Manheim, on the same subject, and received the following 
 reply : 
 
 " Sir, — I am so much affected at the very thoughts of distressing a 
 
 Society I have so great an esteem for, that you may depend upon it I 
 
 will not put in execution the proposal of removing the inhabitants of 
 
 Lititz, unless cruel necessity urges, which at present I don't imagine 
 
 will be the case. If we should fix the General Hospital and take more 
 
 room in your village it shall be done in a manner the least distressing 
 
 and disagreeable to your flock that is possible, of which I will consult you. 
 
 " I am Sir 
 
 " Your and the Congregations 
 
 " Affectionate & Very humble Servant 
 
 "W Shippen. 
 " Manheim, 
 
 " 9 April 1778." 
 
 Fortunately for the inhabitants of Lititz, the occasion did 
 not arise for the establishing of a general hospital in their 
 village, but the " Brethren's House" was occupied for five 
 months longer. 
 
 Teu days after the receipt of Dr. Shippen's letter nine 
 wagon-loads of sick and wounded arrived from the hos- 
 pitals at Bethlehem, Easton, Allentown, and Reading. 
 
 After supervising the closing of the general hospital at 
 Bethlehem, General Mcintosh, who signs his reports as 
 "Visiting Officer," proceeded to Lititz, from whence he re- 
 ported to the commander-in-chief that from February 1 to 
 April 20, 1778, " 264 wounded and sick soldiers had been 
 admitted to the Hospital ; that 142 had been discharged 
 and sent to camp; 83 had died and deserted, and 39 
 were under treatment." 1 He also reported: "The ac- 
 counts of the first Doctors cannot be found. This is a 
 
 1 The only report from this hospital found at Washington, D.C. 
 
Hospitals at Bethlehem and Idtitz during the Revolution. 23 
 
 convenient and pleasant place for a Hospital, and is so near 
 Lancaster, that the same officer and surgeons may attend 
 both. The hospitals at Schaefferstown [Lebanon] and 
 Ephrata should be removed here, as both are very incon- 
 venient.'* 
 
 But the time was approaching when the hospital was to 
 be removed from the town. On August 21 the surgeons 
 were notified to make preparations ; on the 28th the order 
 arrived, and the removal of the remaining sixty-six patients 
 to Lancaster and the Yellow Springs commenced. A few 
 days later the chronicler of the village writes, "We are 
 devoutly thankful that the heavy burden of the Hospital 
 in our midst has been removed, and we certainly find it de- 
 lightful to enjoy again our former peaceful life. It must be 
 said, however, that Dr. Allison maintained order and disci- 
 pline to the best of his ability." 
 
 During the occupation of the " Brethren's House" (eight 
 months and ten days) one hundred and twenty soldiers died 
 there. A burial-place was selected about a quarter of a 
 mile to the east of the village; but, although diligent 
 search has been made, the exact site has never been found, 
 and it may be that the resting-place of these patriots will 
 always remain unmarked and unknown. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 'II 111 
 011 802 007 
 
 
 
 ^Ef^^D^^Bj 
 
 - iS^fc Jl*! * P^H ■ 
 
 
 El lifl&J a 
 
 
 |Hp|| i5^H ' M^rsM i -■' jibe ' ' 
 
 ¥rA 
 
 ^v