An Army Hospital: From Dragoons to Rough Riders

Intemperance has been the fruitful cause of both diseases and injuries. The extent to which this vice prevailed may in part be inferred from the number of cases of delirium tremens reported. During the year previous to my joining this station, say from October 1, 1855, to September 30, 1856, six cases of delirium tremens are reported, the average strength of the command being 392. From October 1, 1856, to June 30, 1857, nine months, there occurred sixteen cases in a command averaging 335. From the statements of convalescents and from other sources, I am satisfied that three quarts of whisky was the customary daily allowance of quite a number of men; one quart, as they expressed it, being required "to set them up before breakfast." It appeared to me that larger quantities of opium were necessary in the treatment of these excessive drinkers than in ordinary cases of delirium tremens.

Four cases of scorbutus are reported in March, and others occurred among the hired men of the quartermaster's department. Scarlatina and variola, which have prevailed to a very considerable extent in some of the eastern cities, have also appeared here. The vaccine virus for which I applied on the 18th of February did not arrive until the 8th of May. I had fortunately obtained from Surgeon Abadie, at St. Louis, through Surgeon Cuyler, at Fort Leavenworth, part of a crust of vaccine virus, with which and its proceeds all the command who required protection were vaccinated. The first case of scarlatina occurred on the 23rd of May in the person of a Dragoon. So far as I could learn, no case had previously occurred in this vicinity. The disease was severe from the beginning, attended with much cerebral disturbance, and an extremely sore mouth and throat. He had passed the febrile stage, and the period of desquamation was nearly complete, when he escaped from his ward one cool morning soon after daylight, and ran unclothed to the company gardens. Dropsy of the abdomen and anasarca supervened -- the left thigh being the first to swell -- which finally terminated in death. Hospital Steward Drennan, who had been exposed to the first case, was the next person attacked, and though for a time dangerously ill, he now has recovered. Several children at the post have sickened with this disease, and it is still occurring among them.

The surgical cases occurring up to the date of my special report of February 16, 1857, are sufficiently noted therein, and I have only to add in regard to one of those cases, that of gangrene of the feet requiring amputation of both legs, that it terminated favorable. A small party of emigrants were attacked on the 7th of June, about eighty miles from this post, by a band of Cheyennes. Four men were killed, two wounded, and one young woman severely wounded in the back and side. They made their way on foot to the nearest settlements, having been six days without food. The wounded were conveyed from their first place of refuge to this post, and have since been attended by myself.

E. Norris Stearns, Hospital Steward, arrived on the 20th from Leavenworth, with a bountiful supply of Sanitary stores, consisting of Canned-fruits, Dried-apples; Pickles; Codfish; Cordials; Clothing; and other good things for our sick -- Received through the hands of Mr. Brown, Agent for the Western Sanitary Commission.

On the 16th of September, 1858, I was requested to visit one of the stations of the Southern Overland Mail Company, where a number of men were reported to have been dangerously wounded. I set out at once, and arrived at the place early the next morning, after a smart ride of one hundred and fifteen miles, but found that three of the four wounded men had already died. The history of the survivor, Silas St. John, a strong robust, healthy young man of twenty-four, a native of New York City, was as follows: He, with three Americans and three Mexican boys, was engaged in keeping the mail station.

On the evening of the eighth, one of the latter was placed on guard, and the remainder of the party retired to rest for the night; about midnight the Mexicans arose, and with axes and a large hammer attempted to murder their sleeping companions. St. John awoke, and hearing blows given, was in the act of springing from his bed when he received a terrible blow from an axe, which almost severed his left arm from his body, followed quickly by another that cut the fleshy part of the same arm in a shocking manner; this was succeeded by another stroke that cut through the anterior external portion of the right thigh, a short distance below the joint. By this time he succeeded in grasping his pistol, and having fired at the desperate assassins, they fled and were seen no more.

One of the unfortunate victims who slept outside, of the door of the rude shed never awoke; another, with his face and head frightfully chopped and mangled, lived in great agony until the evening of the next day; while a third, whose head was almost cloven in two, the brain continually oozing from the shattered skull, lingered until the sixth day, during which time his frenzied craving for water to quench his burning thirst was of the most heart-rending character. On the evening of the next day the mail stage came by and found St. John, the only survivor of his party, alone in a rude hovel in the wilderness, without food or water, unable to move; his wounds undressed, stiffened, and full of loathsome magots; his companions had died one by one a horrible death, and lastly, to add to the horrors of his suffering, the hungry wolves and ravens came and banquetted upon the putrefying corpse of one of his dead companions which lay but a few feet from his desolate bed. The mental and physical sufferings which he endured are marvelous to think of. Yet he never complained nor flinched for a moment. Calm and resigned, he bore his torments with the fortitude of a martyr.

After administering to his immediate wants, one of the mail party was left with him, and remained until my arrival on the seventeenth, at which time his condition was as follows; he was weak and pallid from loss of blood, [lack of] sleep and constant mental and physical suffering; his disposition was cheerful, and he evinced much pleasure at the prospect of having his wounds attended to, A deep, incised wound, about eight inches in length, extending from the point of the acromion process, passing inwards, downwards, and backwards, laid open the shoulder-joint, passed through the external portion of the head of the humerous, and thence downward, splintering the bone through about four inches of its course. The wound in the thigh proved to be only a severe lesion of the soft parts, about eight inches long and three deep.

After a careful examination, I saw it would be impossible to make any effort to save the arm; I therefore determined to remove it at once. The patient was informed of the necessity for the operation, and his permission was accorded almost cheerfully. The only assistance that I could command was from three of the men forming my escort. Having made a kind of bed of some bags of corn, the patient was placed on it. One of the men having been instructed how to compress the axillary artery, and the other assistants properly disposed of, I removed the limb as follows: the patient lying on his back, with the shoulder elevated, I placed myself on the outside, and grasping the arm, I passed the catling through the original wound, thence inwards behind the fractured point of the humerus, and downwards, forming a large flap from the anterior and inner aspect of the arm, which made up for the deficiency caused by the character of the wound, which left the superior-posterior aspect of the joint entirely devoid of muscular tissue. With the aid of a scalpel, the remaining portion of the head and neck of the humerus was removed from the glenoid cavity, the granulated surface of the old wound revivified, and the arteries tied as quickly as possible, after which the edges of the wound were brought together and retained by interrupted sutures and some bands of adhesive plaster. Cold-water dressing was applied, with a light bandage suitable to the part.

The wound in the lower limb was dressed by inverting the large fleshy flap, and retaining it in its normal position by several interrupted sutures. Coldwater dressing and the maintenance of the thigh in a semi-flexed position were the only requisites here. Forty drops of tincture of opium were administered, and the patient placed in as comfortable a bed as the meagre circumstances of the place would permit. Chloroform was not at hand to be given, and the only stimulus obtainable was a few drachms of essence of ginger. The celerity with which the operation was performed, and the fortitude and excellent disposition of the patient, saved him from everything like protracted suffering. In the evening, the tincture of opium was repeated, and proper directions having been given for the dressing of his wounds, I left him, having previously sent for some wine, brandy, and other nourishment. Of the former, 8 ounces, and the latter, 6 ounces, were allowed him daily.

During the night of the twenty-third he arrived at the fort, having travelled in a common wagon sixty miles over a rough road during the two preceding days; and, as he was weak and fatigued, half a grain of sulphate of morphia was given him, and he was placed in a comfortable bed. Next morning I examined his wounds, and found that the lesion at the shoulder had united by first intention, save at a point where the ligatures protruded. The wound in the thigh had partly opened. Proper dressings were applied, generous diet given, and the patient continued to convalesce without an untoward symptom. Most of the ligatures came away between the ninth and twelfth days, and on the fifteenth the last, that from the axillary artery. Occasionally he suffered from frightful dreams, and imaginary pain in the lost arm. Whilst recovering, he had two attacks of quotidian intermittent fever, which readily yielded to quinine. On the twenty-fourth day after the operation he was walking about, and in less than six weeks he started for the Eastern States, restored to perfect health.

On February 13 and 14, 1861, Irwin commanded detachments from Companies C and H, Seventh infantry, in engagement with the Chiricahua Indians near Apache Pass, Ariz., and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for "Distinguished gallantry in action." He was promoted to captain and assistant surgeon on August 28, 1861, and was advanced to major and surgeon on September 16, 1862. During the Civil War he served as medical inspector of the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Cumberland and was medical director of the Army of the Southwest. In addition, he was superintendent of the Army General Hospital at Memphis, Tenn. After his extended tour in Kansas, Surgeon Irwin was chief medical officer of the U. S. Military Academy from 1873 to 1878 and medical director of the Department of Arizona from 1882 to 1886. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assistant medical purveyor on September 16, 1885, and to colonel on August 28, 1890. He was vice-president of the founding group of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 1891. In 1894 he was a delegate to represent the Medical Department, U. S. army, at the 11th International Medical Congress, Rome, Italy, March-April, 1894. On June 28, 1894, he was retired and advanced to the rank of brigadier general. He died December 15, 1917. The new 250-bed permanent army hospital at Fort Riley is to be dedicated in honor of this "Fighting Doctor."

Hospital Steward Louis O. Faringhy began a long tour at Fort Riley that extended from 1866 to 1873. His son, George Faringhy, is quoted in Pride's book on hospital episodes:

George Faringhy is also authority for the fact that the ground just north of the hospital (Administration building 30) was the burial ground for arms and legs amputated in surgery. "The limb was simply wrapped in a towel or sheet, a spade made a hole and without ceremony the interment was made."

In addition to Hospital Steward Faringhy, the hospital staff included Ellen Faringhy as matron. This pattern of husband and wife was often repeated at frontier hospitals as a means of maintaining a higher caliber of medical attendants. In 1866 the hospital steward was paid $33 a month, while the matron drew $14 each pay day.

During the summer of 1867 cholera again broke out in Kansas and visited many of the frontier posts. George Faringhy states:

The news of the epidemic caused General Custer to desert his command at Fort Wallace and hurry to his wife who was still in quarters at Fort Riley.

Another medical officer at the hospital in 1866 was Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg. William Henry Forwood, who signed the report of sick and wounded for the Seventh cavalry in November, 1866, and reported 12 cases of cholera during, the past sixty days. W. H. Forwood was a brilliant surgeon and was the third surgeon general of the army that served at Fort Riley. He was born at Brandywine Hundred, Del., on September 5, 1838. He was educated at Crozier Academy, Chester, Pa., and received his M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1861. Forwood was appointed an assistant surgeon on August 5, 1861. He was severely wounded in battle in October, 1863, and removed from field duty.

During 1864 and 1865 Forwood commanded Whitehall General Hospital of two thousand beds. He was breveted captain and major on March 13, 1865, for faithful and meritorious services during the Civil War. He then had several years of frontier duty and was the surgeon and naturalist for Sheridan's exploring expeditions from 1880 to 1882. He became lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general on June 15, 1891, and colonel and assistant surgeon general on May 3, 1897. Meanwhile, he had served on various army boards and in teaching positions. Forwood built Montauk Hospital in 1898. He was the second president of the army medical school from 1901 to 1902. He was promoted to brigadier general and the position of surgeon general on June 8, 1902. He retired September 7, 1902, and became professor of surgical pathology at Georgetown Medical College. He died May 11, 1915.

The medical staff in 1866 included Acting Asst. Surg. B. E. Dodson in addition to Brev. Lt. Col. and Surg. B. J. D. Irwin and Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg. W. H. Forwood. In spite of the fact that physicians had been awarded military rank since 1847, they retained their older method of medical rating as well, and were usually addressed by their professional title. The medical rating was given only after examination and demonstrated efficiency and included: assistant surgeon (first lieutenant and captain) surgeon (major and lieutenant colonel), and then more specific titles such as assistant surgeon general, medical inspector or medical purveyor (colonel and brigadier general). The military rank did not always correspond with the medical rating; as demonstrated by Major, but Assistant Surgeon, Forwood and Lieutenant Dodson who was only "acting" as an assistant surgeon. Of course, the military title determined the pay grade and a brevet military rank was more desirable than an acting medical rating. Other titles, such as post surgeon and surgeon general, were due to the military position held by the physician and still survive in present day army vocabulary.

Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg. George Miller Sternberg, a brilliant bacteriologist, epidemiologist, and surgeon general of the army, was post surgeon at Fort Riley from August, 1867, until October, 1870. Doctor Sternberg was born on June 8, 1838, at Hartwick Seminary, Otsego county, N. Y., the son of a Lutheran clergyman. He was educated at Hartwick Seminary, Buffalo University and the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University) where he received his M. D. in 1860. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed assistant surgeon. Joining his command, he was captured at the battle of Bull Run, but escaped to participate in the battles of Gaines's Mill, Malvern Hill, and Harrison's Landing. He contracted typhoid fever at Harrison's Landing and the remainder of his war-time duty was spent in military hospitals at Portsmouth Grove, R. I., and Cleveland, Ohio. He received brevet commissions of captain and major during the war and commanded the hospital in Cleveland at the end of hostilities.

Just before his appointment as post surgeon at Fort Riley, Sternberg's first wife, Louisa Russell, died from cholera at Fort Harker (Ellsworth). On August 28, 1869, a Junction City newspaper account suggested that the bachelor would begin married life again:

The result was marriage to Martha L. Pattison, who wrote a delightful biography of Sternberg that included a masterful description of frontier life in Kansas. The varied and unhurried life of an army physician as described by Martha Sternberg is beyond the experience of the modern, scientific, efficient, and overworked military surgeon.

Doctor Sternberg indulged himself in developing inventions while at Fort Riley. Impressed with the desirability of maintaining an even temperature in hospital wards, he patented an automatic heat regulator based on a thermometer that made and broke an electric circuit. The regulator won a prize at the American Institute and had wide use. He also perfected an anemometer and a fruit drier while serving as post surgeon. In April, 1870, Doctor Sternberg prepared a report on the climate at Fort Riley, which was published in the local paper. However, all was not luxury, since in 1868 and 1869, Surgeon Sternberg took part in several expeditions against hostile Cheyennes along the upper Arkansas river in Indian territory and western Kansas.

After leaving Fort Riley and during service at Fort Barrancas, Fla., Sternberg was stricken with yellow fever. Later he published two medical articles that gave him a definite status as an authority on yellow fever. In 1879 he was ordered to Washington and detailed for duty with the Havana Yellow Fever Commission. In 1881 simultaneously with Louis Pasteur, he announced his discovery of the pneumococcus. In the United States he was the first to demonstrate the plasmodium of malaria (1885), and the bacilli of tuberculosis and typhoid fever (1886). His interest in bacteriology naturally led to an interest in disinfection, and with Sternberg and Koch scientific disinfection had its beginning. His essay: "Disinfection and Individual Prophylaxis Against Infectious Diseases" (1886), received the Lomb prize and was translated into several foreign languages. Major Sternberg was breveted a lieutenant colonel on February 27, 1890, for gallant service in performance of professional duty under fire in action against Indians at Clearwater, Idaho, on July 12, 1877. On May 30, 1893, he was made surgeon general of the army with the rank of brigadier general. He was surgeon general nine years and during that time the army nurse corps and the army dental corps were organized.

>The army medical school was founded in 1893 by Sternberg for indoctrinating newly appointed medical officers in military medical practice. He created the Tuberculosis Hospital at Fort Bayard, N. Mex. Sternberg supervised the expansion of the army and the establishment of several general hospitals during the Spanish-American war. His own early difficulties in acquiring knowledge led to a liberal-minded policy in the establishment of laboratories in the larger military hospitals where medical officers could engage in scientific research. In 1898 he established the Typhoid Fever Board and in 1900, the Yellow Fever Commission headed by Maj. and Surg. Walter Reed. Doctor Sternberg published several books including: Malaria and Malarial Diseases (1889), Manual of Bacteriology (1892), Immunity and Serum Therapy (1895), and Infection and Immunity (1904). He died in Washington on November 3, 1915.

From October, 1870, until August, 1871, Capt. and Asst. Surg. Leonard Young Loring served at Fort Riley as post surgeon. Loring was born in St. Louis, Mo., on February 1, 1844. He was appointed first lieutenant and assistant surgeon on May 14, 1867, and promoted to captain and assistant surgeon on May 14, 1870. His first assignment was Downer's Station (in present Trego county), where he was post surgeon from June, 1867, until June, 1868. He became assistant to Sternberg until 1870 and then served as post surgeon. After duty at Fort Riley, Loring was in the field in western Kansas with the Sixth cavalry until February, 1872. He returned to serve at Fort Hays, Camp Supply, Indian territory, and Fort Dodge, from 1878 until 1882. Doctor Loring was promoted to major and surgeon October 9, 1888, and was retired in 1908.

From August, 1871, until October, 1873, Brev. Col. and Surg. Bernard J. D. Irwin returned as Post Surgeon. He was assisted by First Lt. and Acting Asst. Surg. W. O. Taylor, who came to Fort Riley when the Third infantry replaced the Sixth cavalry in 1873.

In 1872 the hospital was remodeled to some extent by making a single dormitory, or hospital ward, of the main part of the building. The dining room and kitchen were in the south wing. Water for the hospital was obtained from a cistern which was just east of the center of the main building, in the center of the rectangle between the two wings. This cistern and pump remained there until the drive was paved after the turn of the century. The hospital staff included Hospital Steward Louis O. Faringhy and hospital matrons Ellen Faringhy and Kathryn Burns. There were two enlisted men who were rated as nurses and one enlisted cook.

From October, 1873, until April, 1877, Brev. Maj. and Asst. Surg. William Elkanah Waters was post surgeon. He was assisted by Acting Asst. Surgs. M. M. Shearer, L. Hall, A. L. Fitch, and W. S. Tremaine. Surg. B. J. D. Irwin had left for duty at West Point and had taken Hospital Steward L. O. Faringhy with him. Hospital Steward John M. McKenzie came to Fort Riley from West Point and Clara McKenzie became hospital matron. In December, 1877, the muster and pay roll of the medical department had a new and first entry of "Hospital Steward per Warrant" when Thomas Hills reported for duty. Surgeon Waters retired in November, 1897.

In April, 1877, Lt. Col. and Surg. Charles Carroll Gray became post surgeon as the 19th infantry was relieved at Fort Riley by the 23d infantry. Doctor Gray was born in New York and retired in January, 1879, at the completion of his tour of duty at Fort Riley. Asst. Surg. H. S. Kilbourne was also at the hospital and signed the report of sick and wounded in June, 1878.

From February, 1879, until March, 1883, Maj. and Surg. Henry Remsen Tilton was post surgeon. Doctor Tilton had just returned from frontier duty and had demonstrated fearless gallantry in action against Indians at Bear Paw Mountain on September 30, 1877. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on March 22, 1895, for this action. Tilton was born in New Jersey and was appointed as assistant surgeon on August 26, 1861, and promoted to major and surgeon in June, 1876. After his tour of duty at Fort Riley, he went to Detroit and was promoted to lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general in August, 1893.

Hospital Steward Louis O. Faringhy transferred from West Point to Fort Riley on April 23, 1879, to replace Hospital Steward Joseph Meredith. Faringhy was discharged from the army on September 8, 1881. In 1883 Charles Hoffmeier was the hospital steward, with his wife, Mary Hoffmeier, serving as hospital matron.

Fort Riley was linked by telephone with the outside world for the first time in the spring of 1883.

From March, 1883, until June, 1885, Maj. and Surg. Albert Hartsuff was the post surgeon. Doctor Hartsuff was born in New York on February 4, 1837, and received his M. D. from the Castleton Medical College of Vermont. He was appointed an assistant surgeon on August 5, 1861, and was breveted captain and major for services during the war and for services during the cholera epidemic in New Orleans in 1866. Hartsuff became a lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general on December 4, 1892, and was promoted to colonel and assistant surgeon general on April 28, 1900. He retired in 1901, but was advanced to the rank of brigadier general on April 23, 1904. He died in 1908.

First Lt. and Asst. Surg. C. C. Goddard was assistant to Surgeon Hartsuff. In addition, First Lt. and Asst. Surg. A. C. Van Doryn was assigned to Fort Riley in June, 1884.

An effort was made by Congress in 1884 to sell the reservation of Fort Riley, since the post was garrisoned by very few troops and the frontier had moved on. However, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan stated in his annual report that it was his intention to enlarge the post and make it the headquarters of the cavalry.

From June, 1885, until March, 1887, Maj. and Surg. Samuel Miller Horton was hospital commander and post surgeon. Doctor Horton was born in Pennsylvania and was appointed an assistant surgeon on August 26, 1861. He received a brevet major rank in 1865 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general in December, 1893. He retired in June, 1894.

In addition to First Lt. and Asst. Surg. C. C. Goddard, the medical staff included First Lt. and Asst. Surg. R. R. Ball, who was assigned in 1886.

Through the efforts of General Sheridan and others, congress passed a law in 1887 providing the sum of $200,000 for construction at Fort Riley, to provide facilities for a school of instruction for cavalry and light artillery. The school was established by Gen. Order No. 9, Headquarters of the Army, February 9, 1887.

VI. The Second Permanent Hospital

In March, 1887, a board of officers headed by Lt. Col. and Surg. A. A. Woodhull was appointed to investigate and report upon the sanitary conditions of the post, upon the water supply and sewerage, and to make such recommendations as might be deemed necessary for a considerable increase of the garrison.

Surgeon Woodhull had been detailed for the board from his position of instructor in military hygiene at the infantry and cavalry school at Fort Leavenworth. He was born at Princeton, N. J., on April 13, 1837, the son of a physician, and prepared at Lawrenceville School for the College of New Jersey, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1856 and that of M. A. in 1859. In 1859 he was also graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. During the two years following his graduation, he practiced medicine, first in Leavenworth, and later at Eudora. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was active in recruiting a troop of mounted rifles for the Kansas militia, in which he was commissioned a lieutenant. Before the unit was mustered into the federal service, Woodhull received an appointment to the medical corps of the regular army, on September 19, 1861. At the close of the war, he was breveted a lieutenant colonel. He had duty tours in the Army Medical Museum, the office of the surgeon general, command of the Army and Navy Hospital at Hot Springs, Ark., and in 1899 he was chief surgeon of the Department of the Pacific at Manila. He was retired in 1901 but in 1904 was advanced to the grade of brigadier general on the retired list. After his retirement he was a lecturer at Princeton University. He died October 18, 1921.

From March, 1887, until July, 1889, Maj. and Surg. Dallas Bache was the post surgeon. Doctor Bache was born in Pennsylvania and was appointed an assistant surgeon on May 28, 1861. He was breveted captain and major in 1865, rated surgeon in 1867, promoted to lieutenant colonel and surgeon in 1890, and became colonel and assistant surgeon general in 1895. He died in 1902.

>Early in February, 1888, a board of officers consisting of Col. James W. Forsyth, Maj. and Surg. Dallas Bache, two cavalry officers and one quartermaster officer met to determine a site for a new hospital. The location selected was north of the main post, on a level shelf with rimrock behind and the Kaw valley spread in front. In April, 1888, the contract was let after Gen. Philip Sheridan recommended an appropriation of $300,000. The north wing of the hospital was completed in 1888. The building was built of native limestone, as were the rest of the post buildings.

The new hospital was far from the center of the post, so a dispensary was built north of the old hospital in 1889 and continued to function as a medical building until 1924, when it was occupied as officers' quarters. In 1890 a dead house was built behind the new hospital. A laundry for the hospital was constructed beside the dead house in 1891, and quarters for the hospital steward were built on the west side of the new hospital in 1891.

The old hospital had been in use since 1855. The structure was extensively modified and a clock tower added in 1890, whereupon the building became the cavalry administration building and post headquarters.

Serving on the same board with the post commander was fruitful for Surgeon Bache, for in 1891 he was married to Bessie Forsyth, daughter of Col. James W. Forsyth.

First Lt. and Asst. Surg. R. R. Ball and Capt. and Asst. Surg. Richardo Barnett completed the medical staff of the hospital. Barnett left for duty at Fort Lewis, Colorado, in August, 1888.

From July, 1889, until October, 1892, John Van Rennselaer Hoff was post surgeon. Hoff was born at Mt. Morris, N. Y., on April 11, 1848, the son of Col. Alexander H. Hoff. He received his A. B. degree in 1871 and the M. A. degree in 1874 from Union University, and his M. D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1874. From 1874 until 1879 he served at posts on the Western frontier in Nebraska and Wyoming. In 1882 he was post surgeon at Alcatraz Island, and then relieved Surg. George M. Sternberg at Fort Mason in 1884. In 1886 Hoff took a year's leave abroad and studied at the University of Vienna. On return to the United States, he organized the first detachment of the newly-authorized hospital corps at Fort Reno, Indian territory, and then became post surgeon at Fort Riley. He organized the first company of instruction for the hospital corps and wrote the first drill regulations for those units while at Fort Riley.

In November, 1890, Hoff took the field with eight troops of the Seventh cavalry and participated in the last battle of the Indian wars. His gallantry was noted in Gen. Order No. 100: "Major John Van R. Hoff, Surgeon, U. S. Army, for conspicuous bravery and coolness under fire in caring for the wounded in action against hostile Sioux Indians, at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota." As evidence that service on the frontier at that time was not a sinecure, it should be noted that immediately on his return to Fort Riley from this battle he was ordered to proceed to Florence, Kan., to care for troopers of the Seventh cavalry who had been injured in a railroad accident at that point. On June 15, 1891, Hoff was promoted to major and surgeon. In 1892 the cavalry and light artillery school was officially established by War Department Gen. Order No. 17, although academic work did not begin until 1893. In that year Hoff was transferred, and subsequent tours included the position of chief surgeon in Third Army Corps, Department of Puerto Rico, U. S. Forces in China, Department of The Lakes, Department of the Missouri, Department of the Philippines, and Department of the East. In addition, Hoff found opportunity to be an instructor in ophthalmology at the University of California, a professor at the Army Medical School, Instructor at the General Staff College, and professor of military sanitation at the University of Nebraska.

Hoff was an observer in the Russo-Japanese war. For several years he was editor of The Military Surgeon and was the third president of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of volunteers in May, 1898, and promoted to colonel and assistant surgeon general in 1905. He retired April 11, 1912, but was assigned to active duty in the office of the surgeon general in 1916. Hoff was a recognized pioneer in the military science of army field medicine. While at Fort Riley, Hoffs medical and teaching staff included First Lts. and Asst. Surgs. Benjamin Brooke, Joseph Taylor Clarke, Henry C. Fisher, James Denver Glennan, Merritte Weber Ireland, Frank Royer Keefer, and Francis Anderson Winter. Doctor Hoff died in 1920.

Merritte W. Ireland was born in Columbia City, Ind., May 31, 1867, the son of a country doctor. He graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine in 1890 and entered the army in 1891. After his tour of duty at Fort Riley, other early assignments included tours in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. In 1911 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was in command of the hospital at Fort Sam Houston when Gen. Frederick Funston suffered his fatal heart attack in San Antonio. General Pershing requested Ireland as a member of his staff and he was promoted to colonel on the eve of his departure for France. He was promoted to major general in August, 1918, and served as surgeon general of the army until May, 1931. Doctor Ireland was a strong supporter of the ancillary corps within the Medical Department, and recommended the establishment of the Medical Service Corps 27 years before it was accomplished. He died in 1952. The recently completed 500-bed army hospital at Fort Knox, Ky., is named in his honor.

There is a historical footnote in the fact that when John Van R. Hoff was given a free chance to develop the hospital corps while at Fort Riley, his superior medical officer and the chief surgeon of the Department of the Misouri was the old, Seventh cavalry surgeon, Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Some three decades later, Army Surgeon General Ireland's top staff included Brig. Gens. James D. Glennan, Henry C. Fisher, and Francis A. Winter. It might have been a coincidence that this group of general medical officers served together at Fort Riley, and the influence of Col. John Van R. Hoff may not be evident in their careers; but why was the retired Doctor Hoff called to active duty in the office of the surgeon general while this group headed the army medical corps?

From October, 1892, until December, 1896, Henry Stuart Turrill was the post surgeon. While at Riley Doctor Turrill was promoted to major in 1893 and then became a lieutenant colonel and chief surgeon in 1898. He became interested in medical supply, and the Reports of the Surgeon General for 1904 and 1905 list him as the commander of the New York Medical Supply Depot, the precursor of the Armed Services Medical Procurement Agency.

On January 9, 1893, the cavalry and light artillery school was formally opened with a lecture on hippology by Dr. Daniel LeMay, veterinary surgeon, Seventh cavalry. The school commandant was Col. James W. Forsyth, the school surgeon was Maj. Henry S. Turrill, assisted by First Lts. and Asst. Surgs. Madison M. Brewer, James M. Kennedy, and Paul F. Straub.

Six years later, on December 21, 1899, Paul F. Straub was surgeon on Alos, Zambales, Luzon, Philippine Islands. On that date his bravery resulted in the last Congressional Medal of Honor that has been awarded to an army physician. "Surgeon Straub voluntarily exposed himself to a hot fire from the enemy in repelling with pistol fire an insurgent attack and at great risk of his own life went under fire to the rescue of a wounded officer and carried him to a place of safety."

By 1896 the company of instruction of the hospital corps was graduating two classes of enlisted men each year. School instructors and Assistant Surgeons Brewer, Kennedy, and Straub had been replaced by Capt. and Asst. Surg. Jefferson Poindexter and First Lts. and Asst. Surgs. William W. Quinton and Thomas U. Raymond.

VII. The Spanish Wars

From December, 1896, through 1898, the post surgeon was Capt. and Asst. Surg. Junius L. Powell. Captain Powell was promoted to major in 1897. The hospital steward was Oscar F. Temple while Sarah Steward was the hospital matron.

Capt. and Asst. Surg. Ashton Bryant Heyl arrived in 1896. In 1897 the canteen had become the post exchange and was located in Waters Hall. Capt. A. B. Heyl of the medical department was the first officer in charge. Doctor Heyl left Fort Riley in April, 1898, and was assigned to the First cavalry at Tampa, Fla. He participated in the Cuban battles, then resigned from the army in February, 1900.

Following Surgeon Heyl, a series of medical officers came to Fort Riley for a few months, only to leave for Cuba. The hospital corps school of instruction was an activity only on paper, since the medical faculty were on detached service at Mobile, Tampa, or Cuba. Acting Asst. Surg. Jose M. Delgado joined the First cavalry and Henry A. Webber left for Fort Tampa, Fla. Capt. and Asst. Surg. Benjamin L. Ten Eyck departed for Fort Tampa, Fla. Even Maj. and Surg. J. L. Powell, the post surgeon, left Fort Riley in June, 1898, for detached service at Mobile, Ala. W. F. Pride stated in his history that in April, 1898, all the officers had left the post except Chaplain Barry, who was in command, and a contract surgeon named Powell. In August, 1898, Acting Asst. Surgs. R. M. Geddings, Charles D. Camp, and F. A. E. Disney were at Fort Riley, but all were in Cuba by October.

The hospital returned to normal when from September, 1899, until September, 1901, Capt. and Asst. Surg. Charles Edward Woodruff was post surgeon. Woodruff was born in Philadelphia on October 2, 1860. He was graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1883 and received his M. D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1886. He was an assistant surgeon in the navy from 1886 to 1887, then became an army surgeon. He was promoted to major when he finished his tour of duty at Fort Riley, and became chief surgeon of the Philippine Department. He was the author of the book: The Effects of Tropical Light on White Men. He retired in 1913 and died in 1915.

In September, 1901, Maj. and Surg. Paul Shillock became post surgeon. The hospital staff consisted of Assistant Surgeons Poey and Winn, Hospital Steward August Nickel, and Caroline Neilson as matron.

In 1902 the uniform of the hospital corps was changed. The emerald green color prescribed for stripes and chevrons was changed to maroon and white. The caduceus was substituted for the maltese cross for cap and collar ornaments.

Also in 1902, the first maneuvers of any magnitude in the United States were held from September 20 to October 8, at Fort Riley. The troops were encamped on the site now occupied by the present cantonment hospital. The area was named Camp Root for Elihu Root, Secretary of War. The chief surgeon of the maneuver division was Lt. Col. and Dep. Surg. Gen. John Van R. Hoff. General Order No. 11 from Camp Root also list Maj. and Surg. Henry P. Birmingham, Lt. and Asst. Surg. P. C. Field, and Contract Surg. Joseph Pinquard. The equipment for a field hospital and ambulance company was evaluated in great detail in 1902, and the third field hospital and ambulance company No. 3 were the first modern units so organized and utilized.

In 1903 Hoff again served as chief surgeon for similar maneuvers at Camp Sanger at Fort Riley. He discussed supply, packing units, and transportation problems in detail in his paper quoted in the Annual Report of the Surgeon General in 1903. Doctor Hoff was very critical of the existing policy of allowing the quartermaster department to maintain transportation items such as ambulances and mules. Army physicians mentioned in Hoff's report include: H. L. Gilchrist, E. F. Gardner, E. B. Frick, F. P. Reynolds, and F. A. Winter.

A medical board was called at Fort Riley in the fall of 1903 because of an outbreak of typhoid fever. The members were Lt. Cols. J. V. R. Hoff and E. F. Gardner, with Majs. E. B. Frick and Paul Shillock, the post surgeon. The findings were that typhoid fever had been endemic in the Kaw valley since the June floods and did not originate in the maneuver camp.

The year 1903 marked the end of the first 50 years of medical service at Fort Riley. Three post hospitals had been occupied and the reservation had been utilized for the first maneuver trial of a modern field hospital and ambulance company. The first company of instruction for the hospital corps had been organized and developed into an example for future army medical schools. But the surgeons who served in the days of individual medicine provide the most history-full accounts. Of the 22 post surgeons, seven became general officers and three became army surgeon general. In addition, two other medical officers who served at Fort Riley also became surgeon general. Among these five surgeons general was the first medical officer to receive the rank of brigadier general and the first to obtain the present rank of major general.

Three physicians were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, including the first one won in the entire army and the last one that has been awarded to an army physician. Six general hospitals in World War II were named in honor of doctors who had served at Fort Riley. A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy was a post surgeon and one doctor deserted his hospital post during a cholera epidemic with resulting courts-martial and dismissal from the service. The first president of the association of military surgeons of the United States was a Fort Riley post surgeon, who also became president of the American Medical Association. Two surgeons resigned to join the Confederacy. Only one doctor died during his tour of duty at Fort Riley. But most important, in that varied group was a sprinkling of men with vision -- who developed efficient techniques for field medicine and maintained superlative curiosity for scientific investigation in the midst of mediocre stimulation fostered by isolation, routine, and military apathy.

(Part Two, the Final Installment of This Hospital History,
"From Horses to Helicopters -- Fort Riley, 1904-1957,"
Will Appear in the Spring, 1958, Issue.)

Bibliography

Maj. George E. Omer, Jr., MC, is chief of surgery, U. S. Army Hospital, Fort Riley.

I. The Temporary Hospital

The Military Surgeon, v. 43 (1918), p. 247.

Margaret Whittemore, Historic Kansas (Lawrence, University of Kansas Press, 1954), pp. 51, 56, 155.

W. F. Pride, History of Fort Riley (Topeka, Capper Publications, 1926), pp. 45, 50, 100, 108.

Highway marker, Kansas Historical Society, Fort Riley Reservation.

J. K. Herr, The Story of the U. S. Cavalry, (1775-1942) (Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1953), p. 116.

R. E. Schmilski, "Fort Riley, 1852 to 1855" (A term paper, Kansas State College, Manhattan).

Fort Riley, Its Historic Past, 1853-1953 (The Army General School), p. 12.

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department, Including Stewards, Wardmasters, Cooks, Nurses, and Matrons (printed by C. Alexander), in archives division of the Kansas Historical Society.

"The National Library of Medicine," U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, Washington, v. 7, No. 11 (November, 1956), p. 1692.

C. C. Howes, This Place Called Kansas (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1952), p. 189.

Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865 (New York, Harper and Brothers, 1941), pp. 431, 442.

M. W. Ireland, "The Medical Corps of the Army and Scientific Medicine," U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, v. 5, No. 12 (December, 1954), pp. 1785-1801.

II. Cholera Epidemic

Percival G. Lowe, Five Years a Dragoon, 1849-1854 (Kansas City, Mo., Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 192, 212.<

Pride, op. cit., pp. 66, 74, 75, 77, 78, 81, 83, 93, 103.

Fort Riley, Its Historic Past . . ., p. 13.

Schmilski, op. cit.

III. The First Permanent Hospital

F, B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903).

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

Asst. Surg. R. H. Coolidge, Reports on the Sickness and Mortality Among the Troops in the Middle Division, June, 1857 (Army Medical Bulletin, Washington, v. unknown, pp. 96-98).

J. I. Lambert, One Hundred Years With the Second Cavalry (Topeka, Capper Printing Co., 1939), p. 45.

J. P. Cooney, "Some Notes on the Historical Development of the Medical Service Corps," U. S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, v. 8, No. 2 (February, 1957), pp. 254-263.

Ireland, op. cit.

The Army Almanac (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1950), p. 94.

C. E. Corey, "Slavery in Kansas," Kansas Historical Collections, Topeka, v. 7 (1901-1902), p. 241.

Pride, op. cit., pp. 89, 169.

Schmilski, op. cit.

W. A. Ganoe, The History of the United States Army (New York, D. Appleton and Co., 1924), p. 496.

"Army Surgeon Generals," The Army Medical Bulletin, Washington, v. unknown, pp. 42-46.

Leech, op. cit., p. 442.

IV. The Civil War

The Junction City Republic, June 25, 1953 (centennial edition).

The Junction City Daily Union, June 24, 1953 (centennial edition).

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

"Report of Sick and Wounded," February, 1864, Fred P. Drew.

Clifford Merrill Drury, "Marcus Whitman, M. D., Pioneer and Martyr," selections from personal correspondence from Walt Disney Productions, January 30, 1957.

"Report of Sick and Wounded," September, November, 1864, Jeremiah Sabin.

Ibid., January, 1866, W. C. Finlaw.

V. The Indian-Fighting Medics

Lambert, op. cit., p. 94, and chapter on Fort Riley.

Fort Riley, Its Historic Past, 1853-1953, p. 4.

Fairfax Downey, Indian-Fighting Army (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1941, p. 70.

Edward M. Coffman, "Army Life on the Frontier, 1865-1898," Military Affairs, Washington, v. 20 (1956), pp. 193-202.

Herr, op. cit., pp. 89, 161.

The Medal of Honor (Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1948), pp, 206, 375.

Martha L. Sternberg, George Miller Sternberg, a Biography (Chicago, American Medical Association, 1920), pp. 16-19.

Obituary of George M. Sternberg, Washington (D. C.) Evening Star, November 3, 1915.

Heitman, op. cit., v. 1, pp. 543, 642, 921, 962.

Thomas H. S. Hamersly, Complete Army and Navy Register of the United States (New York, Thomas H. S. Hamersly, 1880), p. 639.

Who Was Who in America (Chicago, A. N. Marquis Co., 1943), v. 1 (1897-1942), p. 1179.

William H. Powell, Records of Living Officers of the United States Army (Philadelphia, L. R. Hamersly and Co., 1890).

"Report of Sick and Wounded," Army Medical Department: G. M. Sternberg, November, 1867; W. C. Finlaw, 1866; W. H. Forwood, 1866; W. E. Waters, 1876; L. Hall, 1876; A. L. Fitch, 1876.

Wheeler Preston, American Biographies (New York, Harper's, 1940), p. 968.

Dictionary of American Biography, v. 17, p. 492.

Pride, op. cit., pp. 134, 146, 153, 156, 157, 164, 167, 168, 171-174, 177, 180, 185.

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

The Army Almanac, p. 90.

Ganoe, op. cit., p. 496.

Junction City Republic, June 25, 1953.

Maj. Mark M. Boatner, III, Military Customs and Traditions (New York, David McKay Company, Inc., 1956), pp. 94, 95.

George Worthington Adams, Doctors in Blue (New York, Henry Schuman, 1952), pp. 34, 37, 42, 76, 82, 85, 105, 150, 152, 180.

VI. The Second Permanent Hospital

James Robb Church, editorial, The Military Surgeon, Washington, v. 46 (1920), pp. 204-207.

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

Cooney, loc. cit., pp. 254-263.

Who Was Who in America, v. 1, pp. 400, 574, 1367.

National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, v. A, p. 220.

The Medal of Honor, pp. 107, 111, 116, 127, 145, 157, 191, 184, 206, 220, 223, 235, 246.

Heitman, op. cit., v. 1, pp. 534, 587.

Report of the Surgeon General, 1904, p. 29

Ibid., 1905, p. 148

Pride, op. cit., pp. 194, 196, 203, 205, 210, 211, 217, 218, 220, 223.

Dictionary of American Biography, v. 20, p. 492.

VII. The Spanish Wars

The Muster and Pay Roll of the Medical Department . . ., loc. cit.

Pride, op. cit., p. 233.

Report of the Surgeon General, 1904, pp. 42-48, 77.

Ibid., 1902, p. 40.

Who Was Who in America, v. 1, p. 1377.

C. D. Rhodes, ed., The Santiago Campaign (Richmond, Va., Williams Printing Co., 1927), pp. 207-221; 226-245.

General Order 11, Headquarters Maneuver Division, October 4, 1902, Maj. Gen. John C. Bates, commanding.