On December 2, by order of Morgan, Apothecary Craigie made an inventory of the medical supplies in the general hospital at Cambridge. The inventory included 120 different items, but only limited quantities of the essential drugs.[25] There were 52 pounds of Jesuits' bark, 18 pounds of cream of tartar, 76 pounds of purging salts, 1 pound of camphor, 5 pounds of jalap, 1 pound of ipecac, and ½ pound of tartar emetic. The 44 pounds of gum ammoniac was reported "damaged," and the 86 pounds of rhubarb was described as "bad."[26] An inventory of medicines held by the different regimental surgeons in Massachusetts indicated that all regiments had "but few medicines" except for Colonel Hand's, which reported "a good supply."[27]
However, this rather meager inventory of drugs probably was not inadequate. The siege of Boston resulted in few wounded soldiers, and there was a surprisingly small amount of sickness in the army during the winter of 1775-76; furthermore, towns not too distant still had a limited supply of drugs on hand. Smith and Coit, of Hartford, Connecticut, informed "their good Customers, and the public in general, that notwithstanding the entire stop to Importation which hath long since taken place, they still have on hand, small Quantities of most Articles of the Apothecary Way ... which they mean to sell at a reasonable retailing Price."[28] Jacob Isaacks of Newport, Rhode Island, similarly advertised "a complete assortment of genuine Medicines, with furniture for containing the same, to the amount of about 300 pounds sterling; which medicines were purchased with cash, and will be sold, at the prime cost and charges, without any advance. Any of the lawful or Continental bills now current will be taken in pay for the above medicines."[29]
Drug supplies also were quite adequate in Boston during the British occupation. Sylvester Gardiner at "The Sign of the Unicorn and Mortar in Marlborow Street" reported that "all kinds of the best and freshest drugs and medicines ... are continued to be sold as usual." However a cautionary note was added that drugs and medicines had been "constantly imported every fall and spring to June last." Implicit in the advertising is the suggestion that the securing of new supplies was highly uncertain.[30]
A letter dated December 2, 1775, from a British officer in Boston to a friend in Edinburgh observed that "many of our men are sick, and fresh provisions very dear." However, the officer added, "but the Rebels must be in a much worse condition...."[31] Drugs were imported into Boston during the siege as evidenced by an advertisement on February 22, 1776, announcing "just imported from LONDON and to be sold at Mr. Dalton's Store, on the Long-Wharf, a proper assortment of Drugs and Medicines of the Best quality in Cases."[32]
By the end of February 1776, Washington had decided to try to end the siege of Boston by seizing Dorchester Heights and placing his artillery there in a position to bombard the town. General Howe believed it was time to leave, and the British evacuated on March 17.
As the Continental Army moved into Boston, there was an outcry that the British had poisoned a supply of drugs left behind. On April 15 the Boston Gazette reported that "it is absolutely fact that the Doctors of the diabolical ministerial butcher when they evacuated Boston, intermixed and left 26 weight of Arsenick with the medicines which they left in the Alms House."[33] Then, a week later, on April 22, appeared a series of testimonials that had been made by Joseph Warren, Daniel Scott, and Frederick Ridgley at Watertown on April 3d "by order of the Director-General of the Continental Hospital." Warren swore under oath that on or about March 29 he had gone into the workhouse [almshouse] "lately improved as an hospital by the British troops stationed in said town" and upon examining the state of "a large quantity of Medicine" left in the medicinal storeroom had found about 12 or 14 pounds of arsenic intermixed with the drugs, which were found "to be chiefly capital articles and those most generally in demand."[34]
Despite this incident, we have the word of Morgan that "a large, though unassorted stock of medicines" was collected in Boston when the British evacuated.[35] Hospital Surgeons Ebenezer Crosby and Frederick Ridgley reported that "at the evacuation of Boston ... all the Mates of the Hospital that could be spared from Cambridge ... were employed in packing up and sending off [to Cambridge] drugs, medicines and other hospital stores, collected by order of Dr. Morgan, the quantity of which appeared great."[36]
Inasmuch as few medicines were listed in the inventory of stores left by the British on the wharfs and in the scuttled ships in the harbor,[37] it appears that most of these drugs obtained in Boston were confiscated from the homes, offices, and shops of the Loyalists who fled when the British evacuated. Morgan reported that he had taken possession of the medicines and furniture of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner's shop, and a small stock of drugs from the office of Dr. William Perkins, a private practitioner.[38] No inventory of these supplies has been located thus far, but a contemporary biographer of Sylvester Gardiner records that the confiscated drugs from his shop "filled from 20 to 25 wagons."[39] This is not unlikely because Gardiner's apothecary shop was one of the largest and most prosperous in the Colonies prior to the Revolution.[40]
Soon after the British evacuated Boston, the Greenleaf apothecary shop in Boston was again supplying medicines to the Continental Army. The Greenleaf ledger[41] shows that on May 25 the shop sold nearly £4 worth of "Sundry Medicines ... [to] the Committee of War, State of Massachusetts Bay." Then, on June 20, the Massachusetts Assembly resolved that "Dr. John Greenleaf of Boston be requested to supply the Chief Surgeon of ... Colonels Marshall's, Whitney's and Craft's Regiments ... with medicines as may be necessary...."[42] A short time later the Assembly advanced "up to £50 to Greenleaf for purchasing such medicines as he cannot supply from his own store."[43]
The Greenleaf ledger shows that over £32 worth of medicines were sold for Colonel Whitney's regiment and over £36 worth for Colonel Marshall's regiment between June 13 and November 20, 1776. Thus, drugs were available; but until the fall of '76, Greenleaf was having difficulty in obtaining an abundant supply.