- unitid
-
{"value"=>"344334", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1862-1863", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1862/1863"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1862
- date_inclusive_end
-
1863
- keydate
-
1862
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"V. Department of Special Inspection of the General Hospitals of the Army"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"2 boxes"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The USSC’s Department of Special Inspection of the General Hospitals of the Army operated from September 1862 to May 1863. Working with the approval of U.S. Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond, it was established to determine the conditions and needs of Army general hospitals in the east and west by recruiting physicians to inspect them during a limited period of time, and to report those findings to the Army.</p> <p>The Department was located at the Central Office in Washington under the superintendency of Henry G. Clark, M.D., but was initiated and directed by the USSC's Medical Committee in New York (W. H. Van Buren, C. R. Agnew, and Wolcott Gibbs). Clark served as Inspector-in-Chief and reported to the Medical Committee. In its role as an advisor to the Army, the USSC hoped that these comprehensive inspections, reports of which were forwarded to the Army for review and action, would help improve hospital treatment for sick and wounded soldiers.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The records of the Department of Special Inspection of the General Hospitals of the Army, 1862-1863, consist of letters, inspection reports, lists, memoranda, draft circulars, and printed matter documenting the Department’s efforts to recruit inspectors and perform inspections at various Army general hospitals. Letters received by Clark are typically from physicians responding to the USSC circular sent during the fall of 1862 seeking their services for special inspections, or from hired inspectors reporting on their activities. Some letters are addressed to Frederick Law Olmsted, to whom applicants and inspectors were initially directed to send their communications. Letters received by the Medical Committee were addressed to all three members of the Committee or a single member from physicians, inspectors, and Clark reporting on their work or enclosing inspection reports. Letters sent by Clark consist of two letterpress copybooks of letters to Medical Committee members, USSC staff, Surgeon General Hammond, and inspectors concerning inspection reports. Inspection reports are arranged alphabetically by inspector’s name and, in some cases, by the army hospital’s location as well if more than one report from an inspector is present. The bulk of submitted reports, whether originals or copies, are not present in the collection.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1862
- date_end
-
1863