Recently published works of Bennett Carlton

Children's book about General Charles G. Harker

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                                 Revolutionary War account of a notorious Tory, John Hatton, Esq.

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The courageous life and death of General Charles G. Harker

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Charles Garrison, M.D., and the Civil War in Swedesboro, NJ

Charles Garrison, M.D.¸ and the Civil War in Swedesboro, NJ

By Ben Carlton

In 1862, Doctors Charles Garrison and Luther Halsey drew lots to see who would leave his practice in Swedesboro to serve in the Union Army during the War of the Rebellion.  Halsey drew the short straw (or was it the long one?) and began a distinguished career in his country’s service, becoming one of the chief surgeons of the II Corps, Army of the Potomac.  Garrison stayed behind to attend the medical needs of the community; or so the story is told.  Unfortunately, Dr. Garrison makes no mention of this in his diary, simply recording in his laconic style on 25 August 1862: “Dr. Halsey, my competitor here for several years, has been appointed Surgeon in the 7th Regiment of N.J. Volunteers.”  Further, it requires somewhat of a stretch of the imagination to believe that the sexagenarian, Garrison, would enter the service over the 29-year-old Halsey.  After all, war is considered a young man’s game (the average age of a soldier in the Civil War was just 25 years young).  And Dr. Halsey had had real wartime experience, having served as an assistant surgeon with the British fleet at the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.  He was the obvious choice.

Although the story of the physicians drawing lots is most probably apocryphal, it certainly was in keeping with Charles Garrison’s character, a man who “took the deepest interest in everything pertaining to the late Civil War.”[1]  Dr. Garrison was a staunch Republican with strong anti-slavery sentiment, unwavering in his loyalty to President Lincoln, even during the darkest days of the war.  Garrison followed the movements of the armies with great interest.  He pored over the newspapers assiduously for war news (as did Confederate General Lee, who it was said, regularly scanned the columns of northern newspapers for intelligence before plotting his army’s next move).  Making this possible was a free-ranging corps of correspondents on the battlefields, who could transmit their stories via telegraph to their editors in northern cities, where the latest war news would hit the streets the next day.  Despite exaggerated accounts of battles, inflated casualty figures, and some erroneous reports appearing in the papers, Dr. Garrison was able to get a generally accurate picture of how the war was progressing on battlefields far from Swedesboro. 

Anyone reading Garrison’s diary would probably form the impression that, if not for his age, the Doctor would be caring for the wounded on the battlefield, if not actually shouldering a musket on the frontlines.  Yet, Garrison took on an active role on the home front.  In April 1861, he was appointed to the Woolwich Township committee to aid the soldiers awaiting orders at Camp Stockton, personally donating $20 “to fit out our volunteers.”  Later, with winter fast approaching, he gave $1 towards the purchase of India rubber “gum” blankets for the New Jersey troops.  The Ladies Aid Society met regularly at the Garrisons’ home to plan fundraisers, gather lint for bandages, and knit woolen socks for the soldiers.  Mrs. Mary Jane Garrison (nee Hendrickson), whom Garrison described as “my saucy young wife,” was very active in the society.  (“Jenny” was 34 years old in 1865.  Garrison’s first wife, Hannah, died in 1853.)  After the bloody Battle of Gettysburg, Dr. Garrison shipped “a box of wines, jellies, etc.” to Pennsylvania for the relief of the wounded and suffering soldiers.

Dr. Garrison regularly treated furloughed sick and wounded soldiers in his home.  Men like Frederick Nehls of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment, sent home with a shattered left arm, or Benjamin Gill of the 9th New Jersey Volunteers, shot through the neck and discharged from the army, are just two examples of the many wounded soldiers who received medical attention from Dr. Garrison.

While caring for the needs of invalid soldiers, Dr. Garrison also had to manage an extensive medical practice, presumably enlarged by the absence of Dr. Halsey.  Dr. Garrison’s practice covered “a large space of the country” and often kept him on the road when he wasn’t preparing medicines to treat the sick and injured.  As for his skill as a physician, it was noted that “As a diagnostician and a [prognosticator] he was remarkable, seeming to see almost intuitively just what was the matter, and the probable results.” [2]

Dr. Garrison treated various maladies that were infecting the citizens of Swedesboro, Woolwich, and surrounding areas.  Garrison believed that typhoid fever required little or no medicine – better to give none at all than to give too much – but juicy beef tea, milk, and a dose of castor oil at the onset proved successful in most cases.  He prescribed liberal doses of brandy for a new disease in the county he called “spotted fever.”  As for the numerous bowel afflictions that cropped up every summer, opium seemed to do the trick.

For a time, Dr. Garrison kept a stable of five fast horses in order to keep pace with the demands of his practice.  Of course, traveling about the countryside to reach his patients was not without its hazards.  “The left hind wheel of my sulky broke short off today,” recorded Dr. Garrison.  And he noted in another entry, “Very slippery for man or horse.”  “Julian [Dr. Garrison’s horse] fell down today and cracked shaft.”  And on 11 November 1865, “Ran against a cart and broke my axletree.”  

Dr. Garrison was a leading figure in community affairs, and was personally involved as a vestryman at his church, Trinity Episcopal, of Swedesboro.  The rector of the parish, the Reverend Henry Tullidge, had been asked to step down in 1862 because of his apparent southern sympathies.  Tullidge offered his resignation, to take effect when he found another pastorate.  Dr. Garrison was involved in the search to replace the Reverend Tullige, whom Garrison described as a “Red-eyed, thorough going, dyed-in-the-wool, out-and-out Democrat and rabid secessionist.”  It seems that Tullige had the temerity to criticize President Lincoln in the sanctity of Garrison’s own home, declaring that Lincoln was to blame for bringing on “this unholy and wicked Civil War,” for which he would be “forever damned.”  Garrison recorded his reply: “I merely and mildly told him I thought he would be the better for a little hanging!”

Doctor Garrison had no charity for southern sympathizers or copperheads.  He also wrote disparaging comments about some of his neighbors, particularly the proprietor of Plummer’s Hotel, one James Plummer.  After Plummer’s son, Ben, was reported missing in action after the Battle of Chancellorsville and presumed dead, Garrison wrote in his diary, “Poor fellow.  He was never found and Jimmy Plummer gave his son to the country – the only thing he was ever known to give for anything or anyone.”

Dr. Charles Garrison was a man of great character, a civic-minded patriot, and a true pillar of the community.  By 1863, a year that marked pivotal Union victories on the field of battle, Dr. Garrison had already been serving the Swedesboro community for over 40 years.  Though he lost the lottery with Dr. Halsey, Swedesboro would have lost more without the invaluable services of Dr. Charles Garrison during the War of the Rebellion.

1. Cushing T. and Sheppard EE.  History of Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of Their Prominent Citizens.  Philadelphia, Pa.: J.B. Lippincott & Co.; reprinted June 1974: Gloucester County Historical Society, Woodbury, NJ: p. 146.

2. Ibid.; p. 146

3. Ibid.; p. 145.

Rebel Prisoners Treated Well at Fort Delaware

In my recent correspondence I described how I witnessed the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners on the Savannah River ["Our Prisoners" New-York Times, November 26, 1864].  In this report, which was the first of its kind to document the terrible plight of the Andersonville prisoners, I described the wretched condition of the brave "soldiers of the Republic" who had at last been delivered from the "unutterable misery" of the notorious prison pen known as Camp Sumter located near Andersonville, Georgia.  Evidence in the form of the pale and forlorn specters shuffling off or being carried from the gangplanks of the steamers gave living (barely) proof of the vindictiveness of southern authorities.  A hard accusation, indeed.  But the exchanged prisoners gave the lie to the myth of the chivalrous Southrons in the "wasted hungry aspect of the sufferers, whose filth and squalor and skeletal frames appeal to Justice to the God of justice."  Further proof of deliberate mistreatment of the Union prisoners was evident in the testimonies of those thus far brought back - an estimated 10,000 men returned to "our welcome keeping."

Fort Delaware (photo by William Myers)

By glaring contrast, Rebel prisoners confined at the North have been generally treated well as this correspondent set out to prove on his recent visit to Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island located midway between Delaware and New Jersey on the Delaware River.  The prison compound resembles a medieval fortress complete with moat, drawbridge and portcullis.  The Confederate officers are kept within this fortress while the enlisted men are comfortably housed outside in sturdy barracks.  Long lines of these structures, which house 400 men apiece, are situated far enough from the fort to isolate the men from their officers.   Leaderless, the prisoners acquiesce to their surroundings more readily as there have been few escapes from the island.  Although, remarkably,  it most be noted that a few daredevils have sought to swim to freedom by the unpleasant expedient of slipping through the privy holes of the latrines that stretch out over the river.   The distance is about 2,000 yards from the prison to the Delaware shore (it is even farther to New Jersey side), and even the strongest swimmer risks being swept out to sea by the strong and swift cross-currents of the Delaware.        

But why would the prisoners attempt so bold and desperate a plan?   They are given better rations in the prison than the poor devils ever received in the Rebel army:  two regular meals a day consisting of eight ounces of meat, thirteen ounces of bread, and generous amounts of soup and coffee. Their Yankee counterparts at Andersonville receive far less and have to scrounge for extra foodstuffs just to subsist on their pitifully meager rations.  And they are without shelter, constantly rained upon, and crammed into an open area of just five acres within a stockaded compound manned by trigger-happy guards with orders to shoot to kill if a prisoner ventures too near the so-called "dead line."  There is no dead line at Fort Delaware, though large calibre artillery pieces mounted on the walls of the fort are loaded and trained on the prisoners' barracks to discourage insurrection.  After all, as many as 12,000 or so restless prisoners outnumber the 200 guards by a considerable margin.

Whereas medical care at Fort Delaware is judged adequate for the needs of the Rebel prisoners, the charnel house mislabeled as a hospital at Andersonville is a place where the cure is indeed worse than the disease.  By and large, sick Union prisoners suffer from cruel neglect, unsanitary conditions, and a severe lack of sufficient food needed to nurse a sick prisoner back to health.   Yet despite the heat and the presence of numerous pests, situated as it is on a marshy, alluvial island, the prisoners at Fort Delaware are considerably healthy.  Many of the Rebels hail from deep South states and are generally immune to the heat of summer on the island.  They suffer more from the cold Northern winter as icy winds blow off the Delaware and across the island.  It is true they are not allowed to receive heavy or sturdy clothing as this, in the event of another prisoner exchange, would be tantamount to supplying the Rebel army.  Of course, neither are prisoners permitted to wear any coats of blue material or suits of blue color as this might aid in escapes from the prison.  However, the barracks are supplied with two stoves each per structure to provide heat during the cold winter months.  A prisoner admitted to me that he suffered so much from the cold because of the men who position themselves in front of the red-hot stoves.  Dubbed "stove rats" by their fellow prisoners, only a concerted rush from the inmates of the barracks will dislodge the stove rats who refuse to share the warmth with their barracks' mates.   

Despite some unavoidable privations, Fort Delaware is considered a safe haven for Confederate prisoners of war, while the prison pen at Andersonville is said to rival the infamous prison ships of the British for unbridled cruelty, where American Patriots died by the thousands under similar horrific conditions during the Revolutionary War.  

- HJW 

Barracks of enlisted men (photo by William Myers)

Inside of enlisted men's barracks (photo by William Myers)

  

[Editor's notes:  Despite the author's assertions that the southern prisoners were well fed and comfortably housed at Fort Delaware, it should be pointed out that General Schoepf, commandant of the prison, complained to Union Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs that the barracks were sinking into the mud!  Also, despite common knowledge that a proper diet prevents scurvy, William Hoffman, the Commissary General of Prisoners, ordered prison officials to withhold vegetables from the prisoners' diet as this was considered an expensive luxury.  Yet, medical officers continued to report scurvy as the number one killer of prisoners housed at Fort Delaware.   

For more information, see Confederate Prisoners of War at Fort Delaware by Nancy Travis Keen; also, see Dispatches from the Front: A History of the American War Correspondent by Nathaniel Lande.]   

More notes from the editor:  "Henry Winser" has spent a considerable amount of time reporting from the Army of the Cumberland on the progress of General Sherman's Atlanta Campaign.  He was particularly impressed with a young Brigadier General named Charles Garrison Harker who was mortally wounded leading the attack at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.  Winser was so impressed he wrote a biography about the man along with coauthor, Bennett Carlton, titled, Have We Taken the Mountain?, which may be purchased from Amazon Books through the following link:  

https://www.amazon.com/Have-We-Taken-Mountain-Battles/dp/1530881307/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471823662&sr=1-1&keywords=General+Harker