1847 REGULATIONS

Hospital

sites to be selected for

55… An officer invested with a separate command is responsible for the discipline of the troops under his order, and for the good state of every thing entrusted to his charge. It is, therefore, his duty to see that the rules and regulations for the government of the troops are strictly enforced; and that suitable sites or positions are selected, by the senior medical office of the command, for the hospital or hospital tents.

to be inspected

469… There will be certain periodical inspections, to wit: Medical officers having charge of hospitals will make a thorough inspection of them every Sunday morning.

470… Besides these inspections, frequent visits will be made by the commanding officer, company, and medical officers, during the month, to the men's quarters, the hospital, guardhouse, &c

486…The hospital being at all times an object of particular interest, it will be critically and minutely inspected.

Surgeons

To give certificates of disability

223…Whenever a noncommissioned officer or soldier shall be incapable of performing his duties in consequence of wounds, disease, or infirmity, and recommended to be discharged, the senior Surgeon of the hospital, regiment, or post, shall furnish his captain with a certificate of disability, pursuant to Form 16, of the Medical Regulations, for his approval, or remark; which certificate of disability, with the descriptive certificate properly filled up, and signed by the captain will be forwarded by the commanding officer of the post, (with such remarks as he may deem requisite,) to the Adjutant-General, for final decision at General Headquarters.

To give certificates for pension

225…When a noncommissioned officer of soldier shall be recommended to be discharged in consequence of wounds or other injuries received while actually in the service of the United States, and in the line of his duty, and which disable him from obtaining his subsistence, his commanding officer shall certify the time, place, and manner, of receiving such wound or disability; if wounded in action, state the fact, and name the part wounded; if otherwise injured and disabled, describe the circumstances, the manner of receiving the injury, and the kind of duty in which the soldier was engaged at the time. And the senior Surgeon of the hospital, regiment, or post, upon obtaining sufficient evidence of the facts, shall furnish duplicate Certificates for Pension, agreeably to Form 17, Medical Regulations; which duplicate certificates and descriptive certificate annexed thereto, properly filled up and signed by the Captain, shall be transmitted by the commanding officer of the regiment or post, with such remarks as he may deem requisite, to the Adjutant-General, one of which shall be retained for the files of his office, and the other be sent to the Pension office.

To examine sick officers

242…No officer shall be permitted to ask for a leave of absence, or to quit his post or station, on account of sickness, unless a leave be professionally recommended by the senior medical officer present, who will fully set forth the case.

244…In cases where statements, required to be forwarded by the preceding paragraph, are not deemed sufficient to authorize the officer's absence, an experienced medical officer will be instructed to examine the party, and a report of the examination will be forwarded to the Adjutant-General; and whenever an officer shall remain so absent for one year, he shall be examined by one or more medical officers, and the case be specially laid before the President of the United States.

How arrested

299…To avoid the inconvenience resulting from the suspension of the functions of officers of the medical staff, it is recommended to officers in command, whenever charges are preferred against a Surgeon or Assistant Surgeon, to transmit the charges to the officer having authority to order a general court-martial for his trial; and not to put the Surgeon or Assistant Surgeon in arrest, until the court-martial ordered for his trial shall have been assembled.

Call, When to beat

370…The Surgeon's Call is to sound or beat at -O'clock, when the sick, able to go out, will be conducted to the hospital by the First Sergeants of companies, who will hand to the Surgeon a report of all the sick in the company, other than in hospital. The patients who cannot attend at the dispensary will be immediately after, if not before, visited by the Surgeon.

To inspect hospitals, &c.

469…There will be certain periodical inspections, to wit;

1. The commanders of regiments and posts, will make an inspection of their commands on the last day of every month.
2. Captains will inspect their companies every Sunday morning; and Lieutenants will inspect their squads every Wednesday morning.
3. Medical officers having charge of hospitals, will also make a thorough inspection of them every Sunday morning.
4. Inspection when troops are mustered for payment.

470…Besides these inspections, frequent visits will be made by the commanding officer, company, and medical officers during the month, to the men's quarters, the hospital, guardhouse, &c.

To make out muster and payrolls of steward, &c.

493…The muster and payrolls of the stewards, ward-masters, and nurses, will be made out by the medical officer in charge of the hospital.

To be sent with guards

587…Whenever detachments are composed of 200 men or upwards, a Surgeon or Assistant Surgeon is to be sent with them. On particular duties, the attendance of a Surgeon or Assistant Surgeon may be requisite with smaller detachments. Detachments of cavalry of fifty or upwards must be attended by a Farrier.

704…For the accommodation of the sick and disabled, a wagon will be attached to the rear guard, when necessary and practicable; and a Surgeon will attend, to give assistance, and to see that no improper persons are suffered to avail themselves of the accommodation.

To inspect transports

718…The commanding officer of the troops or other officer charged with their embarkation, will order one or more medical officers to accompany the particular commanders who are to embark on board the several transports, for the purpose of making a most minute inspection of the respective vessels, before the troops are sent on board.

719…Each of these commanders will make a report of the inspection, signed by himself and the accompanying surgeon, to the officer who ordered the inspection.

Duties in transports

740…At morning and evening parades, the surgeon will examine the countenances, &c., of the men, to observe, in general, whether there be any appearance of disease in any of them.

741…The sick will, as far as practicable, be separated from the healthy men. On the first appearance of malignant contagion, a signal will be made for the hospital vessel, (if there be one in company,) and the diseased men removed to her; otherwise the surgeon will call all his resources into action to prevent the spread of the contagion; in which duty he will be aided by the commanding officer.

742…Hospital stores, or comforts, are no where more necessary than on board transports. A good supply ought to be taken on board of each, and strictly applied to their destination, to wit: the use of the sick and convalescent.

743…The surgeon will be careful to guard the men against costiveness on approaching a hot climate. In passing through the West Indies to the Mississippi or the coast of Mexico, for instance, and for some weeks after landing in those latitudes, great care will be required to prevent the men from eating green or bad fruit, as strangers would not be competent to judge of that article, and most kinds, after long voyages, being highly prejudicial.

Examining recruits

799…Surgeons will attend at the rendezvous at least twice a day, at such hours as the recruiting officer shall establish.

800…Surgeons will attend at the rendezvous at least twice a day, at such hours as the recruits, and suffer no man to pass who has not, at his examination, been stripped of all his clothes, in order to ascertain, as far as possible, that he has the perfect use of all his limbs; that he has no tumors, ulcerated legs, ruptures, nor chronic contagious affection, nor other infirmity, which may render him unfit for the active duties of the field, or be the means of introducing disease into the army: And it shall be their duty to ascertain, as far as practicable, whether the recruit is an habitual drunkard, or subject to convulsions of any kind, or has received any contusions or wounds in the head which might produce occasional insanity. With any of these defects, the man must be refused, as being unfit for service.

804…Every detachment ordered from a depot to any regiment or post, shall immediately preceding its departure, be critically inspected by the superintendent or commanding officer, and Surgeon; and, when necessary, a Board if Inspectors will be convened.

805…Every detachment of recruits received at a military post or station shall be carefully inspected by the commanding officer and Surgeon, on the third day after its arrival; and if, on such inspection, any recruit, in their opinion, be unsound or otherwise defective, in such degree as to disqualify him for the duties of a soldier, then a Board of Inspectors will be assembled to examine into, and report on the case. [See pars. 807,808,809,810]

806…In all cases of rejection, the reasons therefore will be stated in a special report to be made by the board, which, together with the Surgeon's certificate of disability for service, will be forwarded to the Adjutant-General, by the superintendent or commandant of the post, for decision at General Headquarters. If the recommendation of the board for the discharge of the recruit be approved, the authority therefore will be endorsed on the certificates, which will be sent back to be filled up and signed by the commanding officer, who will return the same to the Adjutant-General's office. In all such cases the commanding officer will cause the articles of clothing, which may have been issued to the recruit, to be endorsed on the certificate of disability.

807…Boards of Inspectors for the examination of recruits will be composed of the three senior officers present on duty in the line, and senior medical officer of the army present; and when organized at the principal depot, the superintendent, or in his absence, the commanding officer, will preside: if at a military post, the commanding officer will preside at the board of inspection.

808…Whenever a recruit is rejected, the board will report whether, in its opinion, the disability, or other cause of rejection, existed or originated before or after the date of his enlistment; and if the former, whether with due care and proper examination, such disability might not, in its opinion, have been discovered by the recruiting officer and examining Surgeon, at the time the recruit enlisted.

809…When a recruit is rejected and discharged in consequence of the non-observance of the recruiting regulations by the recruiting officer and examining Surgeon, they shall be charged with the amount of clothing which the recruit, so rejected, may have received from the public, to be deducted out of the pay and emoluments of such officers.

810…As the decision of Boards of Inspectors may often involve the recruiting officers in pecuniary liabilities, by their being required to refund to the United States the amount of any loss occasioned by the discharge of a rejected recruit, the board will, in all cases, make the proper discriminations, and always state whether the want of due examination, at the time of enlistment, be attributable to the recruiting officer or examining Surgeon, or to both; and, as far as may be practicable, to state the amount with which either ought, in its opinion, to be chargeable.

To select hospital stewards

864…With the approbation of the commanding officer of a post, or of any troops, a noncommissioned officer or private, will be selected by the senior medical officer present on duty, to act as steward of the hospital. When a suitable hospital steward cannot be obtained from the command, the recruiting officer of the station will, on application of the post Surgeon to the commanding officer, be directed to enlist the person who may be recommended by the medical officer as qualified for such extra duty. The recruit so enlisted, will be assigned to some company, and be mustered, &c., in the same manner as other enlisted soldiers.