A spectacular piece of Maryland Civil War Medical Ephemera, this being an 1863 Manuscript Document from Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md. featuring authorization from Assistant Surgeon P.H. Clark sending a prisoner with "Delerium Tremors" from Alcohol Withdrawal to the Camp Hospital. "Hospital Department Camp Parole June 4th 1863 This prisoner Geo[rge]. Thayer should be sent to the hospital as he cannot be properly treated in the Guard House having Delerium Tremors Officer of the Guard} P.H Clark A-Asst. Surgeon U.S.A. Camp Parole, Md" Camp Parole was one of three established during the American Civil War to accept Union prisoners of war until they could be exchanged for Confederate prisoners of war confined in the south. Camp Parole was also the headquarters of famed Civil War nurse Clara Barton. "A "camp of instruction" for 50,000 men was established near Annapolis by War Department General Order No 59, dated June 5, 1862. Before any progress could be made on this project, it was changed by General Order No., 72, dated June 28, 1862, to a camp for paroled prisoners from New England and the "Middle States". By the end of July this camp was being referred to in official correspondence as "Camp Parole". "At first the camp for paroled Federal prisoners was established on the St. John's College campus. Prisoners were brought up the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis by the steamer, New York, in groups as large as 6,000. Before entering the camp, the prisoners of war were required to bath. "Their clothes and shoes were thrown into College Creek, where, as long as 30 years after the end of the war, those sturdy leather boots were still to be exhumed from the mud of that stream." "The eight wooden barracks which had been erected on the campus, each meant to house 150 men, soon proved to be woefully inadequate." The land appears not to have been carefully chosen, rendering parts of it uninhabitable in bad weather. Hospital facilities and the camp guard were inadequate and remained so, despite desperate pleas to Washington by the commander. Men lived in tents, huts they built for themselves with lumber stolen from public buildings, and a few hastily erected wooden barracks. The camp population varied from 2,000 to more than 15,000 at any one time. "On May 1, 1863, the Federal government signed a lease with Charles S. Welch and Ann Rebecca Welch, his wife, for the use of their 250-acre farm outside of Annapolis, at a rent of $125.00 per month. The new site was near the Annapolis-Elkridge railroad. "By mid-December, 49 of the 83-authorized buildings were occupied, and "Surgeon Pittinos claimed that the 168 bed hospital was totally inadequate for the 6570 men then in Camp Parole barracks, and suggested adding 2 more wards and a wash house." - pa-roots This historic piece measures approximately 8" X 4" and is perfect for framing and display! #IS-0010.
