APPENDIX I
HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL CORPS
UNITED STATES NAVY
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
CORPS
Few military organizations can look upon their
histories with the same degree of pride and awe as the
Navy Hospital Corps. Since the establishment of the
Navy medical department in Colonial times and the
commissioning of the Hospital Corps a century ago,
Hospital Corpsmen and their forerunners have proven
themselves ready to support Marines and Sailors by
giving them aid whenever and wherever necessary.
This level of dedication has remained a strong current
running through the Corps history, even as the tools
and techniques used by its members have evolved.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
The first direction given to the organization of
Navy medicine consisted of only one article in the
Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United
Colonies of North America of 1775. Article 16 stated:
A convenient place shall be set apart for sick or
hurt men, to be removed with their hammocks
and bedding when the surgeon shall advise the
same to be necessary: and some of the crew
shall be appointed to attend to and serve them
and to keep the place clean. The cooper shall
make buckets with covers and cradles if
necessary for their use.
Interestingly, the cooper (or barrel-maker), whose skills
could be used to make bedpans, had a more detailed job
description than did any kind of trained medical
assistant.
A typical medical section was usually limited to
two, perhaps three men: the surgeon, the surgeons
mate, and possibly an enlisted man. The surgeon was a
physician. The surgeons mate, usually a doctor as
well, held status like that of a modern warrant officer
but signed on only for a particular cruise. Although
surgeons mates were historically viewed as part of the
Medical Corps, their position and responsibilities
appear to be more equivalent to those of todays senior
Hospital Corpsmen.
Few things changed in medical techniques and
organization between 1775 and 1814, the period
covering Americas first naval wars. Among the less
dramatic responsibilities of caring for the noncombat
ill and injured were feeding and personal care of the
sick. The simple daily ration of porridge, or loblolly,
was sure to be carried down to those in the medical
space by untrained attendants.
SURGEONS MATES AND LOBLOLLY
BOYS
Congress approved an act on March 2, 1799, which
copied the words of the Continental Congress medical
department Article 16 of 1775 exactly. As a result,
there was still no title or job description for enlisted
medical personnel. The nickname loblolly boy was
in common use for so many years that it became the
official title in Navy Regulations of 1814. The loblolly
boys job, described in the Regulations of 1818,
included the following:
The surgeon shall be allowed a faithful
attendant to issue, under his direction, all
supplies and provisions and hospital stores,
and to attend the preparation of nourishment
for the sick. . . . The surgeons mates shall be
particularly careful in directing the loblolly
boy to keep the cockpit clean, and every article
therein belonging to the Medical Department. .
. . The surgeon shall prescribe for casual cases
on the gun deck every morning at 9 oclock,
due notice having been previously given by his
loblolly boy by ringing of a bell.
SURGEONS STEWARDS AND LOBLOLLY
BOYS
A new senior enlisted medical rate, surgeons
steward, was introduced in the ensuing decades. The
term is first seen in 1841 in Navy pay charts, but it
appears that the new billet was only allowed on larger
ships. By April 1, 1843, the Navy Department issued
an order allowing surgeons stewards to be assigned to
brigs and schooners.
The relative importance of
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