HISTORICAL THE MAGAZINE. VOL. X.] General Department. JUNE, 1866. USHER PARSONS, M. D. USHER PARSONS, M. D., is the last surviving commissioned officer of Perry's squadron on Lake Erie, and the last of the crew of the flag-ship Lawrence. He was born in Alfred, York County, Maine, August, 1788, and is the son of the late William Parsons, Esq., who was son of Rev. Joseph Parsons, of Bradford, the son of Rev. Joseph, of Salisbury, Mass., the son of Col. Joseph, of Northampton, the son of Joseph, of Springfield, Mass., who settled there with the first company under William Pynchon, in 1635. From this Joseph and his brother Benjamin, who settled at Windsor, Conn., descended a large majority of the name in New England. Dr. Parsons' mother was daughter of Rev. John Blunt, of Newcastle, New Hampshire, whose wife was daughter of Hon. John Frost, the son of Major Charles Frost, who was waylaid and killed by the Indians, July 4th, - 1697. The Doctor's early years were passed in his native village, the summers in HIST. MAG., VOL. X. 22 [No. 6. farming, and winters in the town school. At the age of thirteen he attended a year or more at Berwick Academy. He then served a year or two as clerk in a store, part of the time in Portland. Feeling a strong desire to study medicine, he prepared himself accordingly by studying a year or two with a clergyman, mostly upon the classics. His course of medical studies was pursued partly in Alfred, and completed under Dr. John Warren, of Boston, and in the medical school, where he was licensed to practice, and subsequently he graduated as M. D., and received afterwards the honorary degree of A. M. War being declared early in July, 1812, Dr. Parsons immediately entered the navy, as surgeon's mate, being then twenty-three years of age, and was ordered to the corvette John Adams. The crew, consisting of fifteen officers and one hundred and seventeen men, volunteered in August, 1812, for lake service, and sailed from the navy-yard in sloops, arriving in Albany, N. Y., after a passage of five days. They marched thence to Buffalo, three hundred miles, in twenty-two days, and went into barracks for the winter. In November General Smythe, commander of the troops here, applied to Lieut. Angus, the naval commander, to assist him in crossing the Niagara River, by sending his sailors across, in the night, to spike the enemy's cannon, which was done on the 29th of November. Seven officers and men were killed and twenty-three wounded, and nothing gained by the expedition, since the General and his troops failed to cross and take possession -of the shore. Several men died from wounds and sickness during the winter, and in April fifty men were sent to Erie, Pa., to aid in fitting out the squadron, and the remainder were ordered to Lake Ontario, excepting about twenty invalids, who were left in the barracks, under the care of Dr. Parsons. Early in June, 1813, these, with others, mostly soldiers, embarked on board five armed vessels, that had just been repaired at Black Rock, and were taken to Erie, to join several new vessels there building, and thus completed Perry's squadron, consisting of nine vessels and an armed tender. On the 12th of August they sailed to the head of the lake, and anchored in Put-in Bay. Here the crew soon became sickly, nearly eighty being disabled by a bilious fever, and among them were the commodore and two surgeons; the whole care of the invalids devolved on Dr. Parsons; and after the battle, which occurred on the 10th of September, he had sole charge, in addition thereto, of ninetysix wounded. As sixty-three of them were in the Lawrence, she was made a hospital ship, and sent to Erie with all the wounded of the whole squadron, where they remained, under his care, until the following spring.* In April, 1814, the Doctor was promoted to a full surgeon. The squadron sailed from Erie the ensuing June. (1814), under the command of Capt. Arthur Sinclair, to Mackinac, for the purpose of carrying the army of Col. Croghan, intended to reduce that fortress, which was carelessly lost at the commencement of the war. The enterprise failed, and the army was repulsed with the loss of twelve killed and thirty-nine wounded, mostly soldiers. The squadron now proceeded to Buffalo, to lend aid to the United States troops, who had fought bravely at Fort Erie, Chippewa, and Lundy's Lane, under General Brown and others. In a few days they sailed to Erie. Dr. Parsons here found orders from the Secretary of the Navy, ordering him to report for duty to Commodore Perry, as surgeon of * Copy of a letter from Commodore Perry to the Secretary of the Navy, dated some weeks after the battle: "Of Dr. Usher Parsons, Surgeon's Mate, I cannot say too much. In consequence of the disability of both the other surgeons, Drs. Horsely and Barton, the whole duty of operating, dressing and attending nearly one hundred wounded, and as many sick, devolved entirely on him; and it must be pleasing to you, sir, to reflect that of the whole number wounded only three have died."—[See Holmes's American Annals, vol. ii., p. 455.] He was elected President of the Rhode Island Medical Society in 1837, for three years, and subsequently First Vice President of the National Medical Association, and by the resignation of Dr. Knight he succeeded to the presidency in 1854. His wife deceased in 1825, leaving one son, Dr. Charles W. Parsons, who now occupies the chair in the college formerly held by his father. the new frigate Java, then at Baltimore, For twenty years and upwards he has Md., preparing for a cruise to the Medi- steadily pursued his practice. terranean. From thence she sailed to New York, to complete her equipment, and thence to Newport, R. I., and left there in January, 1816, for Gibraltar. In the following year she returned to Newport, and was laid up in Boston. The Doctor had leave of absence for a year and a half, when, in July, 1818, he sailed in the frigate Guerriere, commanded by McDonough, which carried our minister to Russia, and thence sailed to the Mediterranean. The Doctor's health failing, he obtained leave of absence from the squadron, and returned the following winter to America, by way of Paris and London, and embarked from Liverpool for America, after having passed a few months in hospitals and medical colleges in Paris and London. He now served a year or two in the Charlestown Navy-Yard, Mass., and was appointed to two or three medical colleges, in which he lectured one or two seasons, when he removed to Providence, R. I.; was appointed Professor in Brown University, and settled permanently in the practice of Physic and Surgery, and resigned his commission in the navy. In 1822, he married Miss Holmes, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Holmes, of Cambridge, Mass., and subsequently gave lectures several years on Anatomy and Physiology in Brown University; he lectured one season in Philadelphia, Penn., and afterwards passed a winter in the medical institutions in Europe (1842-3). Doctor Parsons is the publisher of several works, medical and historical.* It is, therefore, not too much to say, in conclusion, that his ripe and varied scholarship, his deep interest in historical and antiquarian research, his intimate acquaintance with the traditions and relics of the aborigines of our country, his recollections of distinguished contemporaries and of noteworthy occurrences during a long and eventful career, together with his modest and unassuming manners, which mark the well-bred gentleman of the old school, all combine to render him worthy of high honor and lasting esteem in the scientific, historical and literary world. *The Physician for Ships passed through five editions; his Art of Making Anatomical Preparations is out of print. He published a volume of Boylston Prize Essays, and numerous contributions to medical the medical association, The Life of Sir William Pepjournals, and reports as chairman to committees of perell, and also biographies of several individuals in genealogical journals. The foregoing sketch is gathered from numerous sources, particularly from Miss Sanford's History of Erie, Holmes's American Annals, and Genealogical and Medical Journals. LETTERS OF GEN. STARK AND public defaulters. In correcting the (Furnished by ED. BALLARD, of Brunswick, Me.) The following letters relate to the war of the Revolution, at the time when Cherry Valley, N. Y., was one of the advanced posts in that direction. Not long before the date of the earliest of the number, and in the spring, after his successful campaign at Bennington, Gen. Stark was ordered to Albany, to assume the command of the northern department of the army. At this time the frontier was much harassed by the British and their Indian allies, under Brant as their leader. In some instances, it appears that the residents in the valley of the Mohawk disguised themselves with savage costume and paint, that they might the more readily accomplish their destructive purposes, in the conduct of this border warfare. In the reprisals made by the patriot soldiers, as is not unusual in such portions of history, the innocent were often captured and otherwise injured, while the real perpetrators of the mischiefs were adroit enough to escape. For the purposes of the general service to which Stark had been here assigned, his biographer says, he had few reliable troops, and was often compelled to resort to the aid of the militia. He had two frontier rivers to protect, and was surrounded by tories, spies, peculators and he had the reward of most reformers, "Those detected cursed him, while their friends complained;" and before the year closed he gladly welcomed the order that gave him a new command in Rhode Island. In some of these letters of Gen. Stark will be seen the same spirit that appeared at Bennington, specially in his laconic speech, that if he was not the conqueror, "This night Bettie Stark sleeps a widow."* Brunswick, Me. Albany 23 June 1778 Sir. you are to proceed with the party under your Command to Cohnewagga there (or as near that place as you shall with the Advice of your and the other officers in that Quarter) shall Judge most Convenient to Defend-& Stop the progress of Brant (the Indian Commidant) Nevertheless you are not to begin an Engagement but to suffer the Militia from this Quarter to make the first Attack & you to support them as you may think most proper if you should find that Brant has crossed the Mohawk River on his Way to Crown Point you will then return * Her maiden name was Elizabeth Page. |