Report of the Surgeon-General of Massachusetts, to His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief. December 1st, 1864.

Publisher's green wrappers, each separated from the string-tied text block but held in place tenuously by a home-made clear mylar jacket, octavo, pp. 80. In this quaternary year of the Civil War, Surgeon-General Dale presents to Governor John Andrew "the Fourth Annual Report from this Department." Initial pages devoted to updates ("promoted"; "declined promotion"; "mustered out") of surgeons serving with various regiments of Massachusetts Volunteers & Militia. Following pages include Reports to Dale from Massachusetts State Military Agents in New York ("we must . . . return our sincere thanks to the sons and daughters of Massachusetts and New England" [40]); Philadelphia (where "a few noble women, whose hearts were pained by the constant sight of sick and wounded soldiers, in transitu through our city," set up Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, which, though much-appreciated, were "but a drop of alleviation in the great bucket of the necessity" [44]); Baltimore ("[I] have purchased . . . stationery, tobacco, fruits, and other needed articles, for distribution among our [Massachusetts] men in hospital, amounting to over fifty dollars" [54]); and Washington, whose agent describes a letter received on 18 November indicating that the citizens of Boston desired to provide a Thanksgiving dinner to hospitalized Massachusetts men in Washington: "Perceiving no feasible way to give to Massachusetts men exclusively, and knowing the liberality of our people, I tendered to the Medical Director of this department a Thanksgiving dinner for all soldiers here, irrespective of States" (66). Pamphlet ends with lists of expenses incurred in 1864 for myriad concerns, including clothing, lemons, brandy, crackers, ham, tobacco, stamps, and at least two cash payments to "Miss Clara Barton" (72).