ABSTRACT
Jonathan Potts established three hospitals in the north— one at Albany for troops in transit, the second at Fort George for smallpox care, and the third at Mt. Independence, where combat was expected. The finest accolades to Potts came from Horatio Gates and from Congress. Comparing the enormous sickness and mortality rates of the 1777 campaign in Pennsylvania under William Shippen’s direction, Benjamin Rush stressed that Potts lost comparatively few patients. For Potts, now thirty-two years old, who returned home on November 16, it had been “a happy campaign”. He emerged from his trying experience in the north with compliments from doctors, generals, and politicians. The Congressional praise of Potts and his staff was the only such testimonial to the skill and bravery of army doctors during the entire Revolutionary War. For the medical department, frequently charged with corruption and mismanagement, it was a prized tribute.
