ow, Worcester, and Lancaster.[7] No
record has been found to indicate whether or not the British
discovered the medical chests at Concord, but, inasmuch as the
patriots were warned of the British movement, it is very likely that
the chests were among the supplies that were carried off and hidden.
The British destroyed as much of the remainder as they could
locate.[8]

[Illustration: Figure 1.--Medicine scales and oval box of medicinal
herbs used by Dr. Solomon Drowne during the Revolution. Preserved at
Fort Ticonderoga Museum, New York.]

Two days after the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Provincial
Congress ordered that a man and horse be made available to transport
medicines. On April 30, Andrew Craigie was appointed to take care of
these medical stores and deliver them as ordered.

Medical supplies were an early source of anxiety to the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts. The supply of drugs in Boston must have
been largely controlled by the British after Lexington-Concord, and
the limited supply in the neighboring smaller towns was soon
exhausted. Four days before the Battle of Bunker Hill the Congress
"Ordered that Doct. Whiting, Doct. Taylor and Mr. Parks, be a
committee to consider some method of supplying the several surgeons of
the army with medicines," and further "Ordered that the same committee
bring in a list of what medicines are in the medical store."[9]

On June 10 the responsibility of furnishing medical supplies to the
army at Cambridge shifted to Philadelphia when the Continental
Congress accepted the request of the Massachusetts Provincial
Congress to assume control and direction of the forces assembled
around Boston. The Continental Congress established a Continental
Hospital Plan on July 27, but it was not until September 14 that the
Congress appointed a "committee to devise ways and means for supplying
the Continental Army with medicines." On this same day, the deputy
commissary general was directed to pay Dr. Samuel Stringer for the
medicines he purchased,[10] which, as we learn later, were the initial
supply for the Canadian campaign.

The first recorded purchase of drugs made directly by Congress, on
September 23, was "a parcel of Drugs in the hands of Mr. Rapalje,
which he offers at the prime cost."[11] Then, on November 10, Congress
ordered that the medicine purchased in Philadelphia for the army at
Cambridge be sent there by land.[12] But difficulties of supply
commenced early