Monday, December 3, 2012

Medical Care for Prisoners

On December 12, 1776, the New York Committee of Safety, convening at Fishkill, authorized its secretaries, or any one of its secretaries, to pay the fees of Dr. Benjamin Miller, for medicine and attendance to Prisoners of War Caesar Freeman and Jeremiah Reerdor.  The secretaries were authorized to pay the medical expenses at the same time they paid for rations for POWs.

Sailors Caesar Freeman and Jeremiah Reerdor were one of eleven prisoners confined to jail on April 8, 1776 by General Israel Putnam of the Continental Army.  Jeremiah Reerdor's last name was various spelled Reerdor, Reerdon and Rierdon and was probably the Irish surname Riordan.

In February 1776, Dr. Benjamin Miller was a surgeon with Colonel Samuel Drake's regiment of Minutemen from Westchester County, New York.  

No comments: