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John Ely (surgeon)

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John Ely (September 24, 1737 – October 3, 1800) was a Connecticut surgeon and Colonel in the American Revolution.[1]

Early life

Born in Lyme, Connecticut, John Ely became a physician and surgeon with a reputation that reached far beyond the Saybrook[A][3] He specialized in the treatment of smallpox. He bought Duck Island off the Saybrook shore (now a major Egret rookery) and then built a hospital for his smallpox patients.[4] When this disease broke out in the Army of General George Washington in July 1776, Dr. Ely was sent for and did much to arrest the plague.[1][5][6][7]

Revolutionary War

Colonel Ely is remembered as a soldier of the American Revolution and as a patriot who gave not only his skill as physician and military commander to the cause, but his fortune and his health.[1] [6][7]

He was a Captain of the Sixth Connecticut from May 1 to December 18, 1775; Colonel of a Connecticut militia regiment in 1777; he was taken prisoner in the Long Island Expedition of December 10, 1777; and exchanged on December 5, 1780.[6][7][8]

In 1775 John Ely purchased Duck Island from John Williams. He obtained permission to operate a hospital was granted annually by the selectmen of Old Saybrook. By 1780 the brothers had parted, and Doctor Elisha Ely secured permission to open.[9]

The British burned Ely's hospital during the Revolutionary War.[4]

In 1775 Ely, after the news of the battle of Lexington came to Westport, mustered a company of militia as Captain and marched with it to Roxbury, now part of Boston. The next year as Major he performed a tour of duty as commandant at Fort Trumbull, New London, also serving there as physician and one day he sent a "pithy" letter to the Captain of a vessel at the mouth of the harbor suspected of being English which promptly sailed away.[6][7][10]

In 1776, he was ordered by Connecticut to tend to the medical needs of soldiers.[6][7][11]

Major Ely was a man of wealth, mostly invested in farms. One of these in 1777 he sold and used most of the proceeds in raising a regiment of which he was commissioned Colonel. To many of his men he furnished arms, uniforms, and other supplies at his own expense.[6][7]

He marched his regiment to New London and was again appointed commandant of the Fort.[7]

After he became a prisoner, his son Capt. Worthington Ely organized a small force to capture a British officer to exchange for his father. In this he was successful. But due to the entreaties of the other officer prisoners, Dr. Ely agreed to remain a prisoner to care for his fellow officers. Sometime after this, when he became eligible for exchange, a group of former prisoner officers under the leadership of Col. Matthews (later a member of Congress and Governor of Georgia) and Col. Ramsay of the Maryland line, urged him to continue caring for his fellow prisoners. Thus Dr. Ely remained a prisoner for three years, until finally released on 25 December 1780. Ely was one of the most famous doctors of his era, particularly for treating soldiers who were afflicted by Smallpox. After he was captured by the British, he refused to be exchanged, because he did not want to leave his patients.[4][6][7]

He was released as part of a prisoner exchange on December 5, 1780.[12]

Post Revolution

After the war, Col. Ely applied to Congress for recompense for his services and for the money he had devoted to the revolution.[13] General Henry Knox,[14] Secretary of War, supported this and President Washington wrote the Colonel promising a successful outcome for his petition. The House adopted a bill to grant him $20,000.00. But U.S. Senator Oliver Ellsworth opposed money grants and successfully fought the Ely measure in the Senate. Some forty years later his heirs presented a claim to Congress, which was approved, but as most of the papers in the case had been lost, only $5,000.00 of back pay was allowed.[15][16][17]

Ely wrote repeatedly to George Washington seeking his assistance.[7][18][19][20][21]

After his release from Long Island, he returned to Westbrook where he resumed his medical practice.

Ely died in Westbrook, CT on October 3, 1800, aged 63. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Westbrook next to the gravestone of his father-in-law, the Rev. William Worthington. His entreaties to Washington were fruitless during his lifetime, and he died impoverished.[6][7]

Among his friends he numbered Washington, Lafayette, and Rochambeau. Mrs. Ely was able to speak in their native tongue to the French officers she entertained. Washington wrote the Colonel affectionate letters acknowledging his "incomparable services." He was invited to dinner by General Benedict Arnold, before the latter betrayed his country: "General Arnold's compliments wait on Col. Ely. He asks the favor of his company to dine with him at his house today at 2 o'clock."

Notable descendants

John Ely's grandson Samuel Griswold Goodrich, also known as Peter Parley, was a noted author and diplomat whose book Recollections of a Lifetime was the source for the information herein not otherwise cited.[5]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Following the Revolution, the town of Saybrook divided into several smaller towns. Ely lived and died in what is now known as Westbrook. In some of the cited documents the town is occasionally erroneously referred to as Westport.[2]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Beach et al. 1902, pp. 79-86.
  2. ^ Lindberg 1993, pp. 8–12.
  3. ^ Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut) 14 April 1788
  4. ^ a b c Hubbard & Hubbard 2018, p. 21.
  5. ^ a b Goodrich 1857, pp. 533–534.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Smith 1783.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Daughters of the Revolution 1893, p. 16.
  8. ^ Heitman, F. B., [1], "Historical Register of the Officers of the Continental Army", p. 167
  9. ^ "Bulletin". Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin. 26–30: 57. 1961.
  10. ^ Mather 1913, p. 1085.
  11. ^ Trumbull & Hoadly 1890, p. 469.
  12. ^ Washington, G.; Saffell, W. T. R.; Greene, N.; Lee, C. (1894). Records of the Revolutionary War: Containing the Military and Financial Correspondence of Distinguished Officers; Names of the Officers and Privates of Regiments, Companies, and Corps, with the Dates of Their Commissions and Enlistments; General Orders of Washington, Lee and Greene at Germantown and Valley Forge; with a List of Distinguished Prisoners of War; the Time of Their Capture, Exchange, Etc. To which is Added, the Half-pay Acts of the Continental Congress; the Revolutionary Pension Laws; and a List of the Officers of the Continental Army who Acquired the Right to Half Pay, Commutation, and Lands. United States: Charles C. Saffell. p. 32.
  13. ^ The Maryland Gazette (Annapolis, Maryland) 01 April 1790
  14. ^ American State Papers, Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Gales and Seaton, Washington, 1834, Class IX, Claims. P. 7 [2]
  15. ^ An Act to Allow Compensation to John Ely, for His Attendance as a Physician and Surgeon, on the Prisoners of the United States ... United States: John Fenno. 1790. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  16. ^ Moulton, Ferdiand, Mayo, Robert. (1852). Army and Navy Pension Laws and Bounty Land Laws of the United States, including sundry Resolutions of Congress, from 1776 to 1852: executed at the Department of the Interior. With an appendix, containing the opinions of Attorneys General of the U.S., with the decisions, rules, and regulations adopted by different Secretaries, relative to the execution of those laws. Compiled by R. Mayo and F. Moulton. United States: p. 179. (Washington, D.C.:Jno T Towers)
  17. ^ Newnan, Daniel (January 23, 1833). Heirs of Colonel John Ely. (To Accompany Bill H.R. No. 709.) United States: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Revolutionary Claims  (n.p.).
  18. ^ John Ely's Correspondence with George Washington
  19. ^ "To George Washington from John Ely, 26 October 1780". Flatt Bush. October 26, 1780. Retrieved March 27, 2021 – via National Archives.
  20. ^ "To George Washington from John Ely, 20 June 1792". National Archives. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  21. ^ "To George Washington from John Ely, 25 December 1789 From John Ely". SayBrook. December 25, 1789. Retrieved March 27, 2021.

Bibliography

Further reading

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