Revolutionary War and 19th Century Plants and Herbal Remedies

While reading through several history books on the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York, I was surprised to find several references to colonial gardens and herbal remedies used during the Revolutionary War period (1775-1783). As American patriots were fighting for the country's freedom from British rule, colonial gardens and the vast wilderness areas throughout the East supplied important food, fiber, and medicine for the militia. According to the State University of New York, in 1775 there were only 3,500 doctors throughout the colonies. Out of those, only a few hundred doctors had any medical training at all. Despite the lack of training and resources, the need for medicine was great for soldiers. Noted afflictions among the regiments included jaundice, diarrhea, respiratory illness, and malaria. Soldiers also suffered from cuts, bruises, fatigue, bleeding, soreness, infection, hunger, and a number of other ailments common even today. During the war, many English supply lines were severed, and patriots were facing the Revolutionary War with little medical knowledge and few medical supplies. The Continental Army was not only dependent on nature's medicine chest, but also the food, fiber, and herbal medicines supplied by the colonists' gardens and farms.

During the fight for independence, soldiers were known to pack a number of herbs that worked best on ailments they normally experienced. Some of the more important herbs that soldiers packed were chamomile, mint, licorice, yarrow, horsetail, and sage. Wild plants like black cohosh, white snakeroot, and sarsaparilla also attracted the attention of Revolutionary War soldiers for their medicinal value. Although some medicinal plants were imported from other countries, others had to be gathered either from the wild or from gardens. At the time of the Revolutionary War, most colonists with a kitchen garden grew many of the medicinal herbs previously mentioned as well as hyssop, lavender, comfrey, and fennel interspersed with vegetables and flowers in their garden. Today, many of these plants are still sold commercially at local garden centers and online. It is also important to realize that several of the plants that are now considered noxious and invasive in the United States were originally introduced to provide food, fiber, and medicine for a growing nation. Take for example garlic mustard. This plant was originally used to treat leg ulcers, bruises, sores, and colds. Today garlic mustard is considered to be invasive in Pennsylvania and is now found in all 67 counties of the state. Garlic mustard is not only responsible for degrading wildlife habitat it has also hindered a variety of reforestation and landscape restoration efforts costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Tansy, a native plant to Eurasia, was originally brought to the United States in the 1600s as an ornamental plant with medicinal use. It is now naturalized on the east coast and considered highly invasive in several states.

Although many plants have documented medical uses, they also can have serious side effects and in some cases are deemed toxic. In fact, it is hard to find medical research that supports medicinal uses of plants, even though many of the plants have been used for centuries in traditional medicine. Some native plants, like white snakeroot, were commonly used during the American Revolution to treat malaria, chills, fever, and snakebite could potentially be toxic to humans. It is now known that milk produced by dairy cows that have eaten this plant can cause milk sickness. In fact, Abraham Lincoln's mother is thought to have died from milk sickness.

So how did all these home remedies come to be? It is estimated that Native Americans had over 25,000 medicinal uses for over 2,700 plant species found growing in the United States. In addition, many home remedies came with immigrants from other countries as they settled in America. Seeds from many plants were also brought along as they immigrated and planted in home gardens to supply medicinal herbs. As settlers expanded westward, they also propagated these plants throughout the United States. Today, we now know each plant, depending largely on growing conditions as well as a number of other factors, does not produce the same amount of chemicals or nutrients, making it very difficult to determine how much to prescribe for medicinal purposes.

References

1. Moerman, Daniel. Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary. Oregon, Timber Press, 2009.
2. Neumann, George, and Frank Kravic. Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. New Jersey, Castle Books, 1975.
3. Brackman, Emily. History of Susquehanna County Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873
4. Pierce, Henry. History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler Counties New York. Philadelphia PA, Everts and Ensign, 1879
5. Craft, David Rev. History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA. L.H. Everts and Co., 1878

Written By: Rich Guylas, Bradford County Master Gardener