Francis B. Etheridge

Name: Francis B. Etheridge Company: F & S Surgeon--Resigned.
Birth Date: July 11, 1806 Place: New York	Mustered In Date: March 24, 1862 Rank: Surgeon Age: 55 Residence prior to military service: New York; Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota Vocation prior to military service: Physician
Death Date: August 20, 1873 Place: Hastings, Minnesota	Mustered Out Date: September 3, 1862 Rank: Surgeon Age: 56 Residence following military service: Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota Vocation following military service: Physician

Francis B. Etheridge Biography and Civil War Narrative

Francis B. Etheridge was born in New York on July 11, 1806, to Nathaniel and Barbara B. Etheridge. On August 3, 1831, 25-year-old Francis married Fanny Easton, born June 8, 1808, in Hancock, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Francis and Fanny had 7 children: son Charles (b. November 20, 1833, New York), daughter Emma M. (b. January 5, 1836, New York), son Locke (b. December 1, 1837, New York), daughter Sarah B. (b. January 13, 1840, in Warren, New York), son Francis (b. January 20, 1842, in St. Johnsville, New York), son James Henry (b. March 20, 1844, New York or Wisconsin), and daughter Mary C. (b. August 12, 1846). Mary died at age one on October 3, 1847.

By the time of the 1860 U.S. Census, 53-year-old Francis B. Etheridge was living in Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota, and working as a Physician. Son Charles was a 27-year-old Master Carpenter, Emmie was a 24-year-old Teacher of Music, Locke (22) and James (16) were students, Sarah (20) was a Teacher, and Francis (18) was a Laborer.

On March 24, 1862, Dr. Francis B. Etheridge was mustered in as Surgeon for the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On the same day, his 20-year-old son, Francis, was mustered in to work along side his father as a Hospital Steward.

Martin Webster of Company A--who would eventually become the 5th Minnesota's Hospital Steward--mentioned Dr. Etheridge several times in letters to his wife, Keziah, back in Hastings, Minnesota. On July 19, 1862, writing from south of Corinth, Mississippi, Webster wrote, "It is far more agreeable to be under the control of Dr. Etheridge than the quatermaster as Colonel Frank [reference to Etheridge?] is a good steward which serves to make the time less tedious than it otherwise might be." Webster continues by describing the medical situation of the regiment:

We have on an average about twenty four men sick all the time and similar amount at the general hospital which is about ten miles from here. As soon as a sick man is likely to be sick a long time he is sent to the general hospital and there examined and if change of climate is thought best he is sent to some northern hospital.

As early as July 30, 1862, Webster wrote to Keziah, "Ethridge will resign and go home in a few days." On September 10, he wrote, "I sent by Frank Ethridge fifteen dollars."

Dr. Etheridge's service as regimental Surgeon lasted less than six months, as he resigned on September 3, and was replaced by Dr. Vincent P. Kennedy. The younger Etheridge was also mustered out in October 1862; his position of Hospital Steward was filled by N. J. Burns, promoted from Company I.

This was not, however, the end of Dr. Etheridge's involvement with Minnesota troops in the Civil War. On June 7, 1864, Dr. Etheridge's wife, Fanny, died. That same year, Etheridge was appointed a commissioner to visit Minnesota regiments to report on their health conditions and needs. About September 15, 1864, he was sent south with fifty dollars worth of quinine, arriving at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on about the 30th of September. At Pine Bluff, Dr. Etheridge supplied medical aid to the suffering troops of the 3rd Minnesota Regiment. Hans Mattson, Colonel of the 3rd Minnesota reported on Etheridge's visit: "His presence and devoted labor among the despairing sick had a very beneficial effect, and it is to be regretted that his stay was so short." Following his visit to the 6th Minnesota Regiment, Dr. Etheridge reported:

Hastings, Minn., Oct. 31, 1864.

Sir: The condition of the Sixth Regiment at Helena, as I found it on the 18th instant, was nearly the following:

June 23, 1864, regiment arrived at Helena, 950 strong. Sickness commenced in about three weeks. The mortality commenced August 12th and ended about September 18th. Number of deaths about 70, being about 2 a day. From the 1st of September to the 19th, 317 men were sent to Northern hospitals. This left 573 to be accounted for. Of these, on the morning of the 18th of October, 43 were in regimental, 6 in general hospital, and 220 attended sick call, making 269 sick men of 573, a little less than one-half.

The causes of this great sickness and severe mortality are to be found in the season of the year at which these troops arrived in a warm climate, and the location of their camp. May, June, July and August are unfavorable months to send men South. Of these, August is probably the worst. And then, too, the plan of keeping a regiment in an unhealthy locality through the whole summer, and that without change of camp, I think a very hazardous practice indeed. It will always be attended with great loss of life.

The spot chosen for the camp of the Sixth was the shore of the river, which was liable to be overflown in high water, the soil of course saturated with the debris of the river, and more or less moisture. The vegetable deposit in the soil would necessarily be in a state of decomposition during the hot weather, one of the most efficient causes of fever. And the fogs arising from the river, and covering their camp every morning, would be a most effectual source of ague. That the men should be sick after a stay of three weeks in such a place as this, would be almost as certain as that the sun would rise. And that their diseases would partake of all the malignity that miasmatic diseases are liable to, under aggravated circumstances, might reasonably be expected. I think they escaped with quite as little loss as we could anticipate.

By the 18th of October they were much better off than they had been. There had not been a death among the men left at Helena for about a month; and now many of the men were up and able to do light duty. They were building their quarters for the winter. The men in hospital were only one or two of them very sick; I believe I thought that only two or three would not recover. The probability is that in the course of two or three months these men would be in pretty good condition, and quite a proportion of them fit for duty. The practice of sending men North at this season of the year to recover from malarial diseases is one of at least doubtful utility. It is in my estimation attended with more or less danger; and then it is quite questionable whether men will not recover as readily and safely at the South as at the North, after the occurrence of autumnal frosts. And should they recover and return South, they would run nearly the same risks as at first.

Very respectfully,

F. B. Etheridge. To His Excellency, Stephen Miller,
Governor of Minnesota.

Following the war, Dr. Francis B. Etheridge continued to live in Hastings, Minnesota. At the time of the 1870 U.S. Census he was 64 years old and working as a Physician. The only other person living in his household was 47-year-old Rebecca M. Etheridge (possibly a sister or sister-in-law?). His 36-year-old son, Charles, was living in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife Bertha (Sprague) and working as an insurance agent. His 35-year-old daughter, Emma, lived with her husband, William Swan, in Barre, Orleans County, New York. His son, Locke, had died nearly five years earlier on November 9, 1865. His 30-year-old daughter, Sarah, lived with her husband, Lyman Gage, in Evanston, Cook County, Illinois. His 28-year-old son, Frank, lived in Rome, Oneida County, New York with his wife, Anna (Wilson) and his son, Locke (age 2), where he worked as a traveling agent. Youngest son, James (age 26), was also living in Evanston, Illinois, and working as a physician.

Francis B. Etheridge died August 20, 1873, in Hastings, Dakota County, Minnesota, at the age of 67.

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