This is a guest blog post by Kaitlin Osucha, a recent graduate of Washington College in Chestertown, MD, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and a minor in Museum, Field, & Community Education. Kaitlin is a 2026 Buchanan Burnham Fellow.
It may surprise readers to learn that public hospitals in the 1700s did not treat illnesses in the way we would expect hospitals to do today. During this period, hospitals primarily functioned as quarantine wards for people with infectious diseases, or charitable “almshouses” for those without support systems. People with means could be treated by doctors in their own homes. The function of these institutions began to shift in the post-Revolutionary War period, as advocates petitioned for wider public health access. In Newport, this cause was taken up by Newport Collector of Customs and one of Rhode Island’s signers of the Declaration of Independence, William Ellery, who sought to erect a hospital to serve Newport residents and mariners living in and sailing through the town.
Silhouette of William Ellery (1727-1820). Ellery was the Collector of Customs and one of Rhode Island’s signers of the Declaration of Independence, 01.851, Newport Historical Society.
On May 24, 1799, William Ellery received a letter by Secretary of Treasury Oliver Wolcott Jr, that discussed the recent Act by Congress, An Act to Regulate the Medical Establishment.[1] The Act proposed medical advancements in the Navy, including creating new medical hospitals, and proposed Newport as a site for such an institution.[2] Ellery understood the potential for disease to run rampant in close quarters and spread on ships in port cities such as Newport. On August 10, 1799, he sent a letter to James McHenry, Secretary of War, to discuss the founding of a new public hospital in Newport.[3]
Born in Newport in 1727 to parents, William and Elizabeth Almy Ellery, William Ellery grew to become a prominent merchant, politician, and lawyer. In 1776, he was one of Rhode Island’s two delegates sent to the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence. He further secured his place as a Founding Father in 1777 when he signed the Articles of Confederation, promoting independence and democracy.[4]
This letter was written by William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence, to Secretary of War James McHenry, dated August 10, 1799. It includes Ellery’s recommendation to erect a new public hospital in Newport. Box 60, Folder 6, Item 1, Newport Historical Society.
In his letter to McHenry, Ellery references receiving a copy of the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Men, which was signed into law a year prior by President John Adams.[5] Under this 1798 Act, the Federal government would take a certain percentage of each seamen’s wage, and use it to fund hospitals, their medical programs, and equipment. This was a new approach to medical funding, almost acting as a precursor to health insurance.[6] Often, the hospitals funded by this Act were stationed at local ports to address the needs of the many sailors docking at the wharfs; for this reason, Ellery believed Newport to be an ideal location for a new hospital serving Rhode Island’s sailors.[7]
Understanding the importance of public health along with the funding from new acts from Congress, Ellery suggests “the excellency of the harbour of Newport and the salubrity of our air” would provide remedy for incoming sick sailors. Further, he argues the public hospital would provide affordable treatment, so sick sailors would not have to endure expensive treatments that might force them to desert. He continues to persuade McHenry writing “for the safety and satisfaction of the Town it is the universal desire that a public hospital should be built as soon as possible.”
Ellery, a supporter of the An Act to Regulate the Medical Establishment, provides a detailed report of the quarantine hospital on Coaster’s Harbor. He states that Coaster’s Harbor quarantine hospital was built two miles outside of Newport to house people with smallpox or other infectious diseases. Ellery notes the importance of the hospital to quarantine sick sailors but seems to suggest that the existing hospital is not equipped and large enough to accommodate many sick mariners, leading to the need of another public institution to be established in Newport.
Pastel portrait of James McHenry, Secretary of War and Surgeon in the Continental Army, MSA SC 3520-895, Archives of Maryland.
James McHenry, the recipient of Ellery’s letter, was born in 1753 in Ireland and immigrated to Philadelphia aged 18, where he continued his education in science and medicine and applied his studies to his work as a military surgeon during the American Revolution.[8] In 1776, at a battle at Fort Washington, he was captured by the British; he was eventually released in a prisoner exchange in 1778 and worked as General George Washington’s aide until 1780.[9] When he was imprisoned, he faced first-hand brutalities of war, often treating his fellow soldiers and their various wounds.[10] This firsthand exposure to the casualties of war impacted his life, influencing later advocacy for medical care for soldiers and sailors.
Ellery wrote this letter at a time in history, post-Revolutionary War, when the field of medicine was under-developed, so his staunch support for developing a public hospital in Newport for its residents and sailors, who deeply contributed to the town’s economy, is quite significant.
Although Ellery clearly favored the inclusion of a public hospital in Newport, there are no records of a hospital being erected as a direct outcome of this letter or the 1799 Act. A public hospital was not established in Newport until 1873, funded by locals to provide aid for residents, visitors, and mariners as an alternative to traveling to the hospital in Providence.[11]
[1] William Ellery to James McHenry, Secretary of War, August 10, 1799, Newport Historical Society MS Box 60 Folder 6.
[2] Newport Historical Society, Ardent Advocate: Selected Letters of William Ellery from the Newport Historical Society Collection (2018), 48.
[3] William Ellery to James McHenry, Secretary of War, August 10, 1799, Newport Historical Society MS Box 60 Folder 6.
[4] Tom Hand, “William Ellery of Rhode Island: Merchant, Lawyer, and Signer of the Declaration of Independence,” Constituting America, Accessed June 9, 2026, https://constitutingamerica.org/90day-dcin-william-ellery-of-rhode-island-merchant-lawyer-and-signer-of-the-declaration-of-independence-guest-essayist-tom-hand/.
[5] National Library of Medicine, “Images From the History of The Public Health Service,” Accessed June 9, 2026, https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/phs_history/seamen.html.
[6] National Library of Medicine, “Images From the History of The Public Health Service.”
[7] National Library of Medicine, “Images From the History of The Public Health Service.”
[8] National Constitution Center, “James McHenry,” Accessed June 6, 2026, https://constitutioncenter.org/signers/james-mchenry.
[9] National Constitution Center, “James McHenry.”
[10] James McHenry, 31 Jan. 1777, to George Washington in Philander D. Chase, ed., The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series, Vol. VIII, 6 January-27 March 1777 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998), 203.
[11] Brown Health University, “History of Newport Hospital,” Accessed June 9, 2026, https://www.brownhealth.org/locations/newport-hospital/about-newport-hospital/history-newport-hospital.