Sherlock Holmes and The Curious Case of The Scalded Feet, Part One©

 

 

George Rogers Clark, writing in 1791 about his journey, with John Gabriel Jones, from Harrods Town, Kentucky to Williamsburg, Virginia; on June 6, 1776, told of how on the third day of their journey one of their horses gave out and they were forced to share the remaining horse.  Due to the constant rain, their feet continuously wet, and they developed what he called “scald feet”.¹ 

 

During the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries on the Old Northwest Frontier of North America, “scald feet”, “scald foot” or “scalded feet”, was a common affliction², experienced by many scouts, rangers, hunters, and travelers through the wilderness areas of the Old Northwest Frontier. 

 

What exactly was this ailment and what would a modern doctor call it today.  How did they prevent and treat it during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, and how do they treat it today?  It is a medical mystery and as the great Sherlock Holmes would have said “The game is afoot”! 

 

The clues at the scene of the crime...

 

A careful reading of George Rogers Clark’s journal, pages 210 to 2012, with the important passages shown above, gives us some clues as to what this “Shocking Complaint”, George Roger Clark’s case of scalded feet might be.

 

George Rogers Clark described the weather as being constantly rainy
and stated that their feet were constantly wet for three to four days, 72 to 96 hours, at which point they developed “scald feet”.  They travelled another two days, 48 hours “in greater torment than I ever before or since Experienced”.

 

He also described how they dared not build a campfire, for fear of
alerting Native American hunting or war parties to their presence, due to ongoing hostilities with the Native Americans, particularly the Shawnee.

 

The torment they felt was a burning sensation, as if the  skin of their
feet felt too hot, and it became too painful to walk through the woods.

 

George Rogers Clark knew that they could heal their feet, within a
few days, if they used “oil and ouse (ooze) made of oak Bark”.  On the sixth day, they were able to find a shelter, build a fire to warm themselves, dry their clothes and care for their feet, by washing them with oak ooze and rubbing them with oil.

 

George Rogers Clark didn’t mention the exact temperatures he and his companion experienced on his journey through Kentucky, but we can look at today’s temperatures and get an idea of what the historical temperatures would have been during early June 1776.

 

From Weatherspark.com, HERE.

The temperature today in Kentucky, during late May and early June, varies between a high of 77^o to 84^o F (25^o to 29^o C) and a low of 58^o to 67^o F (14^o to 19^o C)⁵.  The temperatures in 1776 would have been approximately 2^o F (1^o C) cooler than they are today.

 

A review of the historical record...

 

So, are there any clues hidden in the historical record, that will help us solve this mystery?

 

Lyman C. Draper, an early 19^th century chronicler of the Old Northwest Frontier and Daniel Boone, wrote that “His feet getting scalded^dd, in frontier parlance, by heat in walking, he peeled some oak bark, jammed it into an ooze with which he rubbed his feet...owing to the soreness of his feet, he did not make so good progress...  Ted Franklin Belue, the editor of the Life of Daniel Boone, further explained that  “^dd‘Scalded’ feet meant one’s foot soles had stayed wet for so long that the many-layered, shriveled flesh peeled off in thick hunks that tore deeply into the tender sole”³.

 

So, feet that were wet for too long, became shriveled or macerated , and the outer layer of skin, the epidermis, could separate from the inner layer of the skin, the dermis.

 

During the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, according to Doddridge, an early chronicler, moccasins were considered in wet weather to only be a “decent way of going barefoot”⁴, because the spongy, pliable, porous nature of buckskin, moccasins would not keep your feet dry in wet conditions.  

 

In his journal, George Rogers Clark didn’t specifically mention if he and his companion were wearing moccasins or shoes, though it is likely that they were wearing moccasins, since moccasins were easier to repair in the wilderness than shoes were.  However, whether they were wearing buckskin moccasins or leather shoes, because of the wet and rain, their feet would have been continuously wet since the start of their journey.

 

Early chroniclers all agree that scalded feet was brought on by travelling in the rain, or through muddy, wet or swampy areas.  In fact, they thought that scalded feet was a type of “rheumatism”!

 

Scalded Feet...Rheumatism?

 

It appears that doctors, chroniclers, and sufferers of scalded feet, during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, all thought that scalded feet was some type of chronic rheumatism or gout⁵.

 

So, just as in the case of George Rogers Clark and his scalded feet, “rheumatism” was thought to brought on “wet feet, wet clothes, &c.” and “damp weather” and shared the symptoms of swelling, feelings of heat without a fever, and a “pain of an acuteness surpassing description” with scalded feet.  Doctors of the time felt that it could be avoided or cured by keeping “the feet dry and warm, and avoiding as much as possible, every exposure to evening air or damp weather”.

 

C0mmon sense tips to avoid scalded feet.

 

Because of the impossibility of keeping your feet warm and dry, while you traversed the wilderness, rangers, spies and scouts during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, prevented scalded feet by taking off their moccasins at night and sleeping with their feet towards the fire.  Their moccasins were set to dry on sticks near the fire or if there was the threat of attack during the night, they were tied to the breech of their gun.

 

This was a practice that was learned from the Native Americans, who were commonly described as sleeping with their feet to the fire.  A chronicler gave a very early example of this practice, when writing about the invasion of the Five Nations, by a large body of French and French-allied Native Americans in January 1693, noting that “…each man, wrapped in his cloak, with his feet pointed towards the fire in the centre, would thus pass the night”.⁵  Also, when writing about capture of Francis Slocum in 1777, the author of the Friends Intelligencer, 1854, recorded that at night “…The Indians…would make up a great fire of logs at their feet…”.⁶

 

Nathan Boone, Daniel Boone’s son, when corresponding with Lyman C. Draper, confirmed that hunters, and presumably Daniel Boone himself, during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, removed and dried their leggings and moccasins at night, before sleeping with their feet to the fire

 

So, to avoid scalded feet it was felt that you needed to remove your wet footwear and dry out and warm up your feet while you slept at night.  This means that a drying out/warming up period of about 8 hours out the 24 hour day was very important in preventing scalded feet.

 

Other sources discussed cures for scalded feet, which most commonly were described as washing your feet in an “ooze” made from boiled white oak bark, and then rubbing them with oil.  In the absence of a fire the oak bark could be pounded to produce a salve, this is the cure that Daniel Boone used.  Another remedy was a salve made of pounded and boiled slippery elm bark. 

 

Oak “ooze” contains tannic acid, an astringent which will dry and harden your skin.  A poultice made from boiled oak bark also has antiseptic properties, reduces inflammation, and acts as a healing agent in cases of minor burns.  Additionally, Native Americans traditionally used oak ooze to treat chapped skin.  Slippery elm, ulmus rubra, is native to Eastern North America, and its bark contains mucilage, a gel-like substance, which is why it is called slippery elm.  This mucilage contains tannic acid, and salicylic acid,  which helps the skin to shed dead cells and reduces swelling and redness.

 

So, what was Scalded Feet?!

 

Just as with every great mystery, you will have to come back next week and read “Sherlock Holmes and The Curious Case of The Scalded Feet, Part Two©”, for the gripping conclusion of the mystery and to find out what “Scalded Feet” actually is!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ James Alton James, George Rogers Clark Papers: 1771-1781, [Illinois State Historical library, Springfield, Illinois, 1912], page 210-212,

 

² From Kentucky and the Revolutionary Era, 1770-1815, by William T. Hutchinson, page 19,

 

³ From The Life of Daniel Boone, edited by Ted Franklin Belue, page 480 & 490

 

⁴ From Mackenzie’s Five Thousand Receipts, by An American Physician, 1831; Domestic Medicine, William, Buchan, M.D., 1848 and The Medical Botanist, and Expositor of Diseases and Remedies: In Two Volumes, Daniel J. Cobb, 1846

 

⁵ Rev. Dr Joseph Doddridge, Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia & Pennsylvania, from the year 1763 until the year 1783, [Wellsburgh, VA; printed at the office of the Gazette, 1824] page 144 , http://www.archive.org/details/notesonsettlemen00dodd, accessed July 26, 2011

 

⁶ From John W. Barber, Historical Collections of the State of New York, published by Clark, Austin & Co, New York, 1851 p 151

 

⁷ From the Friends Intelligencer, Vol. X, Published by William W. Moore, Philadelphia 1854 page 421.

 

 

Sources

 

An American Physician, Mackenzie’s Five Thousand Receipts, [John I. Kay and Co., Pittsburgh, PA, and James Kay, Jun. and Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1831], page 212, http://books.google.se/books?id=bWLe9UcnYH8C&pg=PA212&dq=rheumatism+symptoms&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OqsKUZnBO-in4gSHnIGQDw&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=rheumatism%20symptoms&f=false, accessed March 9, 2023

 

Barber, John W.; Historical Collections of the State of New York, published by Clark, Austin & Co, New York, 1851 page 151, https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMop7dnFYAC&pg=PA277&dq=%22each+man,+wrapped+in+his+cloak%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfyu2Eytb9AhVuFlkFHT38DogQ6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q=%22each%20man%2C%20wrapped%20in%20his%20cloak%22&f=false, accessed March 11, 2023

 

Belue, Ted Franklin, edited by; The Life of Daniel Boone by Lyman C. Draper, [Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 1998], page 480 & 490

 

Belue, Ted Franklin, The Long Hunt, [Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA 1996] page 91

 

Buchan, William, M.D.; Domestic Medicine, [Otis, Broaders, and Company, Boston, 1848] page 281, http://books.google.se/books?id=5fArAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA281&dq=rheumatism+%22wet+feet%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=N60KUYW9EqOq4ATZooCACg&ved=0CFQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=rheumatism%20%22wet%20feet%22&f=false, accessed March 9, 2023

 

Cobb, Daniel J.; The Medical Botanist, and Expositor of Diseases and Remedies: In Two Volumes, [Printed by Geo. H. Bidwell, Dansville, NY;1846], page 201,

https://books.google.com/books?id=3omsbZjTso0C&pg=PA201&dq=rheumatism+feet+symptoms+cold+wet&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHyd2p2tT9AhW_F1kFHXvBBp44ChDoAXoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=rheumatism%20feet%20symptoms%20cold%20wet&f=false, accessed March 11, 2023

 

Doddridge, Rev. Dr Joseph; Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars of the Western Parts of Virginia & Pennsylvania, from the year 1763 until the year 1783, [Wellsburgh, VA; printed at the office of the Gazette, 1824] page 144 , http://www.archive.org/details/notesonsettlemen00dodd, accessed July 26, 2011

 

James, James Alton; George Rogers Clark Papers: 1771-1781, [Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illinois, 1912], pages 210 – 212, https://books.google.com/books?id=z0kSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA210&dq=%22our+feet+being+wet+for+three+or+four%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Tz8HUdD9EcrL0QGU74D4CA&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22our%20feet%20being%20wet%20for%20three%20or%20four%22&f=false, accessed February 18, 2023

 

Hammon, Neal O., edited by; My Father, Daniel Boone: The Draper Interviews with Nathan Boone, [University Press of Kentucky, 1999, Lexington KY], page 36-37

 

Hartley, Cecil B.; Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel, the Virginia Ranger, [Published by G. G. Evans, Philadelphia, PA, 1860], page 264, http://books.google.se/books?id=wUozAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA264&dq=%22moccasins%22++tied++spy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=giwJUdCBMOiI4ATrqIGQDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22moccasins%22%20%20tied%20%20spy&f=false, accessed March 8, 2023

 

Hutchinson, William T.; Kentucky and the Revolutionary Era, 1770-1815, [The University of Chicago, November 1976-February 1977], page 19, http://storage.lib.uchicago.edu/pres/2009/pres2009-0501.pdf, accessed March 7, 2023

 

Moore William W., Published by; Friends Intelligencer, Vol. X, Philadelphia 1854 page 421, https://books.google.com/books?id=kZ0sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA421&dq=would+make+up+a+great+fire+of+logs+at+their+feet+friends&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy6-DZytb9AhXpMlkFHb2iB8gQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=would%20make%20up%20a%20great%20fire%20of%20logs%20at%20their%20feet%20friends&f=false, accessed march 11, 2023