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He learned from them that they needed a doctor in the county (3). That spring he traveled via the Mississippi and Red rivers to Fulton, thence by horseback to Washington, county seat of Hempstead County, where he purchased a small piece of forest land lying in Ozan Township, three or four miles northwest of Washington. Clearing the land and building house, which also served him as an office, Smith "hung out his shingle" as a true "country doctor (4)."

Like other frontier doctors of the day, Smith traveled through the backwoods of Hempstead County administering to the sick, treating victims of gunshot wounds, setting broken bones, battling fever epidemics, and delivering babies. On the other hand, he was unique in establishing on his farm a crude hospital, which consisted of log cabins built in a circle. He operated his hospital mainly in the warm seasons of the year, when people from all parts of the county came by "wagon loads" to receive medical attention. The doctor trained a staff, including his daughters, to assist him in caring for the overflow of patients. He realized the importance of antiseptic conditions in his work and had several iron pots of boiling water placed throughout the hospital. In this he far surpassed most of his early nineteenth century colleagues. Medicines for the relief of "bowel complaint" and salves for the healing of dreaded summer "sores" were produced by his own genius (5).

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3. Hope (Arkansas) Star, Centennial Edition, June 26, 1936.

4. N.D. Smith to Joseph Henry, Washington, Arkansas, March 13, 1860, Smithsonian Institution

Archives, Washington, D.C.; will of Nathan D. Smith, November 20, 1865, Will Book C, pp. 240-242, Circuit Clerk's Office, Hempstead County Courthouse, Hope, Arkansas; Washington (Arkansas) Press, January 23, 1886; Mrs. J.S. Garcia to author, San Diego, California, December 1, 1863. (The last letter will be cited hereafter as Mrs. Garcia to author, December 1, 1963; she is Dr. Smith's great-granddaughter.)

5. Mrs. Garcia to author, December 1, 1963. The Pioneer Washington Restoration contains some of Dr,

Smith's medical equipment, including his apothecary cabinet and jars and some of his tables.

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