New-York daily tribune., 1861-07-17
Dirt and Disease, Dishonesty and DeStitutlOn
SHAMEFUL ISCoMpsTfaCY or OFFICERS.
SHOCKING NEGLIGENCE OF THE MEN
REPORT Of ASSISTANT SURGecH.GsNEaal PETERS

to give Trustworthy account OF tue condition of oa
troops the perus. of which viii be found interesting
40 the facts are Important
! The inspection embraced everything except arms
Emposered with bga aulhouty, DIR. Mott aud his
Asaistut visited over thirty Regiments, at and arouDd
was ingon and Fortress Monroe. They found great
in quality in the condition Of the sodiers-eome
being very well off, having sufficient ctbing both in
! asr and ia store. Others were destitute of almost
| everything and in a sad condition. They had seen
men eouut guard without pautaIoons, walking about
on daty in that condition. They found very
! great ineq Ality in the rations furnished, some
gc,tisg full rali Ms being perfectly satisfied and
cou,rned, having both plenty 10 eat and TO spare
willie with quite large number it just the con-
trarv They found regiments within mile and half
of Washington getting fresh meat only once week,
and no fresh bread heside being in way. by ig-
rance or rscaliry, deprievd OF large hId, IN guam
tty, Of their daily ratons In some regiments the
physicians became fully satisfied that there was coilu-
sou between the ColoDels and QuartermasteFs, by
means OF which the men wee cheated Of their allow
ances, rs furnished and paid for by the Government
Some Of the beet men-inen who did not complain at
all, perfectly pstriotc-uen accustomed TO better
tnings were asking food from officers who knew them
hId iFifhleL tnefu, mtfcil W theh
TIE New-Yok tents were found just ttree-hf.hs the
sze If the regular army tent the roof Consisting OF
three widths Of canvas while the regular army tent
CONSISTED Of FIVE, exactly Of the same dimensions by
measure The New-York tents were found OF thin
coiton s'uff, which did answer to keep ont the
rain The regulation army tent Is Of strong canvas,
sording perfect protection both from rain aud sun
Thc fuI-sze army tent is calculated hold five men, In
the New-York tebt. of much smaller size were found
scsacely less than six or seven, and sometimes
ei ht nine and even ten men crowded together In
al respects the same state Of things YVES fourd
TO exist At Washington and Fortress Monroe aise.
The men had evidently been imposed uTon with re-
gard to their clothing equipments, food and every
thing, tins remark applying 70 fully one-tird OF the
army D. coming from New.York. OF eoune, there
were faults On the past of IOsn them~lves owing to
snosuee and ncapseity, bad cooking, and not knowing
how 20 take care Of food but mainly this state Of sf.
fair VIA caused by the inehcency Of ofhcefs and the
rsscslits of Quartermasters.
Tie Doctors found great many Of the army Sur
geons and Surgeons completely incompetent
and nrici.n at, paying no sitention-eitber they or
heir cice-to the elexniuess Of the camps the pro-
visOn Of sinks &c. They found soue camps That
bad been eight days established where there still
no Iriyy, the meu relieving themselves anywhere,
within ie ~ feet Cf their own tents Not only the
surgeons but the captains and other Otiees were 10
ee held responsible ia this About two-thrds OF
to s@pps visited wers, bvs found perfect
der, inspected By the proper officers, and properly
looked after by the surgeons at o'clock daily, accord
my to the regulations. large bali Of item even
nsstly kept the streets tcruPuoOsly swept clean mat
ter. presenting tie soldiers rough outdoor life IN
InoTr charming aspect.
The blankets seryed from the State Of Nsw-York
were small la size bad in texture al almost Totiea,
40 that You could poke your finger through them
The, were not onehrd the idh aud s1e Of the army
blanket TIE same sort Of swiDdliDg was apparent IN
teute blankets elothes, shoes, &c There were many
men without shoes with only poor onee, and their
toes gaping out This stae Of things had caused them
to be sharueiaced aud dispinted. great many would
not AJAX for leave of absence their own lines Tor
no other reason than ths They looked like convics
in the pcnitentisry ana worse than any hod-carrer
with whom one would meet This true witt d
third Of ihe New.York troops. Any person could see
il BIZ taking tie trouble to visit the camps, beng OF
course, first supplied from headquarters with the
requisite permission. But The eamps were located
mles apart aud the public went farther than TO
Whit few crack regiments
Col. McQuale Regiment was the worst of as
CARDS food. Col Toml kinss tie ID Volunteer Rsgi-
MT Mt was one Of the worst regards cleanliness.
About one-lhird OF them very bad to clothing
Col Walraths, Col. MeChesneys and Col. Carrs were
among the worst vetimzed in this line. There were
found plenty Of men who had wornt the shirts AID
drawers between live and six weeks. The cobtrns;
between these aud the Rhode Island and Massachusetts
soldier. wAs wonderful The Massachusetts, woIe
supplied two suits light fame ]. and thick heavy
suit, and were never allowed % sleep in the came
clothes worn during the day. Thus their clothing had
eyery night the benefit Of venation, for which pdr-
pose il was hung up the ridg pole. The New-York
troops had nothing Of this large number Of the
Rew.York troops had iuda-rubter sheets, and no
straw or boaIds their tents lying down On the Garth
aud getting soaked ID every rain storm, or busted over
W .en il was dry. At Fort Monroe large portion Of
the troos looked than peniteutiary people, be-
cause these were always required to be cesn and the
soldiers were not.
Tho Commission found regiments seven or eight
miles from Washington supplied with fresh meats three
or four times week and fresh bread every day
while Others mile and bali from Washington were
d, the same time almost starving for everything This
was owing to the ineicency rascalty Of the quar-
ternasters To illustrate how the men think OF the
IN .tter the speech Of q major 70 Mr.. Dorsheimer,
State officer appointed that all these things are
properly attended 10, may be given. MIR. Dorsheimer
was 10 the habit of coming round, and asking ANY
thing was wanted finishing up his inquiries briefly,
and departing, without leaving either bis name or ad
dress which generally proved to be the last Of the mat
ter. The major (beongng to the l7th Regi~ent) in
reply to this question: Stepped promptly forward and
said, "Mr. Dorheiiner, we have been swinded In |
everything from New-York, and now thank God we |