, 1862-01-09
The Military Hospitals of NXissourI-
TesttmQ0T OF ReV. EphfAtm Mute

The Military Hospitals of n2lssoar1-
Testimony or ReV. Ep1arn1m Mute.
From the st. Louis Democrat, 7th.1
A space has been given In your columns to
complaints Of the abuses in some Of our mill
tary hospitals. Yet 7 am surprised that 80 lit
tic has been said On the subject. In view OF the
facts, It is one Of The most surprising things
in the course Of this war. A conviction that
there yet prevails among or people either q
{amentable ignorance, or a more shameful
apathy In regard to those abuses, moves meto
claim your attention.
will speak from no vague rumor or hearsaJ
evidence, but from extended and careful per-
sona observation, and say only what am will
ing and able to substantiate.
The regiment to which belong has been
posted for the last two months and upwards
at Upton My official duties have given me
daily intercourse With the sick, who have been
sent thither from time to time, from the troops
IN the field in the southern and western part
OF the State.
Somesix weeks since, between two and three
hundred came in from Sedalia, Warsaw, aud
other points on the route between that and
Springfield. Their arrival at the railroad sta
ton made one Of the most distressing scenes
it has ever been my lot to witness. Many Of
these poor fellows were in the critical stages
OF typhoid feycrs, others worn down by hard
service and long sickness, deprivation and neg
lect, unable to stand, and with no place to lie
down but on the bare pl1tform Of the station,
and almost entirely without attendance. Some
tottercd about delirious, unable to give any
account OF themselves, utsering only incohe-
rent mntteFlngs. One poor fellow In this con-
ditlon sank down exhausted, and being taken
under shelter, died that night, and was buried
IN a nameless grave. Those from the South
had been brought in common baggage wagons,
over the roughtst Of roads, q distance Of from
forty to sixty miles, and almost utterly unat-
tended. They we're filthy in the extreme and
generally but half clad Some gave shocking
reports Of the temporary hospitals from which
they lad come, at Warsaw, where hundreds
had been crowded into church without bed
ding, change of clothing, and for DAYS together,
without medical attendance
Several days after this, business took me to
Warsaw, where I spent 3 few hours in that
hospital, and found the worst Of these reports
confirmed. In one small church were some
twGnty-6yc men, some wounded, some sick
| with feyers, and no one with the least article
| Of bedding beyond an armful of coarse prairie
| hay, thrown down in d pew with the camp
blanket and at the best q knapsack for pill
| low. There they lay, in the clothes in which
| the hard marches Of weeks had been made.
The ctiiuSia Of the room testified to combi-
nation of the most sickening filths-
tiannels saturated to the last degree with
| pufrld bodily e&cTetions, vessels unemptied,
OF never cleansed, steam Of greasy cooking;
in short, a Rauseous stencil which made the
!
! Dest, terrible and prot1acted martyrdom.
The care Of all these patients devolEed on one
| young man, kind hearted, but without expert
cuee in such service. One man lay dying at
sunset Of typhoid pneumonia who had re-
| ceircd no medical attendance since early morn
| ing That night this poor neglected soldier
Was released from his suferings, aud before
morning another followed. What must have
been the condition Of that room when week
before it contained nearly two hundred, with
| the same Lack of appliances, and the like evils
eight-fold intensified?
For the Inst three weeks there has been
struggling into existence, against many diff
culties, q large, general hospital at Upton,
made necessary By the influx Of the sick, for
whom no provision was made elsewhere. OF
this institution have been a close observer.
Its management has filed me with daily in-
crcasing amazement and horror. The number
Of inmates has ranged from four hundred and
fifty to six hundred. For the first ten days
there were not more than fifty cots, and be-
sides the common army blanket, absolutely no
bedding. The f1thiness and discomfort will
not attempt to describe. Without the utensils
Indispensable for keeping the rooms in cleanly
condition, with but few and inexperienced at
tendants, It need not be added, the distress
and mortality has been appalling. am cont
| dent that scores have died from neglect, wlc
By Title decent nursing might have been
saved
At length, through much tedious forma1ity
which has been Keen torture to those on tue
spot, {and here, let me say, the Post Surgeon;
have done their part humanely aud derofedly
and are beyond reproach,) this has been re
cogn1zed as general hospital and provision
nade for some Of its most pressing needs
And yet within a few days in q state of terri
bic destitution. The most pressing need seem:
| to be Of good nursing The undeniable trutt
is, that men are dying daily in that hospital fo
the want Of that tender care which believe
women alone can give. At low estimate
one hundred experienced women are to-da,
are not to be had am 10th to believe it
| Let the simple facts be published and the cal
! properly made, and ten times that numbe
shall volunteer in this city alone before anoth
! cr sui shall set, OR We have no civilization
!, worthy the name, and all our Talk Of humanit,
, Is but empty sound
. The inevitable miscrles Of war arc appalling
!, 1t is the part Of true patriotism to submit t
these infections without unnlanly complaints
But so much the more should We guard ag:llns
, apathy id regard to those evils than can b
preyented-so much the more should VIC stud
: t mems for mitigating the sItferings and sayin
the lives Of those who hCroically come forwar,
for their country's defence.
In the hope that the abuses Of which noE
testify would be speedily remedied, and un
willing TO send anguish into hundreds G
homes, unless imperativcly called for, hav
: long forborne to speak out. But with . c1ca
e conscience can keep silent no longer. It i
e my confident hope that others who lave inlu
! encc in the Eig1lt quarters will take the matte
: up without delay, and cease not to urge til
l | proper measures Of reform until it be effected
} For the foregoing statements and opinion
2 I am willing to be held personally responsible
i and therefore sign myself,
t Yours for humanity,
: EPnKA1,1 MUTE,