The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1862-08-16

1 persons to wash them. l have seen hun-
dreds of wounded men lying ia, the blaody
garments in which they were shot down in
| battle or on picket duty for weeks, without
the possibility of change, occasloning q
steuchf almost uncomfortable, in which the
poor fellows were compeltedet ito lIve day
and night, until removed TO their distant
homes, or until they were ready to be car
tried to soldiers grave, which vas too
frequent. hoajaf gssTHl 50 iit9 ta& 80
Now, Why not employ the contrabands
who swarm around sour lines, whenever
permitted BY our Generals to escape from
reb ell masters, in the. hot and unhealthy cli-
mate of Tennessee and Mississippi, to as
sist the nurses and to- serve as cooks and
washers for our sick and wounded men,
| They are acclimated; they are accustomed
to the heat and out. door life, and would
gladly serve for their subsistence alone
The washing of the necessary changes of
| clothing for our sick. and wounded would
more than compensate for the expense in
CURED, to say nothing Of the ipcalculabIe
service they could render soldiers abls to
bear arms in performing the labor aud
drudgery, often mental in its nature, which
| is now breaking them down and carrying
them to their graves by the thousand.
Some of our commanding Generals in
the field are 30 very delicate in their sensi-
bilities towards secession sympathizers, and
go careful Of the rights o. rebels, as to in
duce them to impose great hardships on our
troops. have been panied to see our
poor soldiers, often really unable for duty,
though reported as convalescent, for light
dusv, standing guard around the houses and
property of Southern people, who were as
dislovsl to the Union as jeff. Davis, and
far less pasrio::;;e in their impulses, being
too cowardly to risk anything in the rebel
cause. They profess Union sentiments to
save their property; and our poor Union
soldiers, pale and emaciated by sickness
and hard fare, are required, ON account OF
this hollow profession of loyalty, to stand
guard over their premises, without shelter,
sleeping on the ground or in the wet grass,
exposed to rains, heavy night and
mlasmatic atmosphere, which, in many ca
SEES, develops malignant fevers, that require
them to be returned to the hospitals, from
which many Of them are never remov ed, until
the brave, uncomp planning, noble fellows are
wrapped in soldiers blanket, and without
90 much as q rough coffin, carried by their
comrades to shallow trench, which an.
swers the purpose of a buryiog place for
the defenders Of our liberties and all We
hold dear as nation. 'aF'Hak $751; sU
And while our brave troops are thus con-
tracing their death sickness in this loath-
some service, and dying by the thousands
without the most common coarse nursing,
the hypocrisical rebels are enjoying all the
comforts of home, under the protection of
our soldiers, whom they curse and spi.
upon, and betray, and openly rejoice at
their sickness, suffering, and death. And
when loyal negroes escape to our lines, who
would gladly serve 10 the most mental ca
pacity, for their Subsistence alone, our Cen
erals, under the inauencelof a kind of ne
gro insanity, send them back to their
rtreacherous rebel masters, to be whipped
and tortured on account of their loyal pro-
clivities. st9s- ss2saaa go 3'- ,& Esth
\
The greatest abuses witnessed in the
Western army grow out of the careless
ness or incompetency of surgeons in charge
Of the sick and wounded. Some of the
surgeons are devoted to their patients, and
work faithfully day and night for their well
fare; but too many Of them are totally un-
fit for their places. Some of them seemed
not to know how to make out a requisition
for medicines and stores for the sick, and
hundreds were consequently suffering for
the most common necessaries within an
hours drive of supplies that would have
been promptly forwarded on q surgeons
requisition.
Some of these surgeons seemed to me to
have grown hard. hearted and indifferent to
homan suffering. In this connection may
nd tod hu an o.
mental surgeons, that made my heart ache
almost every hour in the day; that was
compelling the sick men, pronounced to be
hospitals, and hospital boats, not unfre-
quently several miles from the encamp.
ments. i have known many to be ordered
to walk back as far as FIVE or sick miles,
and seen them staggering along the road /,
| fainting by the way, without the slightest
assistance from any one. And when | ap-
pealed to the officers to send them 10 am
balances, have received the reply that it
was impossible to spare the few ambulan-
ces at their disposal for that purpose. Be-
tween the Landing and Corinth, frequent
" found poor sick soldiers lying BY the
roadside, who had been three or four days
creeping Eve or six miles in search OF a
hospital, by order OF their surgeons, with
nothing to eat but the common bacon and
hard bread which they carried for them
selves in their kDapsacks, some of them
who were unable to carry knapsacks, being
totally destitute. In fact, coats, blankets,
and kpapsacks were to be seen everywhere
strewn along the roads, which hadssbeen
abandoned BY the sick men who became too
feeble to carry them. ua -
Much Of the sickness in the Western ar
my is occasioned, have not the slightest
doubt, BY the character OF the food on
which the soldiers are compelled to live, the
want Of tents in which to SLEEP, and the in
ceasapt hard work which the men are com.
PEELED to perform in erecting bridges and
Notifications, and making roads in o hot
climate to which they have not been ac-
tcustomsd. Il heard more complaining on
account Of the hard bread on which they
were compelled to live, than any other
grievance. Even the sick, IS general
thing, we're furnished aith nothing better.
| could not perceive hov.is was possible for
them to eubsist on such food, and regain
their health. u. s5.4ss2 -
hope tho new corps OF medical inspec-
tors zrsceptly appointed by the Pres dent,
and the sdditional surgeons and assistant
.eurgeoos asked BY the War. Department.
may b, speedily sent to the 6ed. and that
lt6*yY mag prove to be efficient and w"rshy
men. 4. + u