Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-26
A CHOLERA CAMPAIGN
The Terrible Plight Of a Band Of Re
cruits After the War.
AT SEA WITHOUT A DOCTOR.
How the Dreaded Epidemic Made Its APP
pearance-Daily Burials ut sea-In Quaran-
Notwithstanding scenes-The Nerve Of .
Young Irish Doctor.

Written for The Evenin Star by A. II. Nickerson.
INHE 9TH OF JULY, 1866, WAS ONE OF
Il the hottest days of an unusually hot sum
mer. The atmosphere that hung over the cities
Of New York and Brooklyn was heavy and
sweltering. The steamship San Salvador sailed
out OF New York harbor ON that day en- route
to Savannah, Ga.
Besides the usual passenger list booked for the
city Of luxuriant foliage. there were on board
416 United States army recruits, destined for
the seventh United States infantry, then on
duty in Florida, with regimental headquarters
at St. Augustine. Four officers from the re-
cruiting rendezvous on Governors Island &C.
companied the detachment. They were Capt.
E. A. Ellsworth, eleventh United States in
fantry; First Lieutenant A. H. Nickerson, four
| teenth United States infantry; Second Lieuten-
ant j. II. Baker, ninth United States infantry,
ana second Lieutenant J: F. Mays, fourteenth
| United States infantry. medical officer had
| also been assigned to duty with the command,
but Tor reasons, the precise nature of which it
is unnecessary to state. he did notreport and the
troops sailed without him. The usual supply
| Of medical stores, however, had been sent on
board from the medical depot on Long Island.
These stores were very carefully put up, with
| minute directions as to their use, so that in an
emergency, though no medical officer was pres
ent, any one OF ordinary intelligence could ad-
minister them.
Except that the heat was overpowering the
day was beautiful one, and as the stanch ship
gracefully glided down the harbor, the swell
| from the ocean lifting her nose in the air as if
she already snuffed the bracing salt breezes
| from the old Atlantic, the soldiers crowded up
from their quarters below to the upper deck,
and the saloon passengers took possession of
| the after decks. From the gala appearance of
the whole they might easily have been mis-
taken for holiday excursion party
nI1f v,in rhn,, 10,
of the land on the Jersey shore and
Long Island had faded away in the distance
and the ship was fairly at sea the weather
was SO fine and there was SO little
swell that cases OF seasickness were infrequent.
| The men were cheerful even to Sayety, and
there was absolutely nothing to indicate that
they were not in the very best of health. There
| seemed to be a notable absence of the ordinary
| ills to which soldiers, especially recruits, are
subject To all appearances everybody on
| board the ship was In the best of health and
spirits.
| NO WARNING SIGN.
| That night when the men had finally wrapped
| themselves in their blankets between decks, and
the officer of the day had made his rounds and
| retired to his cabin, that official had noted
nothing unusual in the appearance of the
troops. He had carefully inspected the whole
detachment, and yet he saw nothing to indi-
| cate that, even them among those SUM
| berlng forms were quietly working the in
sidious germs of that mysterious and ter
rible pestilence that has long since left its
cradle on the banks of the Ganges, penetrated
| az far north as the regions of arcti, Russia
and, like the Wandering Jew, has left Its desc
lating footprints all along the great routes OF
| travel from the Orient to the Occident.
The second day OF the voyage was clear
| and beautiful rs its predecessor had been and
the ocean equally calm and blue. The invig-
Grating air was in delightful contrast with that
of the murky cities left behind. After break
| fast had been served and an informal sick call
| instituted a few cases only of mild illness were
reported, while two or three were too ill to
| come up on deck. The officer of the dav ac-
companied by the junior lieutenant, went
down into the hold to these cases. He
| found them suffering from excruciatlng
cramps, mortal chilliness and great prostra-
ton. The rigor. however, was apparently con-
fined to the outside, for internally the patients
| seemed to have a consuming fire, burning,
| frightful thirst, that water could not quench
They were oblivious to the chills, but the fever
| scorched them and made their voices dry and
husky.
THE FIRST FATAL CASES.
AS it was close between decks and the air
very impure, the officer had these patients
brough. up on the upper deck and there made
as comfortable as possible. The medicine chest
was then brought into reduisition, and, follow
| ing the carefully prepared directions. such of
| the remedies were thought to be applicable
to the cases were used Warm cloths were ap-
piled and it was sought by friction to superin-
| duce circulation that appeared to be stag
| nant But nothing could again warm those
| stricken bodies, upon which the icy hand of
death was already laid. A few short hours Of
mortal agony, some more, others less, and they
| died
| None of the officers with the detachment had
| ever before seen q case of illness of this char
| acter. The body Of the first man that died was
| covered with bright red spots and until this
was explained by the fact OF his having once
| been the victim of smallpox it served to make
| the disease appear still more mysterious. But
| a fellow passenger, who was either u medical
| SUDDEN. or quasi doctor, loaned one OF the
officers a brochure, which, il he rightly remem-
| bers, discussed the question whether certain
disease was contagious or was conveyed in cur
| rents of air.
AN ACCIDENTAL DIAGNOSIS.
Tho officer, glancing carelessly at its pages,
was startled to note that it gave a correct
diagnosis of the cases Of his mysteriously at
tackled patients. 1t was not till then that he
| and his fellow officers realized the awful truth
| that they were at sea in more senses than one.
| with nearly 500 men crowded into the least pos
| sible space in the forward part of the ship.
full passenger list in the after cabin, no doctor
| and they face to face with that most appalling
| OF diseases-Asiatic cholera in an epidemic
| form.
After brief consultation among the officers
1t was decided that as no good could be served
| by imparting their impressions to the passen-
| gers they would say nothing to them about the
| nature of the disease. The soldiers, however
had already given it name which. if it did
lack euphony, was most expressive. They
| called it ''cramps."
BURIALs AT SEA.
The master Of the ship was notified that the
burial OF the men who had died would take
place that afternoon; and thereafter until the
steamer reached soundings in Tybee roads, off
Savannah, these notifications became unpleas-
| antly frequent The bodies were sewed up In
blankets and each laid on plank with sack Of
coal firmly bound to the feet. The plank was
| then run out from the deck; the powerful en-
| gines ceased for the moment their throbbing;
| the great wheels of the steamer stopped, and
| amid silence most profound and impressive
| an officer read the beautiful service of the
Church Of England. As he pronounced the
words "earth to EARTH ashes to ashes, dust to
dust" soldier gently raised the head Of the
| plank bier, the heavy sack Of coal slid from its
| place, and with its human attachment shot like
an arrow into the blue depths below.
WHY THE PASSENGERS FELT SECURE.
By the time the ship dropped anchor in
Tybee roads most Of the passengers were fully
cognizant Of the true nature Of the disease that
was making such havoc among the troops, but,
| as they afterward assured the officer whom
they had seen dispensing the medicines, they
felt that they were comparatively safe because
| they had, as they supposed, an experienced
officer of the regular army medical cor,,o In