The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-18


NJ. Capt. Smith and Lieut.. Hinton enn of H. 7!
CAPT Chase and Lieut.. bingham, of M.
The Third Section-Comapnies c. X d and
F; Capt. Gallon, Lieut., Pletke and Lieut.
Baker, of G; Capt Childs. Lieut. Hodkins.
Lieut.. sheehan, of X Lieut.. Boyce and Lieut..
Slater, of D; Capt. Viale. Of F.; Capt Game
and Quartermaster Lind.
GLAD TO GET BACK.
AS soon as the trains stopped the
committee boarded them and distribut-
ed the supplies to the men. The Off
GERS on the second section were more
thoughtful than the others and had or
dered breakfasts for themselves. All
the men expressed pleasure at being
again in Minnesota, and they would
have liked to have been mustered out
in st. Paul. They would have been
pleased If they had had a chance to
march through the city again before
quitting the service.
Two men were removed from the
train at the yards to the hospital. They
were Sergeant Lee, of Company L, and
Private George T. DAILY, of Company L,
both of whom are down with typhoid.
Several other officers and men are on
the verge of the fever.
Though the train did not wait long
at the depot Col. Bobleter found time
to make a statement concerning his
men and Camp Thomas. His remarks
were in the nature of reply to crit
icisms alleged to have been made OF
his management of the regimental
camp. He said:
If ever I have had a hobby it is the hobby
Of having clean camp At every inspection
in the park We got the very highest marks
always. | don't say that other regiments were
not clean but l say that the Twelfi h
stood at the very top notch, is the records
will show. We reported more sick than
most of the other regiments for the reason
that our surgeons were more particular
Whenever a man of ours was unable to ap-
pear at drill. through indispositon of any
sort, ne was reported as being sick. In other
excused from duty for one two days, as
the happened, and did not appear on
the sick reports. / noticed that the Twelfth
Minnesota at all musters turned out more
men by far than regiments which were not
carrying on the sicks rolls one-quarter as
many men as we. Our low death rate is
but twelve men, which was almost the
best record made in Chickamauga. Other
regiments lost al the way from twenty to
forty-fve each.
SITE WAS UNSATISFACTORY.
1 Will say, however, that our camping place
in the park was unsatisfactory from the
sanitary point of view! 1t was on low
ground, and the air about it was thick
with fog and dew nearly all of the time when
the sun was not shining. Clothing hung up
in the tents over night was dripping wet
next morning. and the only way in which
the boys could keep their shirts dry over
night was to put them in the, rubber hold
ers. There were boards for flooring the
the ground. Towards the close of our stay
some of the boys foored their tents with
cane poles. Each regiment was furnished
with only LOCO feet of lumber4in the park,
and nearly all of this supply was used In
screening the sinks and cesspools At Lex
ington the government provided flooring for
all tents, and we could have camped there
forever and not had any epidepic of typhoid
malaria. TJ -
Chickamauga creek is quite literally dead
water and in the end an order had to be
issued forbidding the men to battle there.
Prior to that order hundreds were in the
creek each day. At the time of the drown
several hundred of the Twelfth were in the
water for hours at a time searching for the
body. This over-exposure brought a good
deal of sickness and four of our twelve
deaths can be traced directly to it,
Our men were in excellent condition. COM
paratively, and we are not unwilling to COM
pare records with any regiment which was
at the park. There was sickness, of course,
but 1t was general. and due to conditions
which nobody in the park could control
The Twelfth had no more than its fair share
Of it, and, as l have stated, stands we'll
toward the top of the list in point Of death
rate These matters L think it proper to
state, for the information of our people gen.
orally. Information upon which the governor
based his alleged interview was misleading
and did a great injustice. o.
WHEN FEVER APPEARED.
We had no fever until We had been at
Chickamauga five weeks. The largest sick
list at any one time was 800. This included
light cases and small ailments. We could al
ways turn out more men for duty than the
other regiments, although-we showed a high
sick list our sick record was perfectly kept
1 am very proud of the regiment, for it is
well disciplined and always received very high
m
too, are proud when they compare themselves
with other regiments, and realize how pro-
ficient they have become. l cannot understand
why a regiment so well organized ours
and with so good record should be mustered
out, while inferior regiments are retained
Our men showed no signs of discomfort until
they came in contact with the Fourteenth reg
iment. Petitions of the mustered out should
have gone through proper military channels
and not have been sent in behind the hacks
of the officers. That looks like a slight on
the officers.
The men of the Fourteenth circulated De
titons among my men and l told them not
to have anything to do with them and they
dropped them at that time, but later at Lex
ington, petitions were sent in, as l under
sta nd a.
Camp Chickamauga was unhealthful after
the rains commenced. AS to the hospitals
there was at first want of organization of
a proper hospital service, with a sufficient
corps Of nurses and assistants. Orders to or
ganiZe a hospital corps were countermanded
to detail men for hospital duty. They were
willing, but wanted experience. The largest
number of men and officers at time
1882. We came back with 917 officers and men.
Fifty men have been detailed for hospital
duty, thirteen have died, seventeen are in
the hospital at Lexington and the balance
Of them absent on furlough.
Capt. Game, of the medical corps, de-
clared that Camp Thomas was a pest
hole and never was fit for camp.
With a few exceptions every man in
the regiment had fever. 49, But Camp
Hamilton, he said, was as good as any
place in Minnesota. The Kentucky peo-
pie also were hospita BILE and made the
soldiers at home among them.
NO CRITICISM. OF BOBLETER.
1t was reported yesterday in an even
ing paper that Col. Bobleter acted
churlishly towards the citizens COM
mittee and refused to stop at the union
depot to receive it, but Condo Hamlin
last night said the statement was not
true. The committee did not expect
the train to stop at the depot.
The regiment will encamp at New
Ulm and after receiving their pay for
August the men will be furloughed FOR
thirty days. They will then return to
New Ulm, where they will be mustered
out.