Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-08-11
THE IMMUNE EG|MENTS
All Their Members Not Proof
Against Yellow Fever.
RUSH IN NEW ORLEANS TO ENLIST

Garrison Observation-Disclosures In Garry
ing Out the Law For Their Organiza-
ton Volunteers Furnished to Other
S~tates-Great Scarcity of Young Men.
The City of Berlin, the big transport
of the International Navigation COM
pany, will carry the First and Second
United States immune regiments, COM
manded respectively by Colonel Richie
and Colonel Hood, to Santiago to act as
the garrison Of that town.
These regiments are wholly white
and are sent to Santiago first because
they have been the longest organized
and are in the most efficient condition;
but, while efficient, they are not i'm
mune, according to the popular accept
ance Of the term. AS a matter of fact,
it is doubtful if 5 per cent of the mem
bers of the First immune regiment are
proof against yellow fever, and probably
not more than 30 per cent of the Second
have seen OF been neal that disease. The
act creating these regiments did not say
immune against yellow fever, but sim
ply against tropical disease, a somewhat
vague expression. The moment the bill
vas passed there was a rush Of vOlun-
teers, and the services of three white
and two negro regiments, composed eX-
%clusively, or nearly SO, of immunes,
were rendered from New Orleans alone,
but the offers had to be declined. The
First immune regiment was assigned to
Texas, and when it was organized the
immune provision was altogether ig-
nored. This was done Ill the ground
that the law said nothing about yellow
fever, and, secondly, because Of the diff
Guilty of determining whether or not all
enlisted man was immune. The doctor
does not usually give a patient a certifi-
cate that he has had yellow fever, and
the only proof of immunity-and that
is by no means all absolute one-is the
fact that II has been in a city where
an epidemic Of yellow fever has prevail
ed. As the last Texas epidemic occurred
in 1867 and the fever then appeared in
only a few coast towns it will be seen
that the chances of a recruit from Texas
being an immune are very small. The
First immune regiment is therefore so
only in name. The fact that it comes
from a southern state may make it
slightly more proof against tropical dis
eases, but the differences in this respect
between it and any ordinary regular
regiment Of the United States army is
small.
The Second immune regiment was
assigned to Louisiana and is a little
more nearly immune than the First.
Colonel Hood lost both his father (Gen-
eral J. B. Hood Of Confederate fame)
and his mother of yellow fever in the
epidemic Of 1879 and is himself an i'm
mune. The New Orleans part of his
regiment is also immune. The fact that
the regiment was recruited at Coving-
ton, near New Orleans, attracted to it a
number of recruits from that city and
renders it relatively more nearly i'm
mune than the First.
There is no lack Of yellow fever i'm
munes in the United States army. The
only trouble is that, instead Of being
concentrated in regiments, they have
been scattered among a score or more.
The Second Louisiana volunteers is far
more immune than either of the two so
called immune regiments. 1t comes
wholly from New Orleans, where vel
low fever epidemics have made most Of
the population immune. Fully SO per
cent of its officers and men have had
yellow fever or nursed it, and it could
be stationed anywhere in Cuba without
danger. Nearly half the men of the
First Louisiana are immune. The Sec
ond Mississippi and the First Alabama
contain many immunes. So does the
Fifth United States volunteers, while
the Ninth United States volunteers (col-
ored) contains more than 80 per cent Of
immunes, II Of the IL companies being
from New Orleans.
The war fever has ragged perhaps more
violently in New Orleans than in any
other part Of the country, and the city
has contributed more than ten times its
quota and has filled up the scanty regi-
ments Of Alabama and Mississippi. The
rural districts of the southwest have
fallen far behind their quotas, and their
deficiencies have been made good main
ly by New Orleans. This is all the more
remarkable because in the civil war
these districts furnished far more than
their proportion to the Confederate
army. Alabama has fallen short of its
quota and had to furnish as its third
regiment a negro organization. Missis-
sippi has had to open recruiting offices
in New Orleans.
When the original call was made by
the president, Louisiana was asked to
furnish two regiments of infantry.
Based on population, New Orleans
share would have been a battalion, or
400 men. Governor Foster found that
the city would furnish more volunteers
than the country, and assigned one Of
the regiments to New Orleans-that is,
three times its quota, and the other to
the country. The city regiment (the
Second) was filed up at ono from New
Orleans. The country regiment (the
First) hung fire. It was found to be i'm
possible to get a full regiment from the
parishes. The country companies Of mi
litia dwindled wonderfully when SUBJ
jeoted to medical examination !; one COM
pany finally got down to 30 men, and it
took three companies to make one. II
wal necessary to give n entire bat
TALON to New Orleans, while Company
A came also from the city. The ranks,
moreover, Of the depleted companies
were filled out by New Orleans men un-
til now the First Louisiana, which il
supposed to represent the rural districts
Of Louisiana, contains more city than
country men. Thus these two infantry