The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-08


have been secured if night calls had been
nader he was asked.
No sir. There was nothing to see them
for except to give them medicine. Seventy
1--WE per cent. of the patients were on cots
and the other % per cent. were on stretch
ers on the ground-four to six inches from
the ground. Sometimes some of the men
were put on the bare ground but within a
few hours they were always put on cots or
stretchers."
Dr. Connor-Did you ever see a man on
the bare ground. propped up against a
tree. in a dying condition, who died within
two or three hours after he was put there?
DR.. Ward-I never saw such thlng,
but often heard of it. / don't believe II
ever occurred.
Dr.; Connor-What was the reason ~ tn l5
the Second Division hospital OF the Third
Arm Corps had, as il certainly did nave,
the worst reputation of any hospital dur
ing the war?
DR.. Ward-The first reason. in my judg-
ment. is that the hospital had for its corps
surgeon man who never paid any atten-
The next reason is that the man in charge
of the hospital. the division surgeon, very
seldom visited the hospital or paid any
attention to It. His name was Jenny. Inc
next reason Is that there were not enough
doctors al any time to take care or the pa,
TENTS without overworking the doctors ana
making them too i'll 10 get out or ped FOR
the first two weeks that / was there, tnere
was not man on duty who was physical
ly fit for duty. The next reason Is that
the nurses were never competent In any
sense of the word, but they did the pest
they could. when you consider their lgnor-
ance. Some of them could not even read.
They were forced to do this work under
protest, and of course did only what they
were obliged to do. One day l visited the
typhoid fever ward and found all the men
splitting on the ground: said TO the man
in charge that l would have them all ar
rested if they did not provide some paper
or something on the ground for the men
to spit But the next DAY Things were
just as bad as ever. 'Hoff had no respect
for individuals. 1t made no difference what
on iVdi xrid mol Mt al he
of thousands. Once, when was physically
exhausted and not able to do the work
he said: I don't care damn for you SIT.
You are only one man; you are invaluaole
in the hospital, and 1 cannot spare you.
But L told him was not able TO 90 the
work and must be relieved for two WeeHs.
Jenny left everything with the men IN the
hospitals l know that the requsitlohs
made for goods and supplies were approved
to the grounds, because of the faults OF
somebody else. l think 1t was the tault
of the doctors in charge of the hospitals;
the corps doctors, the division doctor and
the doctor in immediate charge of the nos
pital. They made acquisitions, put II was
necessary to do more that that A man had
to get on a horse, take a six-shooter and
demand these necessary supplies from the
quartermaSter.
NURSES INCOMPETENT.
In reply to further questions DIR. Ward
said: Necessities were not available from
the army supplies and had it not been FOR
the Red Cross some of the soldiers would
have starved. Requisition after requisitton
was forwarded and yet no relief came. The
nurses, as a rule. were incompetent and IN
different, though some were more faithful
than others This was not remedied because
We had to obey army regulations as to de-
failing men for nursing duty. The location
of the hospital was extremely bad, in my
judgment. 1t was in very low place and
the sinks were in a filthy condition most
of the time. I want to say that that Is one
of the causes of the spread of typholo
fever and the water also was never in con-
dition so that we felt we had safe drink
ing water, and there was no provision for
boiling it. There was never plate, saucer
or dish boiled all the time 1 was there
When asked for his opinion as to the re-
Thomas, DIR. Ward said: For the condi-
ton of the camp, first, the man who in
sisted that the camp was perfect and That
the hospital was well run. That man was
DR.. Conner-Had General Boynton any
thing to do with the quartermaster's or
commissary's department?
DIR. Ward-I can say he was responsible
for keeping the army there when that army
ought not to have been kept there me
want of supplies was due to the fact that
the quartermasters and commissary,s de-
partments were not bounded enough for
supplies-not followed up enough
When questioned again as to the condi-
ton of the water he said that when he
saw what kind of water the men were US
and asked him why he brought the water
from where he did To this General Boyn-
ton made reply that the water in question
was never intended for the use of the men
as drinking water but that it was made
simply for watering the stock and such pur-
poses.
DR. William Cuthbertson, surgeon Of the
First Illinois Cavalry, said sinks at Chick
amauga had to be dug with axes and ShoV-
els, the supply OF which was tremendously
insufficient. The surface soil, he said was
very shallow and mona descriptive, and the
sinks would soon become in very filthy
condition, which was aggravated whenever
a rain occurred. when a requiSition was
sent in for quicklime with which - disin-
feet the camp" he said, there was no
supply of that material, and the medical
department was handicapped by the lack of
many necessary articles for the proper SAN
itation of a camp.
COL. TURNER'S TESTIMONY.
Col Henry L. Turner. of the First Illinois
Volunteers said conditions were fairly good
at Chickamauga during the three weeks his
regiment was there. His command was
promptly supplied with rations at ChicHa-
manga and the quality was good. He con-
tinued: Eat Tampa we were finally very
completely supplied with quartermasters
stores, by being very persistent. think
there was a very great oversight at ST.
honey. We reached Siboney on Saturday
morning, July 9, and General Reynolds then
informed me that he had received tele-
phonic orders that l was to disembark at
once. When l asked him what preparation
had been made for decentralization, he said,
Il do not know anything about that You
must fight that out yourself l went ashore
and spent about two hours trying to Hnd
somebody who would give me some informa-
ton as 10 how l was to get my regiment
on shore. We got off all our men by the
next noon Sunday some of our rations
and some of our tonnage, but good deal
of our stuff remained on the transport ana
some of it was taken to Porto Rico. For
the first three days we were at Santiago
we nearly starved to death-could get no
supplies in any way. Finally, thirty or my
men volunteered to foot it to Siboney and
bring out on their backs enough supplies
to keep the men alive. In connection with
this, General Shafter sent me very sharp
note complaining that l had not reported
the situation directly to him."
Colonel Turner defended at considerable
length the camps of the volunteers, so far
as he had observed them. He claimed that
most of the confusion at Tampa was caused
by quartermaSterS and commisSarieS, who,
he thought had not the business training
to adapt them to the handling or the
emergencies growing out of the war. Col.
Turner said the transports on which his
regiment was carried to and from Cuba
were in good shape and had a sufficient
quantity of food and medicine. He OBJ
served nothing at Montauk which indicated
a lack of proper medical supplies. He con-
tinued: 1.-The detention camp. so far as
could Judge of it on the surface, was as
fine a camp as ever saw. The only thing
l could criticise that there was DISPOSE
ton TO turn the men out before they were
been discharged from the hospitals while
in almost a. state Of delrium. l heard Of
many men furloughed from the hospitals
and very weak waiting for an unreasonable