The Indianapolis journal., 1898-09-02
COMPLAINTS In THE CIVIL WAR.

COMPLAINTS IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Complaints of sickness, suffering and
neglect OF soldiers are no new thing in this
country. They have occurred in all Our
wars and always will, partly because our
volunteer soldiers are never seasoned to
war at first, and partly because the coun-
try itself is not. With no standing army
to speak Of very infrequent wars, voun-
teer armies to be mobilized on short notice,
and the people as unaccustomed to war as
the troops themselves, such complaints are
inevitable. Sickness and suffering are
themselves inevitable accompaniments of
war. and they are bad enough without be-
ing exaggerated for a purpose.
There was much of the same kind of talk
early in the civil war, but it died out before
the end. In December, 1862. Congress
adopted the following:
Whereas. 1t is reported that many abuses
exist in connection with the administration
and until they are corrected the health and
lives of our thousands of brave soldiers
there stationed will continue to be endan-
Resolved That the joint committee on
the conduct of the war be directed to in
qUire and report upon the foregoing, with
such recommenda tions as they may deem
requisite.
This Investigation was ordered on the
strength of popular clamor and newspaper
statements. The evidence taken by the
committee showed that the camp was or
ganzed in August, 1862, for the purpose of
collecting and OBTAINING convalescent Off
GERS or enlisted men, stragglers, recruits
and paroled prisoners until such time as
they could rejon their regiments. The camp
was judiciously located and was under the
command of Colonel Belknap, of the
Eighty-ifth New York Volunteers. The
consolidated report showed that from Au-
gust. 1862, to January. 1865, inclusive, there
were received in this camp S2,OSS men, of
whom 71.746 were sent to Join their regi-
ments. During the period named there was
no day when there were less than $500 men
in the camp unfit for duty, and some days
it exceeded II, 900 1t averaged about 6,0O0
day. For several months the number of
men in the camp unfit for duty greatly ex-
ceeded those who were fit. There was sick
ness and suffering. A medical inspector re-
ported bad police, uncleanliness, bad ven-
the promiscuous herding together, upon a
limited area, of herds of idle, undiscplined
men," Yet the soldiers did not complain as
much as their friends and visitors to the
camp. In January. 1862 United States Sem
ator Harlan visited the camp. He found
good deal of confusion and sickness and
some suffering, but no more than was due
to condition of war. In a speech in the
Senate describing his visit he said:
1t is the recitation of these extreme cases
which, think, does the service a great
damage in the country. Benevolent gentle
men and ladies, without knowledge OF all
the facts and circumstances, shed tears
over the sufferings OF our soldiers and
cite them to the neighbors, and create i'm
prsssions which do great injustice to the
officers in charge. 1T IS said that there
has been much suffering in that encamp-
ment have no doubt there has been but
Very frequently these cases of suffer-
ing arise on account of the prodigality of
the soldiers themselves. 1t is much more
pleasant to praise our brave troops IN the
field than to speak of their faults but we
find men in civil life that have faults, and
some Of these men, unfortunately, tel find their
and incompetent officers, doubtless, at
many of these hospitals. but 1 believe
large majority of them do the very best it
is possible for Christian humane gentle
men to do under the circumstances by
which they are surrounded. The physicians
in charge of the hospitals connected with
the armies in the field, of course, are not
always able to procure the necessarieS for
the sick and wounded men, nor are the
commissarieS always able to do so for the
well men. The casualties of war produce
these difficulties, and L suppose that the
troops, when they enter the service, do it
with tolerable comprehension of the hard
ships which they may be called upon occa-
siorally to suffer They expect it, and
dure it without murmur when they know
1t cannot be remedied. l have reason to be-
lieve, and do believe, that there is far less
complaining among the soldiers themselves
in the field than by friends at home.
These words. spoken thirty-five years
ago, fit the present situation exactly. They
describe the defects inherent in our volun-
teer system What happened in 1S61-62 has
happened now, on a smaller scale, and un-
der the worse conditions of a southern or
tropical climate. We should have expected
it at the beginning and should thank God
it is no worse. If General Shafter had de-
layed the attack on Santiago a few weeks,
requiring more troops to be sent to Cuba,
the situation would be far worse. Our army
is an army of heroes, and their friends
who were not in the army should stop blub-
bering.