The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1898-09-01
TERRIBLE TALE.
Drain OF Dead Soldier Taken Ont md
Replaced With Handful of Straw.
's''ncs Also Removed ard ston,,,
f"'ed with Hay-An Onicml I vc.,,.
k"''"n Likely TO Reveal the
ereatest Scandal In H.torv

nI
"a Aug, 2G.-The horrors Of th
- Uniekamauga hospitals grow. Gen
breckinridge will probably insistunn,
congressional investigation. Will
VIII reveal one of the greatest scam
: uais IN the history Of the army.
When an official investigation sbo1
. nave been made of the causes lead;n,
up 70 the sickness and death of So
many soldiers of the volunteer army
al Ohickamauga park it will reveal p
uegree OF negligence and ignorance on
the part of officers and surgeons thu,
is hardly to be credited as hayinc oc.
Cured in the United States of America
during the close of the nineteenth Gem
tury.
men with raging fevers were sent to
'hese places and compelled in manv
cases to lie on the ground on blankets
whiie the rain beat in through thu
poorly protected tents.
There were few surgeons and fewer
nurses, and the poor fellow who be-
came sick was in the main left IN b;s
own care, with an occasional visit
from the surgeon. There was LITTLE
Ice to be had and ice baths were of
rare occurrence.
In one division hospital for several
weeks there were only two tempera-
ture thermometers. The sick were al
lowed to lie in unprotected tents for
hours until physicians could have nm
opportunity to examine them and de- |
eide whether they ought to be admit
ted to hospitals or not and In some
cases men with fever were compelled
to wait for "a hours after giving up"
as they called it. and they were al
ways kept going as long as they could
before receiving attention.
The surgeons themselves state that
their supplies were inadequate, the
Accommodations lily equipped, the
nurses and attendants few and mex
perienccd, and, as one surgeon said
1T Is wonder that every fever pa.
tient did not die"
1t Is stated that the department did
not know of the situation FOR some
time. Surgeon General Sternberg's
order as 10 sanitation had been gross
y ignored, and acquisitions for med
cal supplies were sent to his depart
nent with snail-like rapidity.
Men suffered and died for lack of
medicines and proper attention. The
whole system seems to have been to-
ally wrong and inhuman, and, as a re-
ult, the people of the country are sim
ly appalled, at the revelations made,
nd when the whole truth is known,
a all the sickening details, the public
ill wonder that the soldiers at Chick
mauga park have been able to escape
5 well as they have.
George A. Echle, member of Com
any L, 9th Pennsylvania, says that
is command has been shamefully neg.
cted; that the sick have not been
applied with ice, but nave been al
wed TO almost famish in the hot sun.
he men have received wines, brandies, q
How cases and such things from rel- Z
ives and friends at home, but they y
ould gladly have given them all for
| adequate supply of ice.
Echle says that a sink has existed in
C camp of his command close up to
e mess tent, and that flies and in
It's from this reeking mass of filth
d putrefcation would alight in the
ID as the men were eating. du'
about a week or two ago private eXi
the 9th Ohio, an estimable and reli- Sur
e man, wrenched his knee in town ing
1 split the bone lie was picked up con
wagon laden with hospital sup pas
es in charge of surgeon. The
ter knew the private was in org
n and badly crippled, yet he never spr
ichsafed word of inquiry or Of OF
ed TO render him the least assist the
c. The wagon was driven to it's 10
in an open field. The in per-
ID man was ordered out and left 'nei
raj miles away from his camp in con
open field. whence in great suffer gre'
he found his way 10 his regiment oer'
appears that some of the medical tion
ers, in the interest of science of anu
cry" are cutting up bodies Of SOL arm
s. or rather holding summary au- i]eo
les without the consent of the rel uene
es of the dead men. and over the 'ne
ests of their friends.
few days ago the body of "a soldier n.
died of meningitis was taken in The
lattanooga. When the body was who
veTea ~ was iounu '"as '',e n'au impr
had been lifted and that his S.tr,
q had been taken out and replaced nr
a handful OF hay. His intestines was
also been removed and the stom- pror,
illed with hay. This autopsy was recov
,rmed without the consent of the .h,rc
5 people.
zee Commissioners in Washington.