The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-23
only my statement. but a statement in which
all the officers agree.

all the officers agree.
TREATMENT OF THz APPALLING,
I'VE had our dog tents 10 sleep under and
we got a coupls OF big toplinEs for our regi-
mental hospitals. but those we got, by rustling
ment. Through no fault. Of the doctors, the
condition OF the wounded U the rear. dnTlng
1--WE went down therc three days after the fight
was over TO look Tor some ot my men, saw
terrible, sights didn,S hlalnS me a. ao enors
ating tables when they had to jerk their
heads 10 keep themselves awake There were
not enough doctors there and not enough
supplies. fsaw some Of my own men right al
ter they wore operated nnon; having legs or
taken right out In the jungle and left In the
grass. Sometimes, know, they stayed there
sw v nr,g 10 n 9G t NItb ynoSo dSu even MO to come to
them TO give them II drink OF water. But they
had 70 be taken there. There was nowhere else
Fine doctors were ali doing their best and
working as brayely. as the soldiers In tho
soon as possible the wounded sent back to the
my nTSiv wounded and sick men to 60 10 the rear
unless they had TO be taken there. Gen. Wood
told me not 20 send d6 any s nSss IF wGbs e naEtfsn med
to OF the front. because there wore no facilities
for taking care OF them at the rear,
A IN THE MUD WITHOUT
There were, no cots for the wounded; After
being operated upon. 4 they had bl9pkSts;
InpN lay u III WI ou Y ~ -.
didn't have blankets they lay In the mud with
out blankets. I saw one, Of my men who was
He had been operated upon. He was lying, IN
the deep mud without n blanket, succeeded
In getting q man to give MN ms % pld hnie 00d
The wounded behaved in the most upcom-
hoy" brave they were. The bulk Of them. 90
per cent. Of them. were soldiers in the regular
"t"Tbere was nominaIly IS to % per cent. OF
my men On the the. SICK sick hsf,; but si1k ce Ws enn 29 p pes
carried their packs and marched 1--WE miles: i
S Mns 'H had 'n Something Besides the pork aud
hardtack. II was ioE them that 1 bought pro-
THE experience coming. mp on the trans
port was very much, better than on the trans;
port going down, The + 81 officers beers were Yer 1 aHaIteEWSa a
had an insufflciency OF disinfectants. We had
a suflciency of hospital supplies. as 1t turned
only doctor we had on the shipand he was sick,
but a tHT o nss , nIStin sEoE as E d EsIloH h tsTer R hnd
broken out on the way home It would have be-
come epidemic There was no place where we
f sSnIS 6at ah isp msde a a HpS my m had 4 t / sm ssrt
Officers out OF their quarters. put them any
drinking water was very bad. Still we got
We reached Camp ,Wikon Aug. Is, and were
put ashore the next morning. we vent into
detention camp for three days and then went
into the camp proper"
CONDITIONS AT CAMP wIKoFF.
,o.a,How did You find things at Camp wikofr2
fusion Grfeny rev 3D. Which ,hS H.. think think, lava was o mostly siny
and wounde6didnt have cots. Ibid not think
getting near a big city, After the arst three
regiment was admirably treated and our sick
men were well treated. The records were
e SaaIIy ksb fiod Ht m the ew Tam men So ba ffa st were s9m 9se pees
ords OF my own regiment, so l have no fault to
nnd on that score, Men arc more important
than records. and II the men were well cared
for that was all that concerned me; Again and
again l would meet my men in the hospitals
and T tSey @ RoG sne say nc &o Insy THIS Esrf IS se heave 1n''
My brigade got, so much milk and goodies
I Wonld h taso th nnn over 10 st and r eiSe them ' to other
regiments, 1 had other regimental command
ers report to me that they could not use any
nr@n Starving VI sn ne o aSMS .%ifofi. ABOUT our siSa
%supTSlhIsys T in ca 1Ss?S a aaSn I Dr. s'ccq onnor 81 mea''''
tdon't know replied the Colonel. Il was
ships sRtr s'" There may not have been transporta.
tion enough. / know that during the. battle of
San saI Juan We saw NO amSulafees; SO % Tar ar as nsT my
had a, sufflciency OF am bulances.. was told
that there were but twelve on IlT1 island. .,-u,
mule and bronco buster McGinty into t to.
Gether and send him to the hospital In that
'Q.-Do you know whether a positive order
was given at T1mpa, that no ambulapGes
about it, but I think it would have been better
If we had had fewer troops and better trans
Q..WeTe the privations in Ggba greater than
went in to take things as they occurred. I
think the prlvations as regard medical sup
P Eary f 90 h lG%a t TeaS srfqbs eIie sHan II u we was ba nef Sad
sufficient means Of decentralization and SUM-
cient animals for transportation. most OF the
regiment Of rough riders with you?. Ave
we could onlyta four troops. and that caused
me twenty-four hours of terrible agony. as
that would have meant that would have been
Gen. Wilson-Col. Roosevelt. have you any
further to volunteer?
COL. ROOSEVELT Make SOME SUGGESTIONS.
From what I saw 1 believe that IL our army
were exercised in peace, as I think the foreign
S W6ald ha stsbi eeSne t ayyoI %afh I Do not ot1 See i hS% we
can expect to avoid serious trouble In the flu
three hundred men at a time. I believe that
II in time OF peace you gould get together once
them from San Antonio to Galveston. say. and
then embark them for Tampa. ali Of the
defects in the Quartermaster's Department.
Medical Department and Commissary Depart
ment will be made evident and will work their
own cure. 1t will cost money. but it Is the
thing to do.
Now. 1 would like to say this as the result
ofmy experience in the Navy Department: l feel
that the Ordnance and Quartermasters bureaus
should not be separated from the line. Adj
miral Sampson used the guns which he built
the navy. believe II would be OF the greatest
advantage II we could have our ordnance men
and our quartermasters in the army detailed
for some years and sent back to the line. and
then sent back again II necessary. l believe il
would be for the. advantage of the line and for
the advantage of the army and navy
As for the other matter. the need Of exer-
cising the army in peace; ! am sure it is the
forms you need; Yop cannot sit down and plan
out on paper. Practice in the field Is neces-
sary. I could see that in the improvements
that came with experience in the Held. Each
year an army should be actually put through
In peace what 1t would have to go through in
VI Judge. them remarked Gen. Sexton.
that the SHORTCOMINGS You have cited and the
unnecessary rrivations you have told us about
were due to the lnexperience OF officers and