Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-09-09
NECESSARY EVIL OF wAR.
Army Officers Talk Of Disease Among
American Troops.

American Troops.
Army officers dcpiore the sickness
among the troops and the deaths resulting
therefrom, but some of them try to draw
comfort from the experience of the civil
war. They say the country should not
be surprised IL there is IL greater loss Of
life from disease contracted during this
wal than from Spanish bullets. While
the two wars were dissimilar in many re-
spects II comparisons are not easy, per-
haps not fair, the army men point to the
records of the civil conflict as convincing
evidence that n relatively enormous
mount of sickness is inseparable from
u The statistics Of the rebellion show
that twice as many men died Of disease
us OF bullets, %bayonets, swords md shells.
For every man who died of disease many
recovered, so that the aggregate amount
Of sickness during the civil war represent
cd an appalling sun of misery beyond
computation.
In u report made to the Secretary Of
War in 1868 Gen. Frye put the number
of Union soldiers killed or dying Of
wounds at $4,000 Tin round numbers),
while the number dying of disease was
placed Mt $4,000. According to the same
report 224,00O men were discharged for
disability. The adjutant general of the
army made up a report in 1869, in which
he put the deaths in battle and from
wounds Mt 10000 and from disease at
10000, exclusive of 5000 deaths from
unknown causes. The general in 1870
put the figures ut $4,000 and $4,000. An
other authority made up the records as
$4,000 and 10000, or about IL per cent
of the total number of men enrolled in the
Federal army. There were approximately
100000 men enlisted in the recent war,
and IL per cent would be about 10000.
No one knows how many deaths there
have been. but n war official estimated
the total number from all causes recently
Mt less than 500.
The army officers in question do not
offer these figures as an apology for n
neglect of duty that may have added an
hour of suffering to a single soldier Of
this war, but they wish to bring out the
fact that these horrors, in greater or less
degree, are inseparable from war, and
they feel grateful the country has escap-
ed n long conflict in Cuba. The records
show that more than 100000 cases were
treated in the military hospitals during
the civil war, representing a sum of suf-
fering beyond the imagination. OF these
patients $4,000 lin round numbers) died
Of wounds, $4,000 Of diarrhoea, 1900 of
dysentery, $4,000 Of typhoid fever, $1,000
of fevers Of u typhoid type. 10000 from
inflammation Of the lungs, 1000 Of small
pox, and 5000 Of measles.
These facts indicate that much the same
diseases have been developed during this
war, and military men insist they are in
a large degree unavoidable.
In addition to the sickness peculiar to
camp life, even in a temperate climate, the
men in Skaters army were subjected to
malarial and yellow fevcrs. 1t has been
asserted that 80 per cent of the army in
front of Santiago was sick. The War De-
partment has reports of 10000 men up
to Aug. ], and Of that number 10000 had
been sick or wounded. 1t is presumed
this takes in a large part Of the sickness
in Cuba. There may not be much comfort
in such figures to those who grieve for lost
relatives, but army men insist that, in the
light of previous experience and with the
knowledge Of the terrible conditions to be
faced in a tropical land in the rainy sea-
son, the results might have been much
more disastrous. incidentally they point
out that much Of the suffering might have
been averted il the wa could have been
delayed until fall.