The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-07
B0YNTON.
His Testimony
Finished.
GEN. LEE NEXT.
Conditions of Army at Jack
sonville Described.

Washington. oct. 6.-The war in
vestigation committee held two sessions
today. In the forenoon Gen. H. "
Boynton concluded his testimony which
he had begun yesterday and. Gen.
Fitzhugh Lee was heard in the after
noon. Gen. Boynton dwelt today upon
the cause of disease at Camp Thomas,
charging the increase toward the close
Of this camp to the lack of sufficient
care on the part of regimental and bri-
gade commanders in covering the
sinks,
Gen. Lee detailed the conditions pre-
Vatling at the camp at Jacksonville. He
said the site was good one, the sup
plies were plentiful, the men we'll tax
en- care of, and that he had no COM
plaint to make of the war department 5
treatment of his command.
He also took occasion in reply to a
question put by Capt. Howell to say
that he did not consider that he had
been sighted in the war. He had not
expected to be ordered to Santiago or
to Porto Rico, but he wanted to go to
Havana, and the president had recent
y told him that in case it had been ne
cessary to take Havana by assault he
had intended to ask him Gen. Lee) to
lead the assaulting army.
Continuing the testimony this morn
ing, Gen. Boynton said there was, Of
course, suffering at Camp Thomas. 1t
was principally due, however, to the
flies, which settled down upon the park
in swarms. Nothing was exempt from
them They lowered over the officers
mess table and swarmed back and
forth from where the men were eating
to the kitchen sinks and the sinks used
for the typhoid fever patients. This
spread disease. Things did get into a
filthy condition, it was true. It was
not the fault of Gen. Brooke, but was
due rather to certain regimental and
brigade officers during the interregnum
after Gen. Brooke had been ordered to
Washington and while he was hurried
| ~ getting $4,000 men ready to move
Gen. Boynton was questioned at
some length as to where the RESPONSE
bility for this condition of affairs lay,
and he said that it was with the brig
AIDE and reginlental commanders.
II am satisfied" he said, that the
| medical officers reported to them the
condition and warned them of the Sc
the surgeon generals orders for the
covering of the sinks, but the medical
officers could not give orders; they
could only advise"
Gen. Boynton added that he did not
mean to make any reflection upon Off
GERS from civil life, but there were
some things which they had to learn,
and many of them were not experts in
sanitation. Furthermore, most peo-
fha W
temporary, and the fact that all were
in daily expectation of receiving orders
to move, caused many to be Indifferent
to the future.
In discussion with Capt Howell on
the question Of rations supplied to
Camp Thomas, Gen. Boynton volun-
teered the suggestion that there had
been no complaints from southern SOL
diers in the camp, and he continued
IT do not believe we would have heard
half the cutlery that has been raised if
the soldiers had been from the south"
Gen. Dodge said that only two or
three charges had been received from
the south, and these were not from
soldiers
The testimony of Gen. Boynton being
concluded, the commission adjourned
TIN afternoon.
Gen. Fitzhugh Lee was before the
| commission at its afternoon session.
While he was at Tampa Gen. Shafter
had been in command and he Lee)
had very little knowledge of the meth
cd of furnishing the supplies. He said
that at one time his corps had number
ed 29,6O0 men, but was now less.
Gen. Lee had no complaint to make
in regard to supplies. In June, when
the expeditions were being gotten off,
there was some delay, but this was
natural, and since then supplies Of all
kinds had come with regularity and in
abundance. There have, Of course, he
said, been some complaints.
Soldiers are like school boys. They
sometimes complain even when there is
no occasion for complaint"
He thought the army ration was
abundant and in the main well suited
to q campaign in a tropical climate
yet he thought that some changes
might be made. He was of the opinion
that it would be better to send live
animals to Cuba than to send refrlger-
ator meat as at present
According to his ideas. the men
should have more fruit and less meat.
During the course of the questioning,
it developed that Gen. Lee had been
notified that he would be expected to
move his corps to Cuba in the vicinity
of Havana about the first of November
and that he considered the Spanish un-
form better adapted to a tropical eli
mate than ours, as they We're cool and
could be washed He was fearful that
the shirts and blouses of our men
would be too heavy for comfort
Gen. Lee made the significant an
nouncement that he was landing as in
friendly country, as he had informa-
ton that the American troops would be
welcomed not only by the Cubans, but
by the Spaniards as we'll He said the
conservative and property owning
SpaniardS were especially DESTROYS to
have the American troops come for the
preservation of order. Speaking of his
command, Gen. Lee stated that the
health of the troops had been good
only about two per cent being sick
He had insisted upon a very thorough
inspection of the camp and upon hay-
ing his forces thoroughly instructed by
the staff officers, who had practically
organized schools for the purpose. He
said the meat was received in refriger-
ator cars, and that as a rule it was
good In a few instances the outer
edges OF large pieces OF meat We're
spoiled as WAS also the bareback in
one or two cases. A shipment of po-
tatoes was reported to be in bad con-
ditiOn ana cunheuued.
AS to the efficiency Of the officers
appointed from civil life, Gen. Lee said
Continued on Fourth Page.)