The record-union., 1898-11-02
SCARCITY OF
MEDICAL SUPPLIES.
Were WofuIIy Short During the
Campaign in Cuba.
There Was Also Trouble In Getting Amhu-
Iances Taken to the Island.
General Bates Testimony Before
the War Investigating Commis-
~sion-The Sites. at Camp Thomas
Disease Breeders, According to
DR.. Mearns, Brigade Surgeon at
the Camps.

the Camps.
LEXINGTON Ry.), Nov. before
the War Investigation Commission to-
day Chief Commissary Marshall o1
Camp Hamilton denied the statements
made by Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell
of the First TerritoriaIS last night. Ht
said every requisition had been honor
ed from the Territorials.
The second witness was General j. G
Bates, who testified as to the Santiago
campaign, the camps at Mobile and a.
Chickamauga- He went to see Genera
Brooke regarding the lack of equip
ments, clothing and other supplies. He
said: THE day before we left Mobile
we got pretty well supplied. There
were supplies for recruits At Santi-
ago we had bread and meat always
| Montauk Point was not the proper
place for a camp of sick soldiers at this
time of the year. At Montauk Point
| learned that the Long Island Railroad
| Company had an exclusive contract tC
haul the soldiers to the city. I issued
orders to all the other railroads to come
in and help take off the sick
I'm Cuba medical supplies were wo-
fully short The medical officers said
that they could not get them. This
was especially true at Siboney. In 60
ing over we had enough medical sup
plies, but we were cut down. We had
| trouble in getting ambulances taken to
| Cuba. We got one for each regiment
and one for each squadron. 1 think
the ambulances I took were the only
ones ashore when the Rough Riders
fight occurred on the oath of June"
When asked what, in his opinion was
| the weakness of the Medical Depart
ment, General Bates said he thought
a great mistake was made in not send
| ing medical officers in sufficient num-
| Der with regiments ordered to the field
Additional transportation should have
| been furnished for medical officers and
medical supplies, ambulances and
| horses.
| By DR.. Conner-What do you think o1
the propriety of allowing female nurses
accompanying an army into the field
L think it would be perfectly proper
to have them at large hospitals, but
not at regimental hospitals"
Replying to a leading question by DR.
|
modern arms, danger in removing
wounded from the lines of fire was
| greatly increased; that it would be
! difficult for ambulance men and litter
| bearers to live in the increased zone OF
| fire. In Cuba it was difficult to get
oatmeal and other de1icacies for the
sick
II think there is not sufficient ex-
cuse for medical supplies being short
| in Cuba" he added Better prepara-
| tions could have been made for trans.
porting. We had no way to shoe horses
| and mules. l have no recommendation
| to suggest as to the Improvement OF
War Department regulations, nor re-
| garding the rations. These matters
have been subject to consideration Of
boards of officers, and 1 do not care
| to offer an opinion"
| General Bates was then excused.
| DR.. Edgar A Mearns, surgeon ir
| charge of Gibbs general hospital Lex
ington, was asked regarding the sani-
tary condition of Camp Thomas, where
he was brigade surgeon. He read q
report on the conditions of the sites
there, which showed they were disease
breeders. He thought the men detail
ed from the regiments to division hos
| pltals We're incompetent. DR.. Mearns
condemned the water supply at Camr
Thomas, because there was typhoid fe.
yer there The order to boil drinking
water was generally obeyed when boil
ers could be procured.
DIR. Mearns was asked what recon-.
| mendation he would make. He said
men IN charge should be given what
| they asked for, as had been done here
With competent men in charge there
should be no waste, and nothing wouId
be asked for that was not needed.
| After luncheon Major .John T Rack
man of the One Hundred and Sixtietr
Indiana was the first witness called hy
the commission. His testimony indi-
Gated that his regiment had Jared well
in every respect.
Major j. D. Glennan. who was Can
tam and Assistant Surgeon in the reg
ular army, and was made Major and
Brigade SURGEON Of Volunteers on June
tth, was called. Major Glennan was
at Chlckamauga and Tampa with the
Sixth Cavalry. He later returned tc
Chickamauga as Brigade Surgeon of the
Third Division, First Corps. He said
tlldt He IOuHu d HluCn larger amount OF
sickness among volunteers than he had
been used to seeing; that he found the
sinks left open and not dug deep
enough to make the camp healthfuI;
that the supply was hurt by this
William @. Cogswen, surgeon of the
Eighth Massachusetts, said that when
his regiment reached Chattanooga il
was kept in freight yards eighteen
hours. and it took them then four hours
to be transported to the park. The
men went two weeks without fresh
meat, and their health was thus great
| ly impaired, and a large number were
! taken sick.
Major Cogswell attributed the typh-
old to the water milk and lemonade
drank by the men. He said that the
clothing and blankets belonging to men
who died Of typhoid fever were brought
back without having been washed OF
boiled, and used by other men Of the
regiment. He mentioned other abuses
| too degraded to write, which he said
were reported to the higher authori-
ties, without action being taken
Captain George B. Duncan of the reg
ular army, who recently served as Ad-
jutant General of the District of Ponce,
Porto Rico, testified before the COM