Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-12-15
GRAVES OF HEROES.
MANY BODIES ON HILLSIDE
NEAR SANTIAGO.
Little Aid for Invalids-Wounded Pass
Through Trying and Dangerous Or
deals While Making Efforts to Reach
the Hospital "

James Langland wrote from DlpOuoJ,
Cuba, under date Of July IA, as fol-
lows:
For nearly a week Capt. Capron's
grave was the only one on the hillside
Just above the western part of the
village. Now there are many beside
it, Most of them are the resting places
of wounded men who have died in the
hospitals.
Every day several details Of soldiers
or of Cubans are sent up to open new
graves in the rocky ground, and they
are followed by professions carrying
stretchers on which rest the dead. The
funeral ceremonies are brief and sim
ple usually they are confined to the
reading of the burial service and
short prayer The interments are made
about shutdown or after the moon has
risen, when the air is cool. Every
thing is done quietly, almost silently.
There is no firing of salutes over the
graves and no sounding of trumpets.
Persons a few PAGES away may not
even be aware that the soil of Cuba
is receiving the remains of more Amer
lean heroes.
There can be no denial of the fact
that conditions here are against the
recovery of those badly hurt; wounds
ordinarily considered slight are dan
gerous. The heat, combined with hui
nudity, the unsanitary state OF every
place occupied by Cubans and the lack
of accommodations, as well as of the
luxuries which are of so great value
In sick rooms, impose heavy handi-
cap upon the invalid. There are too
few nurses to give the proper amount
of attention to the disabled and those
that are here have to contend with
many and great difficulties. They are
overworked, underfed and without the
right kind of shelter either day or
night. 1t is almost a marvel that they
have been able to do any work at all.
One reason why so many of the
slightly wounded fail to get well is
that after receiving their hurts they
were compelled to walk many miles
over wretched roads or to ride in
heavy, jolting wagons to get to the
hospitals. After the battle of Canea,
July 1, many soldiers came all the
way to Siboney to get treatment.
For a well man the journey is any
thing but pleasant. He imagines, and
with reason too, that in the dark re-
ccoses of the tangled forest on either
side lie concealed men whose business
it is to kill without mercy; he hears
mysterious noises in the underbrush
and the unfamiliar cries and calls of
night birds; he stumbles over the dis
carded clothing of men who have pre-
coded him; lie sees hideous objects
crawling across the path; he finds a
rude litter under tree and wonders
what has become of the soldier who
was carried on it; here and there he
recognizes the dim outline of newly
made graves.
The road becomes narrower and
darker and more wearisome as he pro-
ceeds. The miles seem never-ending
At last, after what seems to him an
eternity, he energies into the light and
finds that he is on the top of the high
hill overlooking the town which is his
goal. He staggers- down the rocky
slope to find~St the foot the rudest
kind ot-1shelter, the poorest kind OF
Lf65d and the hardest kind of a bed
This is the experience of a strong
healthy man. What must have been
that of the wounded, who for days
and nights kept coming from distant
battlefields in search of relief?
Those who were carried in wagons
Jared a little better, but not much.
They had companionship, and COM
pany under such conditions. means
much, and they had some protection,
though not always. But the wagon
roads were worse than the trails. Cut
up into deep ruts by the heavy team
ing and the passage of batteries of ar
tillery, filled with rocks and other OBJ
structions, hub-deep in mud and slime
in the swampy stretches and made
dangerous for siX-mule teams by steep
hills and sudden turns, they were
about as bad as they could be.
The six or eight wounded men
crowded into each wagon were unmer-
cifully jolted. In some cases their
wounds were started bleeding afresh.
long, rough ride do a disabled soldier
any good. On more than one occasion
wagons loaded with patients were up
set, causing painful bruises and break
ing limbs.
The regular Red Cross ambulances
did good service and saved many lives
They were comfortable and afforded
shelter from the sun and rain. The
wagons were open, only a few of them
having canvas covers The wounded
protected themselves by holding
branches of palm leaves over thei,
heads. When it rained they usually
got wet, their rubber coats havina
been abandoned on the battlefield OIL
on the road.
Hereafter it is certain that better
preparations for the care of the wound
ed will be made. Gen. Shafter ha.
impressed the fact upon the authori.
ties that more surgeons, more ambu.
lances and more medical stores must
: | n Cd i,,f nd -