The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1898-11-24

speedily became Of value as administra-
tive and sanitary officers.
mo provision was made for hospital
corps men for the volunteer troops, eX-
cept that which empowered the secre-
tary of war to enlist as many privates
for the hospital corps as the service re-
quired. The number of men enlisted
and transferred during the war was ap-
proximately 5000.
The want OF sufficient body of
trained hospital corps men necessitated
the detail of enlisted men from the regi-
ments for hospital duty in several of
the camps and the employment of train
ed nurses at the general hospitals. Over
l 200 female nurses have been employed,
at first at the general hospitals and lat
er at the field division hospitals, when
it became evident that the field service
purposes, for which the latter had been
organized, would have to give place to
the imperative need of caring for the
many sick men coming from the regi-
mental camps.
soon after the newly raised levies
We're aggregated in large camps sick
ness began to increase progressively
from causes that were so general in
their opera tion that scarcely a regiment
These causes may largely be referred
to ignorance on the part of officers of
the principles Of camp sanitation and of
their duties and responsibilities as re-
CARDS the welfare of the enlisted men
| in their commands.
Fault Not With Camp Sites.
''The sites of certain of the camps
have been instanced in the newspapers
developed in them, but a review of the
whole situation shows that it was not
| the site, but the manner of its occupa-
| ton which must be held responsible for
| the general spread of disease among
| the troops"
After referring to orders issued for
| the sanitation of camps General Stern
berg says:
| "Practically nothing was done to
| make the men comfortable or to rem
| edy the unsanitary conditions until
| these were brought to the attention Of
the secretary of war by inspectors sent
| out from the war department. Then
| the camps, held for SO long, were aban-
| dOned. but not before the manifeSta-
| tions of typhoid infection were rife in
| them. New sites were carefully select
| ed, regimental camps were expanded,
| company tentage increased and board
| flooring provided. Then, for the first
time the troops went into camps suita-
BILE for continued occupation.
ct was the typhoid fever" continues
General Sternberg, (which broke down
the strength of the commands general
ly, the outbreak becoming distinctly
manifest in July. Sporadic cases ap-
peared in most of the regiments in May
and June, these cases having been
brought in many instances from the
state camps"
The contaminated water supply, the
surgeon general contends, was the chief
cause Of the prevalence of typhoid fever
and says:
"To prevent transmission by the wa
ter supply I recommended the use OF
boiled and filtered water when a pure
spring supply could not be obtained,
and to enable an efficient filtration of
suspected waters to be made field filters
Of approved construction were issued on
my recommendation by the quarter
masters department"
Speaking of the Santiago campaign
General Sternberg says:
| when the command embarked on the
transport vessels the baggage wagon.
|
lance trains of all the divisions with
q large part of the outfit of each of the
hospitals, were also left behind.
"Of the property and supplies carries d
to Cuba portion was not available fol
service at the time it was most needed
to wit, on July l, 2 and 3, when the
wounded from Ell Caney and San Juan
were coming from the front for care
and treatment. This was because, in
general, no opportunity was afforded tc
land the medical property. Earnest ef-
forts were made by medical officers te
have supplies at the front with the
troops. During and after the battles Of
Ell Caney and San Juan there was ar
insufficiency of tents, cots, bedding and
| medicines, due to the causes stated, but
all the hospitals were we'll equipped fol
surgical work.
General Sternberg insists that his de.
partment was not responsible for ths
condition of transports in which sol
diers were returned from Santiago nol
for the alleged abuses and prevalence O
e disease at Camp Wikoff or other hom,
camps after the fall of Santiago.