The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-01

starved In the government hospitals
There has been no lack Of proper food
In these hospitals and competent cooks
preparing 1t have been present, and the
only reason for depriving the patients
of what 30 many Of them have clamor-
ed for has been the necessity of such
dieting as the disease demands.
so far from believing, as result of
my observations, that medical officers
have been heartless or negligent.
believe that these officers and the hos
pital attendants, as whole have ex-
erted themselves to discharge their du-
ties faithfully. 1t would seem as II
this were sufficiently shown by the
fact that they have worked unceasng-
ly until a quarter of the whole force
has itself been stricken by disease re-
sulting from their exhausting labors.
MY attention was especially direct
cd. in the order which l received. to
some remarks credited to General Ter
ry. surgeon general of the state of
New York, In reference to the condi-
tion Of the camp Of the Eighth New
York. General Terry il reported in
the New York Herald to have said, as
he was leaving Camp Thomas:
General Terry found the camp in
bad sanitary condition. 1t is situ-
atcd In an open field In the hot sun.
with no water to be found within FIVE
miles. The water the men drink Is
hauled in barrels. and is Of kind
that In New York would be refused as
bathing water This stuff is what the
men drink daily and Is declared to be
n 1tf.F l.. .:.I..
eral Terr. told me that 1t was the
most terrible sight he had ever wit
messed, and that not in the slums of
New York city could be found place
so filthy and dirty. He declared that
ff the soldiers are not soon taken
form Chickamauga Park they will soon
follow the "a who died yesterday and
nearly as many today. The patients
are simply laid on li,ters not sick inches
from the ground. Few. if any. of the
hospital tents have plank noors.'
instead cf there being no water
within five miles OF this regiment. two
of the largest and finest springs of
clear watnr in this entire country,
pronounced by cOmrctent medical and
chemical authority to be pure water,
are less than two miles from their
camp.
"rhe Eighth New York had been
camped upon the ground where General
Terry observed 1t less than ten days.
1t was perfectly clean ground when
they occupied It, and had not been
previously occupied by any troops. If
1t had been transformed within this
brief period by the troops of the
Eighth New York into a place filthier
and drtier than can be found in the
slums of New York 1t will become the
officers of that regiment and the men
to explain how such Transformation
could have been made by them in this
brief space of time.
Whether General Terry means that
"a died in the camp of the Eighth New
York or "a in the entire camp in one
day, and that nearly as many would
die the day of his departure cannot be
exactly determined by his form of
speech, but on the day that he Is quoted
as making this remark the deaths in
the entire army encamped here were
seven and the deaths in the Eighth
New York, two days before his visit,
only one. which had been
the rate for several days.
In closing beg leave to express my
opinion that most Of the interviews
with chaplains regimental surgeons
and others, both officers and men, now
appearing at the north in many of the |
newspapers in regard to this camp are
reckless ana false, except as to the
filthy condition which their own GRIM
lnal neglect has caused"