The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-19

practically pronounced sentence Of death, was
taken away from camp by a resident OF Chat
tanooga, under almost similar circumstances.
The man lay dangerously Ill at the house of
a private citizen for several days. His regi-
ment got orders TO leave for home and four
men came up to the citizens house to take
the sick man away. The citizen declared that
he was too sick to be removed. One of the
soldiers said: I'VE can't help that. We
must obey orders" The citizen responded
sturGily:
If you will get the consent of the Chatta-
nooga doctor who is attending him, you can
take him. otherwise you'll not take him from
this house except over my dead body
The gentleman who told me this story con-
cluded it as follows:
The men did not go to the doctor and get
his consent to remove the sick man. They re-
Joined their regiment, which left for home
that day. Any forcible attempt to remove the
sick soldier would have been resisted with
shotgun in the hands of a resolute man. That
sick man is going to get well.''
Many a sick soldier who was taken from the
hospitals Of Camp Thomas and tenderly
nursed in a private home owes the preserva-
tion of his life to the generous of the
noble women and kind-hearted citizens of
Chattanooga. And have seen some Of these
women weep and heard some of these strong
men swear in righteous indignation as they
recalled the horrors of the hospitals. 1t is
estimated that the location of Camp Thomas
at Chickamauga brought nearly $4,000, 900
to Chattanooga, but with my own personal
knowledge I know that the best people of
the city-not the people of wealth alone
evinced more solicitude over the welfare of
the sick soldiers than for any share Of the
money that poured into the city. Women.
clergymen, doctors, business men, Joined in
efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the SOL
diers, and for one l salute them.
Incompetency certainly had much to do
with the creation of hell on earth at Chicka-
manga but cold blooded indifference con-
tributed to the horrors. Official indifference
permitted the maintenance of pestiential
sinks close UP to hospital tents, the foul
odors Of which were inhaled by many men
sick unto death. For weeks and weeks no
action was taken in the way of preventing
the pollution of the air in which the men in
the New York and other camps slept at
night.
Speaking of this a private Of the Fourteenth
regiment said to me:
at was awful the way this stencil came
into the tents at night Most of our men have
had to sleep on the ground with nothing but
blanket or a poncho under them. At night
a sort of vapor, q mist few feet high, creeps
over the ground and is rank with the stencil
of the sinks. I've seen as many as seven
teen men sleeping in a tent and when you
get that many men in such a space the air
in any place would be bad but with the
smoking, the breath of so many men and that
vapor mixed, 1 tell you it was enough to
make a well man sck''
There were colonies and majors, captains
and surgeons, and a small army of men
wearing shoulder straps, yet there was not
an officer in camp who took any effectual step
to abate the nuisance of the sinks until Gen.
John G. Breckenridge issued an order. Most
of the officers could stand the smell because
they made frequent visits in considerable
numbers to the Lookout Mountain inn and
the Read house at Chattanooga.
Yesterday, during the progress Of a violent
rain storm which had lasted over twenty
four hours, 1 drove over to camp to see what