The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-01
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None of the 60 cents allowance per man
for delicacies has been used. as ii was not
needed The report says of this hospital:
There have beer in this hospital at
various time 1e1 patients from the Eighth
New York Volunteers The reports show
that in great many cases it was difficult
to tell that anything was the matter with
them. Only 10 per cent Of the cases of
sickness from this regiment were reported
as in any way serious. and when 1t was
rumored that the regiment was to be sent
home several of those in the hospital asked
not to be sent, but to be allowed TO remain
throughout their commissioned
The report states that in times when the
hospital was crowded there was lack OF
nurses. the deficiency being supplied by de-
tails from the regiments which were not
as satisfactory as trained nurses
'sAs result of this inadequate force
says the report, 1.-The force provided mas
been hard worked, but in all cases they
have stuck to their posts and performed
their work with great energy until SICK
ness overlook a considerable number. The
places of the sick have been filed by nurses
from the surgeon generals department.
The exhausting character of the work per"
formed by these nurses is shown by the fact
that about one-fourth OF them have
thoroughly exhausted their strength and
are now resting in quarters"
General Boynton shows that there is a
full refrigerator capacity for this hospital,
porcelain-lined baths, sterilized and iced
water and every convenience. In the malig-
nant typhoid ward there have been but two
deaths out of thirty cases in three weeks
He says that both the medical officers and
the hospital attendants at this hospital have
undoubtedly performed their duty with en-
ergy and efficiency, and the best test of all
this is shown by the fact that so many of
them have thoroughly exhausted themselves
and fallen sick under their labors. 1t is
also true that many of them have con-
tinued to work after they had been pro-
nounced sick by their associates.
|. The next hospital inspected was the
Third division hospital, first corps, in charge
of Major Thomas Clark. Here the attend
ants were found sufficient, though in the
earlier days there were rot enough surgeons
or attendants. The grounds were in ex-
cellent conditions, the tents clean, most of
the tents fioored and all fioored between the
cots and in the aisles. For a time the hos
pital was a week behind in obtaining its
medical supplies, but this was before the
government had collected its medical stores
in great quantities. AS in the other hos
pitfalls the entire force of attendants here
both officers and men, have worked with
great persistence, and till over % per cent.
of the hospital corps has fallen sick from
it's exhaustive labors. For the last six
weeks there has been no difficulty whatever
in obtaining medical supplies of every char
acter. The Red Cross has made liberal do
nations to this hospital, and friends in
Minnesota have sent great quantities of
delicacies The hospital fund for July
amounted to $415, and with that it has been
possible to purchase all the milk needed.
THE FIELD HOSPITALS.
Taking up the last of the field hospitals,
that of the Third corps, Second division,
under Major Smith, the report states that
the fifty-three tents are at present not all
occupied, though during the epidemic Of
measles they were crowded. There were no
Red Cross nurses, and a detail of two
ladies from the Chattanooga association has
visited the hospital daily to cook the lighter
food for the sick. When the hospital was
crowded the number of attendants was in
sufficient. There were also strong COM
plants of the failure to get medical and
surgical supplies in the earlier days before
the government had been able to furnish
itself and when it was impossible to avoid
delays incident to rushing supplies to great
army camps The requisition papers on file,
however, show that the hospital officers
made every effort to obtain full supplies,
Leaving the details about the hospitals
the report proceeds to treat the whole sub
ject generally, as follows: I'm two of the
hospitals opportunities occurred for discov-
cry of what undoubtedly originated many
Of ba
printed ever the country to the effect that
patients in the hospitals lacked sufficient
food, and in many cases had been on the
verge of starvation. In the wards where the
convalescent typhoid fever patients were
found many of the men were constantly
asking for food. and, as matter of course
were as constantly denied everything except
the lighter forms of food, which can alone
be safely administered to recovering ty-
phoid patients. This refusal of food
throughout the hospitals. by which care
alone, as is perfectly understood, can the
lives of typhoid convaiescents be saved, has
been distorted into the cry which has been
spread throughout the country that patients
were being starved in the governmen mt hos
pitals. There has. been no lack of proper
food in these hospitals, and competent cooks
for preparing it have been present, and the
only reason for depriving the patients of
what so many of them have camored for
has been the necessity of such dieting as
the disease demands.
1T will be observed that the conditions set
forth in this report are mainly present
conditions. 1t has not heretofore fallen
within the range of my duties at this park
to make critical observations of hospital
conditions, although, as a matter of course
many features of this division of camp ad-
ministration have fallen under my notice.
/ am constrained TO believe that there has
been no neglect on the part of either the
medical or the quartermaster departments
to furnish such supplies as have reached the
camp.
1T will be observed that the report in
each case has been made with reference
to the maximum number of patients in each
hospital, and. so far as it was possible to
obtain the conditions then existing. they
are set forth in this report. Undoubtedly
there have been serious inconveniences, and
at times of the greatest crowdlng those
lacks of conveuiences and full attendance
which go to make up that painful condition
or AFFAIRS which. as every veteran knows,
great armies, even when all concerned ex-
ert themselves TO secure the comfort of the
patients. These are conditions which in
times of rapid increase of Diseases cond-
ton which was reached at this camp solely
in my Judgment, from the filth which too
MANY of the regipoeptal odiearc .i,oo,oa -