Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-10-19
THE WAR INVESTIGATION.
Surgeon Maus Testifies About Care OF SICK
at Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Fla, Oct. 1S.-The war in
vestgation commissioners held their ses-
sions, today, realing during the two day
sessions with the general staff officers OF
the 18th Army Corps and at night hearing
the testimony of officers and men of the
I'd South Carolina Regiment.
The subcommittee consisting of Gen.
Wilson and Capt. Howell to investigate
the selection of Fernandina as a camp,
returned, tonight, reported their approval
quiry into the report that the camp had
been located there for the purpose of en-
HANGING the value of land owned by Il
the county records as part of their work.
They failed to find his name in any of
these documents and their investigation
convinced them that he had never owned
any real estate in that vicinity or had
been in any way interested in any
Col. Louis NJ Maus. chief surgeon of
the eth Army Corps, was the first witness
sworn. He is a regular army surgeon
and has occupied his present position
practically throughout the history of the
camp.
hospital when he arrived in May and
there were very few sick men, Sickness
developed very slowly and there was very
little of it until July. He said that when
the order came for the establishment of
division hospitals there was delay in get
ting supplies. such as as tents He 3 mad
that ali efforts there We're directed to get
ting the expedition off, he made his reQui-
sitions upon Washington direct. After
this they were promptly filled There was
no suffering among the sick. Still. they
did not have the luxuries at the beginning
of the war that there were in the latter
days Of it: nor" added the doctor do
ever seen a parallel to our present care
| of the sick.
Taking up the present condition of the
| hospitals, he said there were 300 trained
| female nurses now at work here He
| said the employment of these nurses had
proved entirely satisfactory;
| Replying to a question, Mr.. MauS said
that after the first few days there had
been no refusal of supplies and that all
acquisitions had been filled with excep-
tional promptitude., He had never seen
such utter disregard of expense in caring
for sick soldiers. AS matter of fact,
| the troops had greater allowance of
rations than they could dispose OF in any
| way He also said the Red Cross Society
had given so much that it was often UNI
| necessary to ask the government for sup
plies. There had been no restrictions III
the matter of fitting out the, camps.
He thought typhoid had been intro
duced in camp by Mississippi and Vir
ginia troops. Shallow wells and surface
scourge, but he was confident that the
regular water supply of the city had MOI
been in any sense responsible for it. He
also thought the flies had done much to
very strict attention had been given u
the sinks. He had never in his life seer
such attention given to sanitation IN I
camp. but despite this care typhoid broke
out and became the principal sickness:
there.
DR.. Maus said he had found it Difficult
to prevail upon surgeons in the volunteer
service to learn the administrative dutie'
| of their positions. AS a matter of fact
these duties were extremely onerous ani
for this reason the volunteer physicians
were not so efficient as they should hav'
been Often also in the early history o
the war, some of the volunteer regi
mental surgeons had been negligent il
the matter Of inspection, but later on san
itation had become the principal duty 0
= everybody about the camp. Much troub
had been experienced in keeping the pub
. lie from the hospitals. In many case
: they had surreptitiously carried food t
| the sick.
paper reports of the suffering in tn
r camp, saying they had generally grow
.. out of exaggerated statements from tn
men themselves.
.. DR.. Maus said that in the history of tn
a camp there had been 2Sl deaths out o
2 81 900 men, and that about so per cent. o
T the deaths had been from fever. II
4 thought the fever was now decreasing
He mentioned one instance in which seri