The Topeka state journal., 1898-06-21
Condition of the Sick Kansas
Volunteers
Lying in Camp at Chickamauga
Park.
PITIABLE
They Must Have Relief and
That at Once.
The Hospital Department Seems
POWerleSS to Act.

The information brought back from
ChickamaUga park by Mrs. T. L. King
of this city to the effect that the con-
dition of the sick soldiers of the Twen-
ty-first Kansas regiment was almost
unbearable has caused both disgust and
pity among the people of Kansas.
The disgust is for the methods of the
war department which have up to this
time prevented the equipment of the
hospital departments of each regiment,
and the pity for the suffering soldier
boys compelled to make their beds up
on the ground with a gunnysack of hay
for a pillow and without so much as
change of light clothing or a meal of
suitable food.
Uncle Sam, bound hand and foot
with red tape, is a powerIess sort of in
dividuaI in an emergency, and the state
must do what is now the duty of the
government. What there is to be done
must be done at once.
While in Chattanooga, Mrs. King
did all that she could do personally to
relieve the condition of the Kansas SOL
dierS sick at the camp, and she is now
enthusiastic about providing medicine
and stores for each of the three Kan
SaS regiments sufficient to make the
boys comfortable until such time the
attention of the government is directed
toward the hospital departments.
While as yet no definite plan has been
formulated, it has been suggested that
the women of Kansas provide night
shirts and sheets for the sick soldiers
and send them into Topeka for ship
ment to the various regiments tOgeth-
er with canned soups and other food of
this nature suitable for hospital fare.
In addition to night shirts, sheets and
delicacies, medicine and cots are need
ed at the hospital departments and for
the purchase of these a fund will have
to be raised Mrs King intends to call
on Governor Leedy today and interest
him in the matter. and hopes by his CO.
operation to be able to quickly raise a
fund for the purchase of cots and medi-
cine 1t has been suggested that pos
sibly there is some state appropriation
from which enough for this fund can be
drawn, but as the military appropria-
tiOn is exhausted, it is likely that the
state can give no assistance and the
money must be raised by popular sub
scription.
This could be done by those interest
ed in helping the soldiers in all the
towns of the state making a canvass of
their respective localities, and forward
ing the amount collected to this city
to be placed in the hands of some re-
SponSfble person appointed as treasurer
The soldiers nOWin the field were drawn
from all portions of the state, and no To-
caity has a greater interest than anoth-
er. Five hundred dollars for each reg
iment would probably be a sufficient
fund for the purchase of cots and the
medicine necessary up to the time the
not take more than day for 81, 500 to
be raised for this purpose.
Mrs. King says that four or five diZen
night shirts would be sufficient for each
regiment. The sheets should be two
yards wide by two and a half yards
long. For the information of those who
are willing to make night shirts she
volunteers the following information:
THE shirts are of the sack order
open all the way in the back with but
one button at the neck, and open in
the front to the waist, with three but
tons. The neck should be seventeen
inches when finished, and on the left
sleeve strips of red oil calico in the
form of a cross should be sewn to desig-
nate them as hospital stores"
1t is probable that through Mrs.
Kings efforts an organization will be
perfected in this city to look after the.
shipment of the supplies to the different
regiments. People interested in the
Kansas soldiers in every town in the
state should take the matter up at once.
While it is not known how the condition
of the sick in the Twentieth and Twen-
ty-SecOnd Kansas regiments compare
with the condition of the sick in the
Twenty-first regiment, it may be sup
posed that there is but little difference
and that the hospital departments of
all the Kansas regiments need inmedi-
ate attention
1.-The condition of the soldiers of the
Twenty-first regiment is simply dis
graceful" said Mrs. King THE hos
pital corps is by no means to blame as
everything possible to be done is done,
but the surgeons have nothing to do
anything with When I first visited the
camp there were eight soldiers seriously
i'll, some with typhoid fever, one or two
with pneumonia and one or two with
measles. They were compelled to sleep
on the ground with their heavy army
clothing on. and gunnysacks of hay as
pillows. There was no suitable food
for them, and no funds for its purchase
as Surgeon Armstrong and his assist
ants spent all the money they had in
buying medicine. The majority of the
volunteers have been accustomed to the
comforts of home and little acquainted
with hardships, and If the sick are al
lowed to remain in the condition. I found
them it will mean death to a great
number of them. Relief must be pro-
vided, and it must be provided at once"
There should be no time lost in TAX
ing up this work. By the first of next
week sufficient stores should be ready
for shipment and a. fund raised for the
purchase of hospital cots and medi-
cine. If any progress is made before
an orga nization is effected in this city
to look after the work in general, it
could be communicated to Governor
Leedy. Arrangements will undoubtedly
be made so that stores can be shipped
in here free of charge to the shippers.