Evening star., 1898-09-09

dications OF that dread disease. A hasty
consultation wes held and Colonel Harries
was told of his condition. and advised that
he be placed ashore at Key West. No
time was, lost in doing this, and nothing
was said to alarm the troops. Later ii was
learned that this man died.
The remainder of the trip was uneventful.
the delightful trip proving sufficient to
improve every man, and when Siboney,
the point of landing. was reached, every
man was able TO shoulder his gun and
ascertained that a number of cases of yei-
low fever existed at this place, and so Ia
termed Dr. Pyles. Orders were given that
no goods Of any kind should be landed and
that every company. as II reached the
shore, should form and march Immediately
three or four miles into the country to
the site of the first battle-known now
La QuaAna, and there camp for the night
Notwithstanding the order that no goods
of any kind should be landed, DIR. Pyies
succeeded in getting his medical chests
ashore, and in having them stored in the
quarters of an engineer corps there where
three days later the quartermaster obtained
them and brought them to the regiment at
the front. At this time, the men were in
hne physical condition. Their hard work
at Tampa had been excellent training,
and the sea trip had thoroughly invigorat-
ed them. No disease was present among
them and they were fit to fight the battle
or their lives. Fortunate was IL they were
so fit, for before them lay battle-ground
very different from that they anticipated
and foe unknown and unlocked for.
The long march from La Quasma to
the trenches to the right of San Juan hill
succeeded in exhausting every man. and in
thoroughly breaking down a few men. who
had had slight indispositions in Tampa
and on the water. Food could not be OBJ
tained in sufficient quantities for several
days, the men and officers were without
tents, no man had change of clothing
water was two miles away and no wood
could be found with which to make a fire
Water was too precious to throw away in
washing their hands and faces, and con-
sequently many days elapsed before they
went through this performance.
Wet From Head to Foot.
Add to this the heavy rains which wet
every man from head to foot, and there is
shown a condition that will break the
strength of any man, be he ever so strong.
DR.. Pyles had pictured the plan of life Of
the men in Cuba. He had read the rules
as quoted from Surg Gen. Sternberg; he
had reviewed the rules issued by Col Pope,
chief surgeon 9Th Army Corps, and had de-
cided upon the course he should recommend
and the frmness with which he should
insist that his course be observed Water
was to be boiled. Food was to be eaten
regularly and moderately. The men should
only work and march during the cooler
iiouiS VI lHe udy, Keeping out OF Inc sun
rays during the hottest part of the day;
wet clothing should be changed for dry as
needed.
And now at one fell strike every sanitary
rule for existence in the island was broken.
Water could only be obtained from noun
tain streams, in which dead and decom-
posed Spaniards were found floating after
every heavy downpour; and no means ex-
listed for boiling it. Food gave out and the
unknown and untried fruits of Cuba be-
came substitute. Men were seen to di-
vide hardtack among four, each taking
fourth and then one would pick up the
crumbs from the ground and eat them.
Men were seen to fall prone 10 the earth,
fast asleep. while at work. and five ex-
hausted men were seen sleeping and sway
ing back and forth as they stood in a pour
ing rain, every man supported by his
neighbor Is it any wonder that the friend
ships born in deprivation and need proye
the most lasting?
Is it any wonder that later these men
proved victims of the tropical marshes and
their miasms? No better condition could
be found than such hardships gave No
better soil than that upon which the regi-
ment camped could be found for its pro-
duction, and yet 1t YES hoped men would
avola the fever tina. was then Telling the
troops all around, and who had preceded
the District regiment to the islands a week
or more.
Medical Supplies Scarce
Medical supplies were at this time ex-
ceedingly scarse. For the first and last
time the supply in the surgeons hands
gave out. as all they could carry in their
field cases bad been distributed and their
chests, stored at Siboney, were then on the
way to the regiment. DIR. Pyles tells of the
request of one of our captains, who had
been in the trenches all night
send me forty rations Of quinine and a
drink of whisky
None of either were obtainable lust then
Later in the day the chests arrived, and
from that time to the present the requisite
supply of medicine has always been on
hand, and 10 man has been turned awav
without the best treatment the United
states army afforded there. Dr. PyIes WIS.,
tied supply depot" the next day and in
spelted their Isl pply" Thew had less for
five regiments than he had for one They
had but 800 three-grsin quinine pills while
the chests Of the District regiment contain
ed between 1000 and 1900, and when they
offered DR.. Pyles his share he did not have
the heart to accept it. '-.-=
At this time the sick report of the reg
iment showed but six or eight sick daily,
only two Of which were serious cases.
But Few AmbuIances.
Then came the surrender and the subse-
quent order to move to other camping
grounds. DR.. Pyles succeeded, after grea:
difficulty, in obtaining one ambulance TO
convey the two i'll men to a hospital, and
placed the others on TRANSFORMATION wa
prised to find that these men whom he had
ordered to the hospital had preceded him
to the camp. They had been taken to a
field hospital, hut we're sent to the regi-
nent, with the statement:
IF you think anything of them, you'll |
keep them.'
The hospital had neither shelter nor bed |
for them The regiment was able TO give |
them shelter and hammock for a he'd SO |
they We're kept few days longer and |
again DR.. Pyles succeeded in obtaining one |
ambulance and having them, with another |
who had since become very ill, conveyed to |
the hospital at Siboney where two died and |
the other finally reached our own shores |
alive. These were the only ambulances DR..
Pyles at any time was able to obtain, and |
in all the subsequent fevers dysenteries |
and other diseases the men had to be con- |
Veyed great distances on stretchers by |
comrades who we're little better than they |
The regiment had been on the island nearly |
three weeks, and yet they had a very small |
number sick. Every man in the regiment |
was taxing six grains of qunine daily, and /
DIR. Fyles hoped it might prevent the fever |
entering the regiment, as it had all Others /
But this hope was vain. The first day tba 4