The record-union., 1898-10-21
The Commission Concludes Its La
borS at Jacksonville.
Generally Pleased With the Results OF
Their Investigations.
Net With Some Complaints, but
They Did Not Indicate Neglect
or Mismanagement on the Fart
of Those in Charge-The Next
Session to be Held at Atlanta.


Session to be Held at Atlanta.
JACKSONVILLE, Oct. 20.-The war
Investigating Commission concluded us
labors at Jacksonville to-day and short
" after 10 O'Clock left Jacksonville for
Atlanta, expecting to take up business
there.
The commission has been here four
days, this being the first of the camps
to be visited; it has been awarded some
what more of time than will be given to
other points, with the possible excep-
tion of Chickamauga.
The Commissioners are generally
pleased with the result of their laborS
here. They have naturally met with
complaints, but these have been dealt
with and they did not indicate neglect
or mismanagement. Generally one
private or on-commiSSioned officer
from each regiment has been called,
and in many cases more than one. In
the case of enlisted men they were Sc
lected at random, the Commissioners
merely asking that men be sent to them
without any specification of the pur-
pcse for which they were called. They
have without exception said that they
were receiving enough to eat and wear.
There were occasional complaints of
defects in clothing or a request for a
greater variety of food, but in no in
stance has a spirit of fault-finding been
developed among this class of wit
nesseS. In some cases a deficiency OF
supplies at the beginning of the camps
history was shown, and there has been
more or less tainted meat received by
the men, but it was agreed by all the
witnesses that the first condition was
due to the congestion at Tampa and
the latter to the climate.
General McCook and Colonel Saxton
\ returned to-day from their investiga-
ton of conditions at Tampa. They
found that the congestion that occurred
at that point at the beginning of the
war was due to the fact that cars We're
shipped from all over the country with
out being labeled and without forward
ing bills of lading.
General j. Wilson and Captain
Howell, constituting the sub committee
appointed to visit and report upon the
conditions of Camp Fernandina made
their report to the full commission. to-
day. The following is the most impor-
tant part of the document:
I'VE carefully examined the site of
the camp of the Third Pennsylvania
Volunteers, which it has been reported
was a tropical jungle on worthless land
urcleared, and upon clearing which
troops are said to have worked like
slaves until it was fit for a camp site.
While your committee cannot state the
conditions of this land when the troops
arrived, it fund no appearance of a
tropical jungle here or in the vicinity.
There was no evidence of there having
been serious work in preparing the
camp, although, as is usual, there were
small bushes, vines and low palms
scattered here and there over the site
and the adjacent land. Altogether the
committee was most favorably i'm
pressed with the character of the site
selected.
I'VE visited and obtained from the
County Clerk of Nashua County a. map
showing the land occupied by the
troops and his official certificate as to
the ownership of the land This GER
tificate stated that the greater part of
the lands occupied reverted to the State
of Florida in June, 1897, by reason Of
unpaid taxes. and that no one by the
name of Alger ever controlled any lands
in the county. as shown by the records,
and that the land occupied by the Third
Pennsylvania Volunteers as a camp
was at the time the property of the
State of Florida.
The water was piped without ex
penditure TO the camp from Fernan-
dina Being from an artesan well
nh ha w
limited The water had Slight sui
phur taste. which. it is said, some of the
troops disliked, and occasionally used
surface water. The location of the
hospital as pointed out, to US were on
high ground. we'll drained and appar-
entity we'll settled The Mayor of Fer
nandina informed US that Major Hen
ley. the surgeon in charge Of the camp,
had stated to him just before the troops
left, that the number of sick was $40.
Your committee, therefore, has the
honor TO report that in its opinion the
camp was we'll selected: that probably
the site was equal in all respects to any
other that could have been found on
the Florida coast That from the in
formation obtained. and what they saw,
it was far from being a tropical jungle,
anu lildA lut CeIllilcdlE Oh the county
Clerk indicates that no Government
official was interested in the land: that
the amount of work done in clearing
the underbrush was no greater than
might have been expected at almost
any locality in the South selected for
camping purposes: that the site was
we'll drained, the water for drinking and
cooking purposes was good. and the
bathing facilities at the sea beach ex-
cellent."
The commission heard several Of the
professional female nurses at the fore
noon session to-day, including Miss
Copeland. chief nurse at the Third Di-
vision hospital; Miss Robins, head
nurse at the First Division hospital;
Miss Hubbard, head nurse at the Sec
ond Division hospital, and Misses Wal
ters and Walker, ward nurses.
Miss Copeland spoke in commenda-
tion Of the hospitals. and she said the
nurses had their own tent quarters
where there was the privacy demanded
by their sex. They had in the begin
ming of their stay boarded at a hotel.
but now they had their own mess. and
preferred it. Miss Copeland said that
when the nurses first came to the camp
there was one nurse to each forty or