The Portland daily press., 1898-11-03
SOME MORE FACTS.
war Commission Hears urther Abou
Chic q amauga.

Newspaper Correspondent and Former
ARMY Officer Testifies to Horrors ON a
Transport.
WASHINGTON. November 2.-The war in
vestigating committee held session mere
today for the purpose OF hearing 1he 'es'
timony of Major Henry Rameyne, re-
tired army officer.
He said that he had asked at the begin
ming OF the war for a military asslgnmeno
to go to the front in his capacity as an
officer, but 1t was refused, and he then
went as correspondent; of weekly
newspaper.
his testimony covered the embarkation
of troops at Port Tampa and the CAM
paign in Cuba. He said that when he
went to Port Tampa the bank of the
canal there was covered with troops he
had wanted to go over with the 10th IN
fantry, which was his old regiment but
no one could tell him were the regiment
was to be found.
\ There was great confusion, as conse-
quence Of which part of a command would
+. O in one yes sci al part in another and the
commands were in some cases separated
from their stores. He had seen no order
for the systematic embarkation of the
troops and he had heard it said that they
were :told to 60 aboard helter-skelter.
When asked to exp1ois an opinion as
to the preparations for the emEarkation
Mr.. Romeyns replied tn he did not
lob m GuGh If
should have been.
"There was,' he said, "a lack of surf
boats and also of order and of preparation
for landing. When che landing was I'M
dertaken the troops left the ships indis.
criminately, parts going at one time and
other parts ct other times.
He told OF the effort to tow two lighters
over to Cuba but said that one was lost
and that the general impression that it
was lost on purpose because it retarded
tho passage of the feet
In response TO question from Cen.
McCook, Major Romeyene said that while
it was difficult to land anything, ambu-
ed as easily as artillery He had seen only
one ambulance ut the BATHS Of 81 Caney
and 1t was not used for conveying the
wounded to the rear.
speaking of other incidents Of this bat
tie he said there was general surprise that
an luQaC6l UhllCOu u8u Uo0a ChEEltu III
the head OF the attacking column, thus
Indicating to the Spsniards the exact To-
cation OF thestroops, but he did not know
at whose orders this had been done. He
said the town Of Siboney was without e1-
ception the most unclean place he had
ever seen and that no effort was made to
clean 1t up before che fever broke out.
There was a lack Of proper food at the
fever hospitals and the cooking was gen.
orally poor.
Major Romeyne said he had come north
as convalescent with many other con-
valescents on the transport Conoha, and
he criticised the provisioning Of the ves-
sci in severe terms.
Many of the men were compelled to
sleep ON board hunks without blankets
or pillows and with no covering at night
except the cotton uniform they wore dur.
ing the day.
SThe water was offensive to both sight
and SMELL" he said, land the food was
poor aud scant, mono being provided
especially for the oonvalescents. The
meat was canned and inferior and much
Of the hardtack moulded"
| He also said that there was only one
physician on board the vessel and that
| he was convalescent. Six men had died
on the way up and Major Rnmeyene ex-
pressed the opinion in response to q
question from Capt. Howell that with
of some OF these men could have been
saved He said he was unable to place
the responsibility for the negleoJ, but that
the captain of the vessel had stated that
when he made application to go to ia
| mnica for fresh food and water before
starting on the voyage from Santiago,
the request was refused.
Gen. Wilson, ex-Gov. Beaver and Capt.
Howell 60 to Camp Meade tomorrow for
the purpose OF inspecting that camp.
TESTIMONY BEFORE SUB-COMMIT-
TEE. 4
Lexington. KY, October 2.-The first
| witness before the subcommittee Of the
war investigation commission today was
Gen. Joseph Sanger, who had command
of the third division. He said the second
division camp at Chicknmauga was bad
| ~ located, being In rock ground, where
sinks could not be deeply dug. When
asked ., why the quartsrmaster' depart
| mont could not furnish articles necessary
for supplying the army, he said:
1.-THE complex system of furnishing
supplies to our army is at fault. II there
was one department to supply all wanted
OF the army there would be no clash and
those complications could not arise.'
| The general then went into a discus.
sion on the complex system of our war
regulations, the taking Of reeimental sur
geons and the mtsmanagement which led
I'D to the overcrowding of the division
| hospitals and the great spread of typhoid.
Gen. Sanger said he had considered the
| weak point in Camp Thomas was its bad
| sanitary condition.
Gen. Sanger was followed by Col E.
| A. Goodwin, 7th immunes, who declared
| he had no trouble in securing what was
needed Gen. Sanger thought Cbicka-
manga would have been healthy place
for camp had the proper precautions
been taken and pure water furnished.
The last witness before the departure of
the commission for Cincinnati at $50
was Major Cruze, quartermaster at Camp
| Hamilton
The commission finished it's work here
this afternoon and left over the Queen
and Crescent railway for Cincinnati.
The mem bers of the commission express
themselves as pleased with what they &C.
complished here. They also CONF lime Mt
highly the condition they found things
at Camp Hamilton. ,,..,ga
| The members of the commission who
| were in Lexington we're Gen, Grenville
NJ, Dodge. chairman; Col. Saxton, and