The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-03

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was furnished in abundance when the
proper requisition was made to obtain
the same.'' That reads like the explana
tions of this summer. Mr.. Davis esti-
mated the total value of hospital stores
sent forward through his agency alone
during, the rebellion at about 1915, o0o.
This was the contribution of one saall
State to its soldiers. Portland alone gave
over $loo, 900 in supplies and money for
their purchase.
VI 6ne conditions which prevailed at tie
'front.' from 1s61sto 1865 any old soldier can
tell tale. There was mismanagement
Their. as. there is now. Look at one OF two
instances In October and November,
1869, the eleventh Maine which was in
Wire mia then lost 81 by death and so by
discharge for disability on account MS
the commaninz officer reported, of the
severity of the labor to which Ii was sub-
jected and the insalubrity of the climate.
On the Goth of January following 1t
en- barked on transport at Morehead
city, N. c., for Port Royal, S. @. 1t ar.
rived there on the 31st of January. b ut
was kept on the transport 81 days and lost
seven men from ship fever. In Juno, 1868,
Co. F, Sth Maine. was detailed to cut a
road through swamp. 1t proved fatal
to many. The report shows eight privates
of the company died in hospital at Hilton
Head and when November came 16 more
of them were sick in their quarters.
The l4thg Maine had particularly hard
time with disease. Col. Thomas w.
Porter reported that from the 9TH of May
to the 9th of August, 1868, while in the
lowlands of Louisiana, his regiment was
without tents Of any sort and slept, If at
all, in the open air Without any covering
or sheltsr except one night in Baton
Rouge. He says the officers and men
Jared alike. They had no transportation
except for ammunition and their only
camp equipage WAS the camp kettles
which they carried in their hands. He also
says continued exposure from June 20 to
July at Port Hudson to ths direct rays
of the sun, without any shade or screen
whatever, as we'll as the freq uent rains
and heavy night dews was Every detri-
mental to the health of the men and pro-
duced most fruitful crop of chills and
fever" OF the famous Sabine Pass ex-
petition he says there were three regi-
ments in q ship of 800 tons. There was
no apparatus for cooking and rations
were mostly eaten raw. In two days the
men had Only half rations of water and
SO crowded was the ship that they were
Obliged to sleep standing and the regi-
ment lost one man from an accident
while sleeping in that position.
In the report for the year ending Dec.
81, 1869 there is most interesting table.
In it regimental histories are condensed.
From this table VS. gather such facts as
these: The 7th Maine which left tine state
on the 23d of August, 1851, had lost %
men from wounds received in action sand
I42 had died from disease. The 14th
Maine which left the state on the 5th OF
February, 1869, had lost before the end Of
that year 42 killed or dead from woun DIS
and 143 who had died from disease. Col.
Porter's reports explain some Of the
reasons in this case. : The 8th Maine had
lost one man by the enemy's bullets and
" by disease. In the 9th disease killed
SO while got their death at the enemy's
hands. In all the regiments in tho list
1908 soldiers had already died Of fever and
other diseases ascribed to the climate and
changed conditions of life while 418 were
killed in battle or died of wounds re-
ceived in action.
In the report for 1866, after the war
had ended, there is similar table from
which it appears that three regiments,
the first and second cavalry and the 18th
infantry each lost more than 300 men by
death from disease, while only one, the
heavy artillery, lost that number in killed
and wound ed in action, but that regi
ment had 800 absent sick and how many
of them died afterwards d oes not appear
One regiment lost one man from wounds
end 1874 from disease. 1t was in the SER
vice nine months.
The total figures for all the organizations
from this state as shown by the table
number two, Of "statistics of general in
terest' in this report for 1866 show 1901
lives lost by the enemy's blows to 5615
sacrificed to disease, and nearly 1000 more
mustered out from time to time for physi-
cal disability concerning whom we have
no figures to show the number who ulti-
mately died of disease contracted in the
service.
While these figures show nothing as to
whether Gen. Alser Eand DR.. Sternberg
and the others have or have not been in
capable and negligent and unpatriotic in
this war they do show pretty plainly that
the war of the rebellion was no picnic
and that soldiers then suffered from just
as hard condit ions as those of 1898 have
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