Evening star., 1898-11-21
General Bates, Chief Surgeon, Tells
of the Santiago Campaign.
LORE AMBULANCES WERE NEEDED
Otherwise He thought Conditions
as Good as Could Be Expected.
MEDICAL SUPPLIES SHORT

NEW YORK, November 2l.-Major F. J.
Ives. chief surgeon of the Sd, or Provisional
Division. of the 5th Army Corps. was the
first witness before the war investigating
commission today.
Replying to questions by General Wilson,
Major Ives said that while at Chicka-
mauga he saw no distress among the sol
diers for lack of medical supplies. He left
Tampa in the transport Saltwater, with ,he
I'd Cavalry. The transport was we'll found
and fairly comfortable, but there were ro
suitable accommodations aboard for the
horses.
Were the horses placed above the men,
NO, sir The men were on the upper
deck and the horses on the lower deck
Major Ives told OF his experiences in at
tending the wounded of the FL Caney fight.
Asked as to his previous experience in ac-
tion. he said he was in the Indian wars
in the Victoria war in 1850. the Geronimo
in 1885 and 1856 and in the Sioux wars of
1880.
''In view of those experiences" asked
Gen Wilson. what do you think was the
condition of the men in the Cuban cam
palgn as compared with that of the men
IN the Indian wars"
Good as Could lie Expected
'T think It vas as good as could have
bctiA VApcCNttI lIit circumstances
Was anything left unoone that would
have alleviltec the condition of the men,
''Thera Should have been more amou
iances. There were only three at The dis
posal of my division. l do not know if
more could have been obtained. and [ can
rot think Of anything that could have been
dcne for the men which was left undone."
w nat was the condition of the wounded
after the battles?'
The condition of some of the sick r2cn
was deplOrahle, and we had no opportunity
To establish hospitals fast enough. We Cb-
tanned some medical supplies from the Red
Cross Society"
IF yol could get supplies from the Red
Cross. why could you rot get them from
your owl department."
AT that time there were no supplies
available for the establishment Of al extra
division hospital All the supplies were in
Slboney. and at that time there was a rush
of work to establish depots for ratioas ard
the depOts for issuing other supplies were
not yet equipped
Had you ample medical help"
Lnek of Competent Nurses.
There was lack of competent hospital
stewards. Female nurses were offered to
us. but at that time 1 was opposed to the
employment of female nurses / am a con-
vert now, and 1 think the women did ad-
rirable work whenever they had the op-
portunity.
"N NN"N II' NNSuli Cu pet"eeH tHe tS-
tablishment Of your hospital and the re-
ceipt Of government medical supplies as
the result of the lack of supplies?'
None at all There were only thirty-one
deaths out of e&7 cases treated. AS far as
4 could learn. there was an epidemic of
yellow fever at SiDoney, while there were
only a few sporadic cases on the firing line,
and. therefore. 1 did not send any cases to
Sihoney-'
Major Ives said of the transports used for
the soldiers returning to the United States
they were well found and equipped in every
respect. Regarding the Mobile which he
had heard criticised as a horrible cattle
ship. he said il was thoroughly cleaned and
white washed before any soldiers were al
lowed on board, and was in perfect sanitary
condition.