Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-09-08
AIger Kept Busy.

publication. II was written in reply
to request for publication:
My Dear Mr. Depew; The great
pressure Of business has up to now
prevented me from sending to you
the statement you were kind enough
to ask for, as TO what had been ac.
complshed in the way Of Quitting
the army for the field, the conduct of
campaign, etc. Also the chiefs of di.
visions have been too much driven
with work to compile the data re-
quired. One not in the midst of the
work can hardly realize what an un-
dertakiDg it 10 TO call $4,000 men
into the field at one time, coming
from all the states, and to have them
mustered and gathered IN camps on
80 short notice, and this, too, when we
had scarcely any camp outfit for their
accommodation, all having to b. pro-
vided by the war department.
As you know, when the war was
declared there was no equipment
whatever for the volunteers in store
This was successfully accomplished,
with very few accidents, as matter
of record. Subsequent calls, includ-
ing the regular army, (which number.
ed about $1,000 men when war was
declared), made a total of 268,500
men, To accomplish all this in 30
short time has been great work.
Thus, from the homes of 10000
volunteers has been constant and
great anxiety ss to what might hap
pen to their soldiers, aud hundreds of
inquiries, made by letters aud tele-
grams, have been received every day
concerning individual soldiers. The
feeling on the part of these individ-
uals that the war department is re.
sponsible for the care of their men ill.,
dividually has naturally aroused sym.
patby In case Of sickness and death,
and has created much sorrow.
Every effort has been made from
the beginning to furnish every camp
with all appliances asked for, but, Of
course, the commanding officers IN
the field are the ones who have direct
charge Of these men. For instance,
one army corps commander has d.
vision orders and enforces them, re-
specting sanitary affairs, and be has
today but q fraction over two per
cent on the sick list. Others have not
been successful, and the consequence
ls that typhoid and other feyers have
been bred and spread to a considera-
BILE extent. One regiment in the
Chlckamauga camp has colonel who
enforces sanitary rules in his regi-
ment, obliging all the men to boil the
water tLey drink, keeping the camp
clean, and the result Is that there are
less than Is sick, and the camp, too,
is in as unfsvorshle a place as any in
the command. Others more favora.
bly, situated have ten times that num-
Der on the sick list. One OF the regl-
ments Of the last call, not yet moved
from It's own state, sends bitter com
plants of typhoid fever.
Concerning the Santiago campaign
when the ships left Tampa they had
on board three months provisions
and an abundance of hospital stores
They had lighters to unload with at
point Of debarkation. These lighters
were lost in severe storms on the way.
As soon as we were notified OF the
fact two tows of lighters we're sent
from NJ Jblle and Nav Orleans, which
were also overtaken by storms aud
lost. The navy supplied us with
lighters aud one of those was wreck.
ed. The army disembsrked, getting
on a portion Of Its supplies and med.
ical stores. sad Immediately marched
to the front to fight the Spaniardp,
The great difficulty Of landing sup
plies subsequently, was because Of the
wind, which sprsng up every morn
ing at ten and made high surf, rem
dering almost impossible the use of
small boats, and with but one lighter
left available the work was necessarily
slow.
OF the packers who we're employed
60 per cent soon fell sick, and heavy
rains falling every day, the roads IF
they could be called sucb) became I'M
passsble for vehicles. Pack animals
had to be employed to carry food to
the army, being extended to the right