The herald., 1898-10-21
Subcommittee Report

JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Oct 20.-Gen.
eral j. Wilson and Captain Howell, constit-
uting the subcommittee appointed to visit
and report upon the conditions of Camp
Fernandina, made their report to the full
commission today. The following is the
most important part of the document:
"We carefully examined the site of the
camp of the Third Pennsylvania Nolun.
teers which, it has been reported, was a
tropical jungle on worthless land, uncleared,
and, upon clearing which, troops are said
to have worked like slaves until it was fit
for camp site.
"While your committee cannot state the
condition of this land when the troops ar
rived, it found no appearance of a tropical
jungle here or in the vicinity. There was
no evidence of there having been serious
work in preparing the camps, although, as
is usual, there were small bushes, vines and
low palms scattered here and there, over
the committee was most favorably i'm
pressed with the character of the site Sc
Iected. We visited and obtained from the
County Clerk of Nashua County maps show
ing the lands occupied by the troops and
his official certificate as to the ownership
of the land. This certificate stated that the
greater part of the lands occupied by the
troops reverted to the State of Florida, in
june, 1897 by reason of unpaid taxes land 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 expendi-
ture to the camp from Fernandina. Being
from an aTtesian well about 100 feet deep,
the supply was unlimited. The water had a
slight sulphur taste, which, it is said, some
of the troops dislilled and occasionally used
surface water. The location of the hospi-
tails as pointed out to us were on high
ground, well drained and apparently well
settled. The mayor of Fernandna informed
us that Maj. Henley, the surgeon in charge
of the camp, had stated to him just before
the troops left that the number of sick was
540
"Your committee, therefore, has the hon
or to report that in its opinion the camp was
well 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 information obtained and what
they saw it was far from being a tropical
jungle and that the certificate of the coun-
ty clerk indicates that no government of
fetal was interested in the land, that the
amount of work done in clearing the I'M
derbrush was no greater than might have
been expected at any locality in the south
selected for camping purposes; that the site
was well drained, the water for drinking
and cooking purposes was good and the
bathing facilities at the sea beach excel
lent"
NURSES STORES
The commission heard several of the pro.
fessional female nurses at the forenoon ses
sion today, including Miss Copeland, chiet
nurse at the Third division hospital; Miss
1,11t 4 i l.
pital; Miss Hubbard, head nurse at the Sec
ond division hospital, and Misses Walker
and Walters, ward nurses.
Miss Copeland spoke in commentator
OF the conduct of the hospitals aud she
said the nurses had their own tent guar
ers, where there was the privacy demanded
by their sex. They had i'll the beginning
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 sixty patients, but thi,
condition had been steadily improved
There was also in the beginning some scare
ity of appliances for the sick, such as hot
water bottles, which, while not necessity
were often comfort. She spoke Of some
nurses who had made complaints, but these
were the kind of persons who are never sat
isfied with any situation. One nurse hac
made severe criticism, but she was the kline
OF woman who would leave patient tC
whom she had Just given bath to attent
to some other errand before drying him.
DEPOT SURGEON
Maj. James Z. Pitcher of the regular
army, depot surgeon for the Seventh army
corps, said that since the early days OF th'
camp there had been no difficulty in secur
ing an abundance OF medical supplies, anC
that they were much more plentiful and o.
greater variety than was usual in the regu
lar army. in the first history of the caml
supplies were ordered from Tampa, and il
was difficult, sometimes impossible, to Sc
cure supplies. He thought the medical stat
here was efficient as physicians, but the!
were without administrative ability. Man,
Of them knew nothing of formulating requi
sitions and were not disposed to learn. II
this DR.. Pitcher attributed the fact that 81
much of relief society supplies were asket
for in preference to those furnished by tn,
government. He thought that if the physi
clans had understood this line of their busi
ness they need not have called upon the re
lief associations to such an extent. Still
the relief associations We're supplied will
ready money and could supnly all article
required Immediately. Furthermore, there
was no responsibility on the part Of 1it
surgeons for the articles secured from out
side sources, as there was for government
supplies.
DR.. Connor pressed DR.. Pitcher closely OF