Evening star., 1898-11-01
COL. BALDWIN RN THE STAND
he Tells War Investigating Commission
Some Sensational Facts.

| staff at Chickamauga, gave some sensa-
tional testimony concernine the conditions
| there.
| when the camp was first established
| there he said, Il did not inspect a single
| hospital but that found it in a filthy con-
| dition. Reports were made of this to the
| ccmmand1i general, and improvements
| could be observed for. a few days; but in a
| short time matters would get as bad as
| ever. About the time the camp was broken
| Up this had been corrected to a large ex-
tent"
| Col. Baldwin further said that he had
| known eqhssltlons to be made frequently
| and not to be honored. This was especially
| true in regard to the I'd Division I'd Corns
| Dr. Connor of the commission said: !:
| There has been more disgrace brought
| upon the United States hospital system bv
the "a DIVISION I'd Corps, than by any
| other in the service. l can readily see how
| this was since no sort of attention was
| paid to the complaints made"
Col Baldwin said that far as he knew
Cen Compton, commanding the ID Diyis
! iCn, only inspected his command on Sunday
| II orning, and that he did not know Of
| either Gen. Compton or Cen Wade the
| corps commander, having inspected tie 2i
| Division hospital.
| Ground Perforated With Sinks.
| Gen Sanger's division had to send three
| or four miles for water. l know positively
| that no regiment remained two months
and a half without striking it's tents ana
| raising the foors or else changing :ts en-
| campment."
Asked if the men were allowed to drink
| water from 4 certain spring. Col Baldwin
| said: lit is true that they were not but as
| an officer humorously remarked to keep
| the men frcm drinking water from any
pool it was necessary to put sentinel
over the pool and then put another sentinel
| over him to keep him from drinking"
| Col. Baldwin stated that no such ar
| raEgements were made to take care Of
| the sinks have been made here and at
| Camp Hamilton. He said that the ground
| finally got so perforated with sinks in
the timber portion Of the park that 1t
| was really unsafe to ride through it: that
| his horse had gone in up to it's belly.
| Gel. Baldwin said that it was common
| complaint that regiments frequently dump
| ed their worst men off on hospitals for
nurses. He said that the camp of the 1st
| Mississippi was of the worst he had
| ever seen, largely on account of the ie-
| niency of the colonel with his men. He
stated, further, that there was great diff
| ficulty in getting lime, due to the ineffi
| cheney of the quartermaster department.
| On one occasion he said that he was
notified that there abundance of
| lime, and that he, in turn. notified sew
| eral regimental commanders. They made
| acquisitions, and We're given one barrel
| of lime each. and notified that that was
| all that could be granted them
| Medical Supplies Hard to Get.
Col. William A. Pew of the Sth Massa-
| chusetts was called. The principal COM
| plants he made We're of the difficulty his
| regiment experienced in securing medical
| supplies. He said his surgeon would make
out a requisiton and hand it in to the
| proper officers, and they would return
| them, saying there were no supplies, and
it was no use to make requisition. Col
| Pew said that his regiment had difficulty
| in securing its wagons at ChCkamauga
| Park; he said his camp grounds were very
! poor
| Col. Robert w. f. Leonard of the 18th
| New York testified that the surgeon of
! his regiment was continually clamoring
| for medicine to give the men in quarters
! He could not secure these. he said, 50
the colonel spent 500 out of his own pocket
| for medicines. Col. Leonard admitted that
his men We're sometimes not sent to di-
| vision hospitals becausc they We're so much
! opposed to them
IF you wouldn't send your men who
| reeded medicine to the division hospital,
| how you lay blame for not receiving
medicine?" asked DIR. Connor.
IF we had sent all our sick men to di-
vision hospital replied the colonel, I'VE
! would have had no need for our surgeons.
| Gel. Leonard said the commisSary sup
! plies had been good and SO abundant that
! the men could not consume them. In con-
! sequence each company has a fund of $50
| or more OBTAINED SalHNS SupeTnuOuS
| supplies The colonel complained of the
! quartermasters supplies, especially of the
! shoes. He said that he had spent nearly
| $500 out of his own pocket for shoes for
his man. He said that the supplies We're
| issued in piccemeal. and frequently the
qua rtermastcrS department got the reQui-
| siticnS mixed.
! Ovcrcrowded Hospitals.
| Col. w. X. Caffee, ID Missouri, said that
| his regiment did not receive all equipments
| TIL a few days before leaving Camp Thorn
| as-far Lexington. Among the last things
| issued he said, We're the boilers for boiling
| the water which Were ordered more than
| two months before. Col. Caffee said that
| sinks could be dug al ID Missouris camp
| at Chickamauga only four feet deep before
! striking rock. This. he stated, was repre-
| sented to the brigade commander and the
! inspector, but no action was taken.
Col. Caffee said that he had no surgeon
and only one assistant surgeon for some
| time after the regiment went to Chicka-
| mauga
Sick men from my regiment We're sent to
| the division hospital and could not be re-
| ceived because the hospital was overcrowd-
| ed said Col. Caffee. We had no medi-
| cine in the regiment. ! visited the hospi-
| tai daily while | had men there, and fire.
| quently found the tents unfloored and the
| cots crowded so close together that one
could not pass between. The tents were
| SO leaky that when 1t was raining the men
| In the hospital had to be covered with
| ponchos and rubber blankets to be protect
| ed from drenching.
DR.. Griffith was in charge of the hOspi-
| tdl and after visiting all the others l con-
| Guided that this was the best conducted
| one at the park. DIR. Griffith and his as
| sistants Were doing all they could with the
| means at hand. This Objectionable condi
| ton of affairs lasted eight or ten weeks.
| The nursing was in many cases objection
! able, but l came to the conclusion that
| this was a necessary evil under the cir
| cumstanceS."
| Medicines Were Refused.
Col. Caffee said that his regiment re-
| ceived not only not enough barrels to boil
| the drinking water, but not even enough
| to haul it the four miles necessary, de-
| spite acquisitions made.
w hen We could not get men in the diVi-
| sion hospital on account of its overcrowd-
| ing, said Col Caffee, Eve had no medi-
| cine to give the sick. We made requisi-
| uons for 1t, and they were returned with
this Endorsement from the chief surgeon of
| the corps: Medicines are issued only to
| men in division hospital and not to those
| in quarters In my opinion it was a great
! mistake to do away with the regmental
| hospitals. But had the division hospitals