The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-14
MAJOR CLARK is BLAMED
CAPT. WHITNEY SAYS HE CAUSED
SICK SOLDIERS LONG
DELAY
STILL HAVE NO FURLOUGHS

Deserters, to Say Nothing of the
inconvenience That Was Caused
In Connection With Starting
Them for HOme-HospitaIs Wen
Equipped, but They Lack Nurses.
AS far as location, sanitation and
equipment is concerned" said Can't. G.
T. whitney yesterday, tine Third divi-
sion field hospital at Lexington wants
nothing. But in its management there
is room for criticism, and vet if is
PROBABLY the best service in the army
FIRST, In the absence of competent
nurses, for which there is no good ex
cuse. AS rule we found the men de-
tailed to wait upon the sick willing ia
wait upon the sick, but they knew little
or nothing of nursing. In one ward T
noticed deliriOus patient and another
so Ill as not to care for aid, who were
not approached for hours by any nurse.
What else could be expected of mex
perlenced men, and generally, of men
Whom such service must be extremely
distasteful? 1t was evident that these
men were not selected because of their
ntneSs. When captain is called upon
10 detail one or more men, he natural
~ sends those who are of least value
to the company. The man who seeks
to get rid of drill or snlrKs duty is the
one willing to go to the hospital corps.
Of course there are exceptions. and I
saw some faithful work in the hos
pital by these men.
Il believe the great crime Of the med
ical department to have been its re-
fusal to use trained women nurses, of
whom there were plenty anxious to
serve. The next greatest is at the door
OF the man who annulled the early or
der to Org6 niZe a trained hospital corps
In each regiment His name should be
made known and become abhorred or
all ren in this generation. Gen. Ster.l-
berG's pl9n provided for a hospital
corps of eighty-seVen men to each regl-
nent These men were enlisted by the
Minnesota regiments at the first and
they came from the university medical
str"ents from young physicians, regis
tered Pharmacists and ether sources
having a knowledge of nursing and
medicine. Then came the order for
dding the muster in and they were
cast aside. Was this order in the in
terest of great division hospitals and
of an army OF young doctors without
practice and old doctors who had lost
practice and through political pulls
wished army surge ms commissions on
the innumerable staffs of division hos
pitfalls? Who shall say?
There is a want of good executive
ability among some Of the surgeons IN
charge of division hospitals and mex
cusable negligence among others.
when sick soldiers are furloughed
home, they are allowed $3.50 a day for
ratiOns en- route. The sick Of the Four
teenth at Knoxville got this all right
But at Chickamauga and Lexington,
where there are division hospitals and
the sick are out of the charge of regi-
mental commanders, the medical Off
GERS failed to make out the furloughs
and arrange for the pay of the Mime
sofa sick and they even neglected to
provide transportation for the men. If
this failure was owing to ignorance.
then the surgeons in charge Of the
Third division hospital were guilty or
incompetency; but it was not. I per-
sonally read a telegram received at
division headquarters the second day
prior to the leaving of the hospital
train, explicitly instructing the division
surgeons regarding the providing Of
Burroughs and transportation. No at
tention was paid to the matter. The
train had proceeded some two or three
miles when Maj. CLARK ordered 1t back
to camp in order to procure the neces~
sary documents. Yet today there are
ninety soldiers from Camp Hamilton
absent in Minnesota without furloughs,
to say nothing Of the delay caused by
this negligence"