The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-08-11
Al MONTAUk CAMP.
There is Need OF Great Haste in Prepar
ing for the Army.

ing for the Army.
Montauk, L. l.. Aug. 1O.-At present
the situation here is fairly satisfactory.
1t is true the United States army au-
thorities were not prepared to take adj
equate care CT the detachment of the
Sixth cavalry which arrived Monday
night. There were no tents on hand,
and If the Long Island Railroad had
not permitted them to sleep in the half
completed restaurant building which is
being put UP near the station the two
hundred sick men would have had
disagreeable and perhaps dangerous ex-
perience.
Another detachment of 325 troops
from the Sixth cavalry arrived here
yesterday. With them were thirty sick.
making the total number of sick now
in camp thirty-six. None of them Is
dangerously i'll.
The noon train brought fifty SER
geants and five officers of the Fifteen
Pennsylvania, u. s. ", Signal Corps.
The tents and equipments for the
troopers have arrived and morning
found the plateau the busnest scene
that Montauk has ever known. Car
penters who arrived during the night
went to work early and before noon
nearly all the tents for the Sixth were
up. Reveille sounded at 6 o'clock and
with 1T the Montauk camp began it's eX-
| istence. The following temporary or
der was issued from General Young's
headquarters at Third house: Reveille.
6 a. M; early mess, Z a. m; midday
mess. noon: taps, 1890 p. m.
| The main problem, indeed the prob
lem upon which everything depends, Is
| that of transportation. So far as the
railroad is concerned this problem has
| already been solved. Since Thursday
| two and a half miles of sidings have
| been laid and the railroad Is in a posi-
| tion to receive at least two hundred
| carloads of supplies or or men day.
Where the difficulty with come is in un-
loading these cars and transporting the
| supplies and men TO the camp, which
| Is several miles away. Grave doubts
are expressed whether II Is possiblt for
| The quGrtermastSr's department to
| solve the problem. At noon to-day
there were 1,S00 mules on the ground,
| but there were practically no wagons.
Every carload that has been delivered
| to the Long Island Railroad has been
rushed to this point. and is now on the
| side tracks but uEtl to-day not one
| step had been taksn for the unloading
| of these cars ana the removal Of tents,
blankets hospital stores, lumber, food,
medical supplies GnI the thousand and
one things which vii! be necessary un-
less Montauk camp is TO be the scene
% great military tragedy and great
military candal.
The arrival of few hundred cavalry
men yesterday shOUed how important
adequate preparation will be- These
men had not been in Cuba, they had
not spent day after day on the firing
line in the blazing sun and the chilling
| night rains. rhey had been In camp
! within the boundaries of the United
States under the charge of officers who
| took the best possible care to preserve
the health Of their commands. Never
| theess one-third of the cavairymen
who arrived yesterday were practically
helpless. They could not have marched
one mile after they left the trains Il
/ their lives he'd depended uron it, They
were lifted out Of the cars by COM
rades hardly stronger than they, and
| lay upon the ground uncovered and
unprotected until the railroad company
| offered them the use OF the restaurant.
Unquestionably when the transports
begin to arrive from Cuba and to un-
load $4,000 men who have been subjected
| not only to severe climatic conditions,
| but to the most strenuous test of en-
durance imposed in human experience,
| the problem will be a thousand fold
more serious. The Cuban veterans will
have spent a week on board crowded
transports. There will be, undoubtedly.
thousands of sick. For these there
should be provided ambulances to
transfer them from the landing place
to the hospitals, hospitals to shelter
them, doctors and nurses to attend to
them, medicines to cure them, and del
icacies to tempt their appetites. The
solditrs who are not invalids will need
tents and food and water. and the thou
sands of horses and mules at the camu
will also need supplies. The first of
the TRANSPORTS will, it is expected, ar
rive on Thursday, and within two
weeks thereafter the war department
states that from fifteen to twenty
transports will steam into Fort Pond
bay and unload their thousands of SOL
diers, both we'll and Ill.
Unless the government works faster
than it is working now the experience
at Tampa will be repeated with the
tragic additional fact that it will not
be fresh and healthy troops whose lives
partment, but that it will be broken
and semi-invalid army which must be
taken care of.