The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-17
THE KIND OF INVESTIGATION
WANTED.

accept the appointment rendered MN by
the President on the conduct of the war,
provided it is the purpose of the Presi-
dent to have a thorough investigation.
That is the kind Of an investigation that
is wanted. IL is the only kind that VIII
satisfy the country. And what the coun-
try would particularly like to know is,
whether the war department is chiefly re-
sponsible for the sufferings which the vol
unteers endured or whether the regimen
tai and company officers are to blame.
We are inclined 10 think that when the
truth is discovered it will appear,
so far as the home camps are concerned,
that the regiments which had the most
sickness and which did not get whole
some food and the medicines and com
forts permitted by army regu-
lations. were afflicted with Off
GERS who were incompetent and indif-
ferent to the welfare of their men. We
statements, one of which appeared in the
New York World on Thursday and the
other in the Atlanta Journal of the same
day The statement in the World is
made by a private of the Ninth Regiment
of New York and that in the Journal is
by John Temple Graves
The private of the Ninth New York tells
of his experience at Chckamauga. He
describes it as a camp of horrors. Ac-
cording to his story the men of his regl-
ment were treated like dogs. The food
was insufficient and the bacon was rot
ten. The water was unfit to drink be-
cause the filth of the camp was drained
into the source of the water supply The
consequence was many men were on the
sick list with typhoid and other fevers.
Naturally the men became disconnected
particularly when those of them who were
hardly able to walk, and ought to have
been in the hospital, We're assigned to
duty, and when both the regimental and
company officers seemed to be Indifferent
as to whether the men died or not The
men did not like to go to the division hos
pital because it was regarded as almost
certain death to go there. 1t was called
The House of Doom" This private
speaking of the responsibility for the con-
dition of affairs which he describes, says:
I'm my opinion our officers are largely
much if they had used ordinary intelli-
gence and looked after the welfare of
the men,
Col Lawtons regiment, the First Geor-
gia, was at Chickamauga a great part of
the summer There was scarcely any
sickness among his men. There are
several Savannah companies in the First
Georgia, but we have heard no complaints
of any consequence from them. They ap-
pear to have had good health at Chicka-
manga and to have been satisfied with the
food they received while there. The men of
the First Georgia left Chickamauga in a
good physical condition and an happy
frame of mind.
Why was there such a difference be-
tween the Ninth New York and the First
Georgia? Was 1t not because the COM
pany and regimental officers of the First
Georgia knew their duties and at
tended to them properly? Was it
not because they looked after the
health and comfort of their men? There
was no other reason, as far as we can
see, why the New York Regiment lost
many of its men by disease and why near
ly all of its other members became ply
sictl wrecks, while the men of the Geor-
gia regiment remained healthy and con-
tented.
With reference to the First Georgia Mr.
Graves says: Have you noted that its
sick list and its mortality table have been
by comparison insignificant? Have you
noted that there have never been any COM
plants and no requests from Col Law
tons regiment? Have you observed, in
the midst of much noisy clamor for re-
tention or dismissal among the regiments
of the volunteer army, the commendable
reserve and dignifed silence of the First
Georgian"
What Mr.. Graves says of the First
Georgia is deserved. And when the in
vestigation committee investigates Chick
amauga 1t should inquire why it was that
there was so much sickness in the Ninth
New York and so little in the First Geor-
gia. An answer to that question would
in all probability settle the question TO
great extent as to who are responsible
for the terrible sufferings of the volun-
teers in the home camps.
1t is probable that George Dewey of