Connecticut western news., 1898-10-13
BEFORE THE WAR BOARD.
Testimony Regarding the Condition
 of Camps and Hospitals.

Major General Fftz-Hugh Lee ap. peared before the army inquiry commis. sion Wednesday afternoon. After taking the oath he explained his rank and tn, location of his camps. General Lee saic he had no complaint to make about the supplies furnished his corps. Occasion. ally when fresh meats would be 'receiv. ed there would be little complaint. bu generally speaking everything was al right.
 'T suppose" inquired General Beav. CT. 'that you have no objection to stat. ing whether or not your corps is to gt out of the United States7"
 q am informed that my corps Is to gt to Cuba"
 "Is your corps organized sufficiently for a campaign in foreign country7"
 My troops" he replied. "are in con. dition to go to Cuba-or. If necessary, to Madrid"
 There was often delay in supplying food in the early days of the war, he said. but none recently. Occasionally tainted meat had been received, and rotten potatoes.
 In his judgment it was a mistake tc brigade regulars and volunteers by themselves. Had two regiments of vol unteers been brigaded with one of reg. ulars 1t would have increased the effi. ciency of the volunteers very quickly.
 He denied charges that the food wal filthy and insufficient and that officers and surgeons were often drunk.
 He expressed the opinion that the sitt of the camp at Jacksonville was well selected.
 Three witnesses were before the wal Investigating committee in Washing ton on Friday-General Greene. who participated in the battle at Manila; Colonel Lee, chief quartermaster at Camp Thomas, and Major Hersey, who was for a time in command of the Roosevelt Rough Riders. Each gave testimony covering hN experiences, and while each one admitted the possibility of individual cases of suffering and dis comfort all said that in the vast major ity of cases complaints were exagger- ated. if not without foundation. They agreed in saying that no army was evei 70 abundantly supplied as was ours.
 Colonel Lee dwelt upon the great diffi- culties of supplying an army of be.oW men. They were impatient as a rule, and seemed to expect to be able to turn & faucet and get everything they want ed upon the spur of the moment. The hospital and ambulance corps had been fully fitted out with everything, includ- ing floors.
 There was at one time, said Colonel Lee, some friction as to transportation. for which he held colonels Hecker and Bird of Washington responsible, but this had been overcome and thereafter matters run smoothly In that depart ment.
 '~The contiguty of Chattanooga, with its saloons and the freedom with which the selling of pies and cakes and beer in the camp was permitted, was" he said, "a far more prolific cause of dis ease to my mind than the sleeping of the men on the ground or any other cause that has been suggested"
 Major Hugh J. Gallagher. who was in charge of the commissary depots in the Santiago campaign and later at Mon tauk Point, testified on Monday, giving a detailed account of the process of sup plying rations to the troops in the field.
 The rations were, he said, forwarded almost as rapidly ae they were landed. Only very small quantities could be ao- cumulated. yet the commissary during the stay at siboney had been able to meet all acquisitions made for rations by the troops, and no one was ever re- fused. He heard no complaint of lack of rations at the front. Pack trains were first used and afterward wagons. Al first they were able to forward about 30. 900 rations per day. From Siponey the depot was moved to El Poso. seven miles inland, and at this point there were never enough rations on hand for even a day ahead. and it was simply im- possible to i'll all the acquisitions.
 There was shortage in coffee and sugar. which continued for two or three dayst 1t was due to the difficulty in landing supplies because of the high surf at Siboney. All the ratlons were good. but in some cases the hard bread would be injured by sudden showers.
 Major Gallagher said there was a shortage of lighters. but he was not able to say why this was true. Speak ing of the facilities for landing the men in Cuba. he expressed the opinion that if the war were to be fought over again q larger supply should be furnished. In addition to the American army the refusees were also fed. No efrort was made to give the full ration but such articles were sent to them as could be spared from our own troops. He thought
 
 men. After his depot was located at Santiago there was no shortage. While at this point the Spanish prisoners were also supplied from the general depot. as were some of the citizens of the place.
 General William Nj. Graham gave tes- timony before the war Inquiry commits sion Tuesday afternoon. He was first in command at Camp Alger.. Va, at the beginning of the war and detailed the conditions which prevailed at that camp.
 There was only one railroad running to the camp. and the station was about lh miles distant. No large running stream was near by, but there were many fine springs and small brooks formed by the springs. He thought the water supply was sufficient when the camp numbered. no more than five reg iments of troops, but as the troops in- creased 1t became necessary to dig wells. Thwe was delay in digging the wells, 70 of which were sunk-one for each regiment. The supply was ample for all purposes except bathing. The wells were we'll cased. and there was no surface pollution of them.
 Before the wells were sunk. General Graham said, there undoubtedly was some inconvenience on account of the necessity of going long distances for water. It was also his impression that there had been some complaints of sick ness on account of the water famine, which had continued from the goth of May until the 18th of June. with vary ing degrees of intensity. Much com piaint as there was. however, concern ing the water supply, he had been through campaigns before in which the water supply was not equal to that at Camp Alger.
 General Graham did not believe that the spring and we'll water had been re- sponsible for the sickness at Camp AL ger, but was inclined to attribute much of the trouble to the fact that the sol- diers insisted upon taking the water from the little streams running through
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 London, Oct. l2.-The empress dow ager of China and the imperial clan. &C., sording to special dispatch from Shanghai. have adopted as the new em-