The Advocate and news., 1898-11-02
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VOICE OF THE PEOPLE S
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tent TO see me he returned me to duty. The
orderly sergeant called on me for duty and
reported my condition to the captain, who
came and saw me. He went to the doctor.
l was soon sent for to go to the surgeons 8
tent II / could. l managed to get there.
The doctor took me specially under his
care, got me In the hospital and l began
to amend. My captain told me after we
were discharged that ne went to the doc
tor and used the word common to Masons
Qhey were both Masons) besides some
pretty strong cuss words that IL was not
looked after at once he would report MIN
to corps headquarters. 1t brought the doc
tor to his senses and he knew more Of
chronic army complaints after than he did
then. In September 1862, went to Mount
Pleasant hospital, Washington, d. G. The
doctor there In charge told me one day
that he gave me daily enough opium to kill
a well man. l have always hated the drug
since and have never taken any since 1
came out Of the army. After got conva-
lescent went to helping the lady nurses
prepare some food for the sicker ones.
They had a tent out one side from the
building with q cook stove In It. Ny inge-
nuity enabled me to devise "a way to toast
about ten slices Of bread at once, there
being about fifty to one hundred patients
needing such prepared food. With our
then devised facilities we were able to sup
ply them, but the sergeant in charge, a
great burly Irlshman, came along one
morning and stopped the whole thing,
stormed and threatened to put me under
arrest. That sent the ladies back to the
general cook stand to beg little delicacy
for some poor soldier. Where they could
get the cooks to do It, afterward learned
that the supplies were furnished under
contract for a. certain sum per capita and
the sergeant was in some way interested.
II every soldier had been fed as those
ladies set out to do II would not have been
cents apiece per day and the contractors
were getting over so cents per day. BY this
we can see what mischief may be brought
about by contracts with dishonest bully
for an officer, especially If awarded to some
heartless monopoly.
Inactivity In camp Is even worse than ac-
tive campaigning, especially to the veteran
soldier. Through the winter Of 1863 and
1864 l had suffered much from my army
trouble, and when the regiment started on
the Wilderness campaign, the first of May,
1864, by company officers insisted that 1
should go to the hospital, but l said no /
would either feel better or soon play out,
and l was going to try 1t. The result was
| gained six pounds in six weeks and did
more work than / had done any six months
before, and on that campaign l had an ex-
perence that convinced me that meat pos
sessed but little nourishment. Somewhere
between Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor we
got short Of rations and had none for
thlrty-siX hours, just long enough to get
hungry In the morning we were issued a
days rations Of fresh beef, which / ate
for breakfast. Some time before noon our
company got a cow and / got about five
pounds Of that, which cooked and ate fo-
dinner, yet was hungry when we stopped
at night. We got days rations of hard
bread and ate three-flfths and was salts
fled. If l had had the one pound Of bread
in the morning and one-half pound Of dried
fruit would have been better off and bet
ter satisfied. II this should reach the camp
Of any OF our regiments hope the boys
will be admonlshed to care for themselves,
help those that are sick and give them
good cheer for hOmeslckness is one Of the
worst diseases a soldier is heir to-
College View, Neb.