Sistersville oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901, 1898-09-07

wor a Spanlaru!
vessel and warmed without even a
sign of grease about them and IN
most instances were so badly burned
it was impossible to eat them;
bread and coffee furnished the bill
of fare for the morning. The bread
was good but the coffee was rank
Take water from the Ohio river
when it is on rise and very muddy
warm it and the result would be a
better class of coffee than that fur
nished to the soldiers. At dinner
there was a badly boiled piece OF
beef served to each set of men with
a few beans and more bread and bad
coffee. For supper we got what
beef was left over from dinner with
a few tomatoes and bread and vile
coffee. Had it not been that dur
ing that time l was in the service,
1 spent all the money I received
from the government for something
to eat believe I would have starv-
ed. Some of the men who were in
the hospital were there for no
other reason than that they had not
had proper food.
Our regiment had fairly good
grounds on which to camp while at
Camp Alger. We moved about
three times during Our stay there,
and each time our grounds were
better than at first. The camp was
fairly healthy, although it is won,
der that it was so. The sanitary
conditions were good but there
were a number of drawbacks. In
the camp there were but two wells
of water for three regiments, a mat
ter of about four thousand men, and
by the time the water for cooking
and drinking had been taken from
the wells there was none left for the
men to wash in, and very frequently
the men were in a filthy condition
from dirt, and some of the sickness
which occurred in the camp is dl-
rectly traceable to no other cause.
The men were compelled to drill
for from three to tour hours each
and of course would come in sweat
ing and dirty and would have no
way of cleaning themselves up.
There was no water and of course
they did not have a change OF
clothes"
After receiving the injuries in
the sham battle which were the
reason for his discharge, Rib was
sent to the hospital, and in speak
ing of it last evening, he said Il
believe that had it not been for the
fact that I got out of bed and left
the hospital I would have died
there. 1 was in the hospital about
two weeks and during that time
received scarcely any treatment.
The physicians and surgeons who
were attending the patients in the
hospital l was in were all under
contract, and they did not care a
continental whether man died or
not. As an instance of the treat
ment the men received in the hos
pltal, take my own case. l went to
the hospital about S O'Clock in the
evening, suffering intensely, and
not until noon next day did any of
the physicians do anything for me,
and then he only made a cur
sorry examination and wrote
out prescription. 1t was not un-
til late that evening that the
prescriptions was filled, therefore,
you will see that not until about
"a hours after I entered the hcspit-
al did get any treatment. The
hospital was located on the side OF
the hill, and there were no floors
in it. The men were on cots on
the ground, and every time it rained,
and it rained a greater part of the
time, the men in the hospital got
soaking wet. The tent over them
was full of holes, and the water
rushed down the hill under them
in torrents. The patients did not
get anything fit to eat; in fact, l
believe that if it was possible they
received worse rations than the
well men in the field. When / was
there 1 got my breakfast one morn