The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-16
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS IN THE COM
MIssARY SERVICE OF THE ARMY.
An ImpuIsive freshman. Who Received
Abuse when He Considered Praise
Was Due His Work.

ing commission To-Day. AS cOmmlSSdry
general it has been his duty to furnish the
army with food. He believes he has done
his work faithfully and well, and he has
been stung to the quick by the criticisms
heaped upon his bureau. When General
Miles was reported as having accused him
of furnishing the troops with "embalmed
beef his cup of woe ran over, and his bit
terness was spluttered out before the COM
mission.
General Eagan is a well-preserved man of
nearly sixty. He has particularly fine
soldierly presence. He is nearly if not quite
six feet tall. and is broad shoudered in
proportion. His carriage is so erect as to
almost lean backward. He is gray Of hair
and beard and rudy of complexion, with
the appearance of being a good liver He is
suave and courtly in manner, and looks
and acts the beau ideal of a soldier.
General Eagan has been in the commits
sary service for twenty-four years. BY the
retirement for age of his superiors he be-
came the chief of the commissary depart
ment just before the war with Spain began.
1t then became his duty to furnish millions
of rations to the army under peculiarly try
ing circumstances The call came so sud-
denly as to find the country unprepared for
it, He was handicapped in his Office by a
small force, suited for peace but not for
the demands of war. Some firms upon
whom the War Department necessarily de-
pended on for food were caught with small
stocks on hand, causing some delay In a
short time there was an army of quar-
ter of a million men under arms and scat
tered In many places There were soldiers
in various camps in the United States, in
Cuba, in Porto Rico. and in the Philippines.
The problem of feeding these widely scat
tered hosts was not an easy one but it was
General Eagan's boast that so far as his
department was concerned the soldiers
never lacked for food. His bureau was crit
icised for not furnishing certain kinds of
food for certain climates. and he felt he
was blamed unjustly, because the army ra-
ton had been fixed by law and he could
not violate the law without making himself
liable to court-martial and dismissal from
the service. He was scored because food
did not reach the soldiers promptly, but he
insisted it was the fault of the quartermas-
ter's department and not of his own This
again was due to the peculiar law govern
ing the service.
The quartermaster is charged with the
duty of transporting all supplies for the
army, including food. When General Eagan
bought meats in Chicago for the troops at
Tampa he had to notify the quartermaster,
who took charge of the meat and transport
ed it to Florida.
AGAIN TURNED BACK.
It was then turned back to the custody
of the commissary department. When the
army was ordered to Santiago the food had
to be turned over to the quartermaster
again to be put aboard ship and carried to
Cuba. When unloaded from the steamer at
Baiquiri it came into the possession of the
commissary officers once more. The quar-
termaster's department had to be called in
again to move the food to the front line of
battle at San Juan, when the commissary
yet again came into possession of its own.
This peculiar system was responsible for
some of the delays but General Eagal got
most of the blame, and he fretted and fumed
under the injustice.
Soldiers at Camp Alger were among the
first to complain, and General Eagan was
convinced the blame. where blame there
was, belonged largely to inexperienced SUIT
Ter officers and the soldiers themselves. One
of the first charges made was that a certain
company had not had fresh meat for four
teen days, although General Eagan had
been sending wagon loads of beef direct
from Washington. On investigation it was
found the captain had not made requisi-
ton for fresh meat. His excuse was that he
mad no meat saw, ana he let his men Suffer.
In another case the company cook was in
the habit of chopping the meat from the
ing great deal of food. In many cases it
was found the cooks were young volunteers
who had never had any experience in camp
lie ana VINO knew nOtnlnR ABOUT COOKING,
with the result that the good food was
spoiled and not appetizing to men just from
home tables.
The regimental and the company officers
were appointed by the Governors and Gen
eral Eagan was greatly grieved by COM
plants laid at his door for the sins of in
experienced men over whom he had no con-
troll 1t was due to this trying experience
that Congress passed a law authorizing ev-
cry company to enlist trained cook.
The problem of furnishing soldiers in
tropical climates with fresh meat had many
difficulties. General Eagan concluded the
only feasible way was to transport the meat
in ships fitted up with refrigerators. In
some cases he made contracts with pack
ers to furnish their own refrigerating APP
paratus and deliver the meat in condition
for use In other cases he had to wait for
the quartermaster's department to provide
him with ships fitted for the service.
The troops at Manila presented new diff
ficuties because of the distance from the
United States. General Eagan set several
British firms with Australian connections
to bidding against each other, and he laid
a shrewd trap that proved them to be in a
conspiracy to rob Uncle Sam. He then
executed a flank movement by making
contracts direct through American con-
suls in Australia. 1t required several weeks
to outwit the grasping Britons, and the
supplies at Manila were running low, but
the commissary chief got his shipload of
meat and vegetables and saved the govern
ment $350,O0O.
WINS A HARD FIGHT.
The contractors wanted to deliver the sup
plies at the risk of the government, but Gen
eral Eagan demanded that they guarantee
the delivery of the food to the troops in good
condition for use, and after a long tussle he
won the fight.
He has received abuse rather than praise
and has smarted under it. The War Depart
ment was scored for not furnishing the
sick with suitable delcacies in place of the
regular army ration. General Eagan claimed
he had sent instructions to Santiago to
commute the rations of sick men at the rate
of 80 cents a day in cash, although the ra-
ton cost less than 20 cents. That was be-
fore the complaint at Montauk Point, when
Assistant Secretary Meikeljohn found it
necessary TO issue a special notice calling
the attention of the hospital authorities to
the fact that the ration could be committed
in cash and the money used to buy delicacles
for the sick.
The commissary department was accused
of furnishing pork and no vegetables at
Southern camps, but General Eagan had
records TO prove he was sending the soldiers
the vegetable diet permitted by the regula-
tons and getting it fresh whenever possible.
His office in the War Department was
sprinkled with samples of the vegetables
and canned foods with which he was sup
plying the army, and he proudly told callers
no other army in history had been so well
fed as the American soldiers during the war
with Spain.
Much had been said about the hardship of
eating bareback, and General Eagan early
took steps to manufacture sheet iron ovens
results of this plan came in from Camp AL
ger he carried great loaves about the War
Department with beaming face because of
his success in putting fresh bread within