Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-03-16
MESSAGE FROM HOWARD.
Describes the Condition of the South Da
kota Volunteers.
WHY DISCIPLINE Is MAINTAINED.

Necessary to the Health and Well Being
! of the Boys Stories of III Treatment
Anxious for a Fight.
e. w. Coughran, OF Sioux Falls, is a
personal friend of Maj Chas. Howard
of the First South Dakota regiment.
Noticing the unfavorable comments
made by papers throughout the state
as to the volunteers, Mr.. Coughran
wrote Major Howard asking for gener-
al information regarding the condi-
| tion of the boys OF the regiment. In
reply he received the following letter
bearing the latest date of any COM
munieation from the South Dakota
men at Manila:
Headquarters lst S. d. Inf, U. S. ",
Manila, p. l., Jan. 30, 1899. f. w.
Coughran, Esq, Sioux Falls, S. d. My
Dear Sir: Your letter of December 4
asking for general information regard
ing the condition of the boys of the
regiment reached me on yesterdays
mail. In late papers l see letters and
editorials that have no doubt caused
, considerable worry among our friends
back there and much of it Is without
foundation. I've seen very few "kick-
ing" letters from this regiment, but
there are some. One Of my men wrote
letter and when the paper publish
ing it arrived called him up and read
it over to him by paragraph, asking
him IL he had written it. Some Of the
things he acknowledged. Others he
denied. Now I'm satisfied he wrote
the whole thing, but it was three or
four months ago that he wrote it. He
reported camp rumors for part OF his
letter without trying to verify them.
Other statments he was incorrectly
informed on. There was hardly a
statement in his letter that in the
light of later experience he didn't see
was false. He now naturally regrets
his action for he has become good
soldier and is probably as contented
rs III he WeTe db iiOulc IL HoO llloiC oo'
CARE OF THE SICK.
These men have, comparatively
speaking, had no hardships yet, such
as they expected when they went into
the service. They have been as a rule
we'll sheltered, we'll clothed and well
fed. Errors occur sometimes natural
ly and it is not to be wondered at when
you figure on the magnitude of the
task of feeding and caring for over 20,-
900 men. The army medical depart
ment was deficient at the beginning
which necessitated the detail and re-
moval from the regiment Of two Of
our surgeons when we needed them
ourselves, but that has been amended
and now we have all our surgeons.
Our msn are as well taken care Of now
in sickness as if they were at home
and in man. cases believe better. /
am speaking particularly Of our own
regiment as l know but little of the
internal management OF Others. When
our men are sent to the hospitals they
are visited daily by their officers and
If they are not being properly attend
ed to we soon know the reason why.
II they are seriously Ill we detail
special men from our own companies
In addition to the hospital attendants.
Our regimental surgeons are able ply
sieians and take kesn personal in
terest in their work. II they did not
you may be sure that they would have
trouble. The death rate Of our regi-
ment, low az it is, speaks for itself.
We have good regiment--none bet
ter in the service. They are we'll dis.