The National tribune., 1901-05-09
TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY g. 1901

officers presented no moro complaints.
| The accuracy with which / was able to
mete out justice and the especial care
took to speak aud act kindly toward the
| deserving attracted attention and worked
| a moral reform Of no small proportions.
Still, there remained large excess OF
| more or less. sick men, men that l knew
were not able to march, all of whom
| looked to the medical department for such
relief as they needed and the means to
| furnish which was beyond my power.
Teamsters. wereskind, and carried KNAPP
| sacks, etc, for, the feeble, or permitted
them to ride, but every day men had to
march that l fknew were not able to do
so. To q great extent this deplorable
vice. Why our number of infirms were
greater than other regiments l was never
able to assign wholly satisfactory rea-
son. As whole the men were good SOL
diers and their infirmities a reality. Much
attention was paid us on this account.
l was suspected of incapacity or inetfi-
cheney from negligence. Officers were
sent to note my procedure at sick call;
others watched us on the march. So far
as | learned no unfavorable report was
made, but the facts continued to be as
above briefly stated.
The fact is, the constitutions of the men
were broken early; they were scurveyed,
and could not rally on the kind Of food
furnished, especially while every day on
the most toilsome of marches.
To me it was dreadful. 1 was severely
criticized and blamed, when / was wholly
undeserving of either. Long after this
stage, when the regiment was command
ed by a Regular Army officer, he was
summoned to Division Headquarters and
interrogated on this point. He answered
that the excess of disabled men was be-
cause they were broken down. As to
whether his Surgeon was satisfactory he
said that he had done his duty faithfully,
eNcusing q great many men, but there
were every day as many more that he
should excuse, and his fault was in not
eXcusing enough who were worthy. This
ended the doubling at headquarters as to
my efficiency.
MARCH TO PERRYvILLE.
Thus this trying and painful expert
ence went on from day to day, with a
few especially notable variations, one of
which was the forced march to Perry
vile, Ky.
The command moved early, the orders
being to keep closed up and no struggling
My instructions were to let no one be left
without a pass with my signature. The
day was intensely hot, the dust deep in
the road, and as we marched on, thick in
the air. There was no water, only in a
few wells that were drank dry in few
minutes, men going down in them to dip
up the last spoonful.
The steady march, the thick dust, the
terrible thirst, the scorching sun. were TO
the last degree exhausting The men
dragged themselves along while their re-
serve strength lasted. The agonizing cry
was for water, water. / saw men drink
water that in soft earth had accumulated
in little depressicns made by the hoofs of
animals and in the wallows of others.
There was no fear Of microbes shown.
An, thing was priceless that would wash
the dust and mud out Of the parched
mouths.
Thus we toied on, the distant head Of
column being apparently moving contin-
uuusly. Late in the afternoon the ex-
haustion manifestly overcame the will.
Men could not 30 on, but dropped out Of
ranks to rest in such numbers that to
issue passes was impossible.
1t was appalling to me as / saw scores
of stout, brave men that / knew person.
ally with cheeks almost purple reeling half
unconsciously into the fence corners and
sinking to the earth. The orders to the
Major to keep the rear closed up and to
me in regard to passes were alike incapa-
bic of execution. Night soon coming on
we could be of no use in the rear, and so
joined that part of the column that was
still in motion.
About II p. M we halted at a pool OF
water then known as the branch of North
Fork, where L counted seven muSketS
stacked, representing one company of per-
haps % men that started in the morn
ing. Wild with delight the men drank
this water, bathed in it, shouting their
thanks to the starless skies.
The next morning the most Of the strag-
glers had arrived, and the whole moved
to our objective point, the battlefield Of
Perryville.
At this battle we were lookers-on, but
happily not called into action. Happily,
say, for all the day / was contemplating
how l would manage to care for the
wounded, and not thing that was neces-
sary at hand, and l, too, without expert
ence and practically alone, there being
present no one competent to advise, much
less to direct.
After this action, during which the
rebel train passed over the only bridge by
which they could escape, followed by their
army, the Federals continued their pur-
suit.
The same gloomy history followed us
to Wild Cat Gap, and by devious ways
around through Kentucky and Tennessee
to a camp near lunatic asylum about
seven miles from Nashville.
ITO be continued)