Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U. S. military camps during the Spanish War of 1898 / by Walter Reed, Victor C. Vaughan and Edward O. Shakespeare.

Walter Reed

Date:: 1900

Credit: Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U. S. military camps during the Spanish War of 1898 / by Walter Reed, Victor C. Vaughan and Edward O. Shakespeare. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$most desiruhlo sites in Ihe open ])ortionsof the park had already been occupied by tlie regular commands. Recognizing the fact that it was not safe to occupy sites so recently v^acated by <dlier i-eginients, the volunteers felt compelled in many instances to locate in the woods. In the second place, the open spaces were reserved in jjart for drill grounds. There Avere daily regimental and brigade drills and less frequently diAdsion and corps exei’cises. Thirdlj’, some of the open fields iiad been leased from the Government by individuals, who refused to alloAv the troops to occupy these lands, d'his necessitated negotiations, which took time, and in the meanwhile the regiments encamped in the woods. IIoAA^ever, Ave do not think that a great deal of stress should be laid upon the fact that the regiments Avere encamped in the Avoods. As has been alreadj^ stated, these AA’oods AAere Avell lighted and penetrated bj'^ the rays of the sun in eA'ery part. It is possible that the site of the First Mississippi Volunteer Infantry Avas in a space too densely wooded. So far as the locations of the camps are concerned, there is one criti- cism that must be made bj- anyone who knoAvs an}-thing of the sanita- tion of camps. There is no adequate reason Avhy the regimental camp sites in Chickamauga Park should not ha\e been changed eA'ery three weeks, and yet it is a fact that many a tent pitched there in May Avas not moved until the regiments dispersed late in August. The records shoAv that regimental medical officers i^etitioned time and time again for a change in camp sites and that such petitions were in many instances Avholly ignored. Everyone A'^ersed in camp sanitation knows that under the very best conditions anj^ giAmn site will become more or less contaminated Avhen occupied for a few weeks, and it is strange that the desirability of frequent changes in camp sites in Chicka- mauga Park during the summer of 1898 was not recognized and acted upon by superior line officers. On account of the rolling character of the surface and the geological formation already described, it sometimes happened that one regiment had its health endangered by drainage from other regiments. This Asms so iilainly the case in the Second DiAusion of the Third Armj' Corps that it is strange that it AAms not early recognized and that the camps of some of the regiments were not changed. Drainage.—As has already been stated, nearly every aci-e in the park is jirovided Avith such excellent natural drainage that the excess of AA^ater falling upon it in the heaA'iest rain is soon remoA'cd. V umer- ous small streams Avind among the slightly eleA'ated knolls and act as natural seAvers. One of the larger of these streams, knoAvn as Cave Spring Bi-anch, thi’ough its tributaries receives the drainage of a large portion of the area covered by the encampments. This stream floxA's into Cliickamauga Creek, and the relation of the junction of these two streams to the intake of the gemu-al AA-ater supply Avill be discussed later. On account of the A’ariatious in dip of tlie layers of limestone,$