Today in History:

425 Series II Volume VI- Serial 119 - Prisoners of War

Page 425 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - UNION AND CONFEDERATE.

Cleanliness of men and clothing - foul; bathing and landry facilities entirely insufficient. Quality and quantity of clothing obtained from quartermaster's department - sufficient. Blankets and bedding - insufficient both in hospital and camp; no satisfactory reason given therefor. Condition of men- in barracks, exceedingly foul; in hospital, miserable. Hospital buildings - two, one dilapidated and utterly unfit for use; the other (former guard house) in good condition, but much overcrowded. Hospital tents - six, destitute of stoves or other means of heating. Hospital police - very much neglected, especially in cook-house, which is in filthy condition. Hospital discipline - none to speak of. Hospital diet and cooking - very little if any attention paid by officers. Hospital heat and ventilation - heated sufficiently by stoves except in tents; the guard-house ward is properly ventilated, the other only by dilapidation. Hospital capacity - 36 in tents, 12 in guard-home ward; total, 48. Number sick - 216; of these 125 are in barracks who should be in hospital and well taken care of. State of medical supplies - sufficient, but very disorderly kept. State of surgical instruments - none in hospital. State of hospital records - carelessly kept. State of hospital fund - $368, September 30, 1863. Reports - carelessly made. Medical attendance - virtually none. Nursing - by prisoners. Interments - by contract. Diseases, local - pulmonic, diarrhea, several cases of scurvy. Diseases, prevention of - no care taken. Recoveries from diseases - slow and uncertain. Mortality from diseases - during the month of September 23 out of 183 patients died, being over 12. 45 per cent. Medical officer - Acting Assistant Surgeon Funkhauser. This officer is utterly unfit for the post he holds. I am informed that his contract is for $100 per month. This requires him to devote his whole time to his hospital and camp duties to the exclusion of all outside business. I am also informed that he has a large outside practice, and that he usually (and sometimes omitting even this) visits the camp not to exceed half na hour daily, leaving the almost entire charge of the sick and everything pertaining to the sanitary management of the camp to an enlisted man, who, though he has paid some attention to the study of medicine, and endeavors to do his best, in entirely unequal to the proper discharge of these duties. As a consequence of this the sick are neglected or improperly treated; the ration of mortality is unwarrantly large, the hospital is in a most lamentable condition, and the general sanitary management of the camp is utterly neglected. I would respectfully suggest that this officer be at once removed and a competent man assigned in his stead.

As the foregoing report will show, this camp is a disgrace to the name of military prison. It is filthy in every respect. The vicinity of the sinks is obvious for many yards around, they being perfectly open; no attempt made to disinfect them. They are, moreover, insufficient in number. The seven rebel officers confined here are crowed into a small room about ten by twelve and eight feet high. In this they sleep, live, and cook. There are good natural facilities for drainage, but the drains are choked with rubbish, and the large central ditch is a grand receptacle for the refuse of the whole camp. The main hospital ward is in so dilapidated a condition that the patients are obliged to fasten their blankets along the wall for partial protection from wind and weather, and are thus deprived of the necessary covering. In fact, every patient whom I examined had more or less of pulmonary trouble accompanying his disease, whatever it might be. The hospital cook-house was in filthy condition, and the food which had just been prepared for dinner at the time of my visit was most miserably cooked.


Page 425 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - UNION AND CONFEDERATE.