Is it to be concluded that it was impossible to obtain summer
clothing for 18,000 men between the 26th of April and the 6th of June?
Second--Improper Food.
Most of the troops were embarked upon the transports by the 10th of
June. Their food on transport consisted of the travel ration: canned
roast beef, canned baked beans, canned tomatoes, and hardtack, with
coffee, were the components. They subsisted upon this food, imprisoned
in fetid holds of foul transports, unfit for the proper transportation
of convicts, until the 25th day of June, when they disembarked. On
drawing rations for the field it was found that the field ration would
be of the same components, with the addition of bacon and minus the
baked beans and tomatoes. During the emergency, up to include the 18th
day of July, this was the ration. Occasionally a few cans of tomatoes
found their way to camp, but rarely. The ration was always short,
such as it was, but this the soldiers could have endured and did
endure without a murmur.
But on the 18th of July, with unlimited wharfage at a distance of two
miles and a half, with excellent roads, and with abundance of
transportation (see Gen. Shafter's Official Report), and with
surrender foreknown for a sufficient length of time to have brought
any quantity of vegetables from New York City, the ration continued to
be bacon, canned beef, hardtack, and coffee.
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