Appendix C 297 



American army, for the great bulk of the regulars 

 are here with you. The sick list, large though it 

 is, exceeding four thousand, affords but a faint in- 

 dex of the debilitation of the army. Not twenty 

 per cent are fit for active work. 



Six weeks on the North Maine coast, for instance, 

 or elsewhere where the yellow-fever germs can not 

 possibly propagate, would make us all as fit as 

 fighting-cocks, as able as we are eager to take a 

 leading part in the great campaign against Havana 

 in the fall, even if we are not allowed to try Porto 

 Rico. 



We can be moved North, if moved at once, with 

 absolute safety to the country, although, of course, 

 it would have been infinitely better if we had been 

 moved North or to Porto Rico two weeks ago. 

 If there were any object in keeping us here, we 

 would face yellow fever with as much indifference 

 as we faced bullets. But there is no object. 



The four immune regiments ordered here are 

 sufficient to garrison the city and surrounding 

 towns, and there is absolutely nothing for us to 

 do here, and there has not been since the city sur- 

 rendered. It is impossible to move into the interior. 

 Every shifting of camp doubles the sick-rate in 

 our present weakened condition, and, anyhow, the 

 interior is rather worse than the coast, as I have 

 found by actual reconnoissance. Our present 

 camps are as healthy as any camps at this end of 

 the island can be. 



I write only because I can not see our men, who 

 have fought so bravely and who have endured ex- 



