Many Of Them Were
Miserable Enough In Appearance, But Nevertheless They Did The Work
Required Of Them.
I have observed that horses throughout the States
are treated in a hardier manner than is usually the case with us.
At the period of which I am speaking - January, 1862 - the health of
the army of the Potomac was not as good as it had been, and was
beginning to give way under the effects of the winter. Measles had
become very prevalent, and also small-pox, though not of a virulent
description; and men, in many instances, were sinking under fatigue.
I was informed by various officers that the Irish regiments were on
the whole the most satisfactory. Not that they made the best
soldiers, for it was asserted that they were worse, as soldiers,
than the Americans or Germans; not that they became more easily
subject to rule, for it was asserted that they were unruly; but
because they were rarely ill. Diseases which seized the American
troops on all sides seemed to spare them. The mortality was not
excessive, but the men became sick and ailing, and fell under the
doctor's hands.
Mr. Olmstead, whose name is well known in England as a writer on the
Southern States, was at this time secretary to a sanitary commission
on the army, and published an abstract of the results of the
inquiries made, on which I believe perfect reliance may be placed.
This inquiry was extended to two hundred regiments, which were
presumed to be included in the army of the Potomac; but these
regiments were not all located on the Virginian side of the river,
and must not therefore be taken as belonging exclusively to the
divisions of which I have been speaking.
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