In immediate connection with the First Reserve Hospital was a tent
hospital where sick and wounded Insurgents were being given the best
of care.
Field hospitals were promptly established as the troops moved out
from Manila, and in connection with many of these Filipinos were given
much needed medical and surgical help. The recipients of such kindly
treatment were, however, prohibited by Insurgent officers from telling
others of their experiences lest the hatred of Americans diminish as
a result.
Smallpox had broken out among the Spanish soldiers in the walled
city and was spreading badly when my friend, Major Frank S. Bourns
of the army medical corps, was given the task of eradicating it,
which he promptly accomplished. A little later the use of the Santa
Ana church as a smallpox hospital was authorized, and sick Filipinos
were carefully tended there.
The army promptly set about cleaning up Manila and waging war
upon the more serious ailments which threatened the health of the
soldiers and that of the public. The work was at the outset put under
the direction of Major Edie, a very capable and efficient medical
officer. Subsequently it was turned over to Major Bourns, who, on
account of his intimate knowledge of Spanish, and his wide acquaintance
with the Filipinos, was able to carry out many much-needed reforms,
and in doing so aroused a minimum of public antagonism.
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