Sketches of the campaign in northern Mexico : in eighteen hundred forty-six and seven / by an officer of the First Regiment of Ohio volunteers.

MORTALITY AT CAMARGO. 83
came in laden with sick and dying men, among whom we
were pained to find Lieutenant S., of Company B, (Dayton
volunteers,) one of the most energetic, reliable, and useful
officers of the Ist Ohio regiment. 1His death, which occurred
on the morning of the 26th, was, to many of his comrades,
one of the most distressing events of the campaign. Lieut.
S. had already displayed an activity, and tractable disposition, that won him the confidence and esteem of his superior
officers, while his cheerfulness, and the good humor with
which he bore every privation, had made him a favorite with
all. He possessed, too, all those sterling qualities of the
soldier, which, had fate permitted, would have gained him
an enviable reputation.
The mortality in our camp at Camargo was appalling.
The dead march was ever wailing in our ears, and even at
this distant period, I can scarcely look back to our brief stay
there without a shudder. At almost every hour of the day,
funeral escorts of various regiments might be seen following
the bodies of departed comrades to that vast and common
cemetery, the chaparral, where officers and men~, " in dust,
without distinction lie." The large hospital-tents were constantly full-the dead being removed at sunrise and sunset,
but to make room for the dying. The groans and lamentations of the poor sufferers during those sickly, sultry nights
were heart-rending. Upon our arrival at Camargo, we had
been informed by the natives that it was the most sickly
place in the valley, but the appearance of the country did
not indicate it, nor have I ever heard it attributed to any
satisfactory cause. An examination of the circumjacent
country might perhaps, have led to the discovery of some