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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Secretary of the Navy John D. Long to Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet

(TELEGRAM.)

Navy Department,

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION.

Washington,

July 5, 1898.

     Place aboard the SOLACE as many of the wounded prisoners under charge of Navy and as many of the United States Army wounded as SOLACE is able to carry, in addition to the Navy sick and send the vessel at once to Hampton Roads.1

Long.

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 29. Addressed before opening: “Sampson, Playa del Este, Cuba.” Document reference: “124073.”

Footnote 1: Hampton Roads was the locations of the nearest Naval Hospital. Solace was the United States Navy’s hospital ship and was the first to operate under the terms of the 1864 Geneva Convention rules concerning wounded and captured soldiers and sailors. See: Surgeon General of the Navy William Van Reypen to Long, 25 April 1898.

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