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Marketing Tourist Destinations in Emerging Economies: Towards Competitive and Sustainable Emerging Tourist Destinations Ishmael Mensah
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PALGRAVE STUDIES OF
MARKETING IN EMERGING ECONOMIES
Series Editors
Robert E. Hinson
Durban University of Technology
University of Ghana Business School
Accra, Ghana
Ogechi Adeola
Pan-Atlantic University
Lagos Business School
Lagos, Nigeria
This book series focuses on contemporary themes in marketing and mar-
keting management research in emerging markets and developing econo-
mies. Books in the series cover the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa), MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey),
CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South
Africa); EAGLE economies (those which are expected to lead growth in
the next ten years, such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea,
Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, and Turkey) and all other African countries
(classified under developing countries), taking into consideration the
demographic, socio-cultural and macro-economic factors influencing
consumer choices in these markets. The series synthesizes key subject
areas in marketing, discuss marketing issues, processes, procedures and
strategies across communities, regions and continents, and also the way
digital innovation is changing the business landscape in emerging
economies.
Palgrave Studies of Marketing in Emerging Economies presents a
unique opportunity to examine and discuss marketing strategy and its
implications in emerging economies, thereby filling a gap in current mar-
keting literature.
All chapter submissions to the series will undergo a double blind peer
review and all book proposals will undergo a single blind peer review.
Marketing Tourist
Destinations in
Emerging Economies
Towards Competitive and Sustainable
Emerging Tourist Destinations
Editors
Ishmael Mensah Kandappan Balasubramanian
University of Cape Coast Taylor’s University
Cape Coast, Ghana Selangor, Malaysia
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
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mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
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Preface
This book project would not have been accomplished without the sup-
port of some individuals and organizations. First, we wish to express our
sincerest appreciation to the series editors Prof. Robert Ebo Hinson and
Prof. Ogechi Adeola for believing in us and allowing us to contribute to
the book series ‘Palgrave Studies of Marketing in Emerging Economies’.
We also wish to acknowledge all the authors and anonymous reviewers
without whom this project would have been a failure. Our special thanks
go to the Team at Springer Nature, including Rubina Infanta Rani, the
Project Coordinator, for their immense support. Finally, we acknowledge
Mr Emmanuel Agbaglo and Ms Eunice Sakyi Kyeremah for editorial
assistance.
vii
Contents
ix
x Contents
Index299
Notes on Contributors
xiii
xiv Notes on Contributors
textbooks on tourism, which are used in tertiary and senior high schools
in the Philippines.
Mohd Azlan Abu Bakar is the Dean for Faculty of Management,
PICOMS International University College. He has lectured at the same
institution since 2018. He holds a professional degree from the Chartered
Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), UK, and a Master of Science
in Transport and Logistics. His research interests include supply chain
management and logistics management.
Kandappan Balasubramanian is an associate professor with the School
of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, Taylor’s University, Malaysia, and an
Apple Distinguished Educator. His research interests include Industrial
Revolution 4.0, service innovation in hospitality 4.0, teaching innova-
tion towards transformation in the educational and industry sector, mar-
keting in the hospitality industry as well as in higher education.
Sarah Blankson-Stiles-Ocran is Assistant Lecturer in Hospitality
Management at the Ho Technical University, Ghana. She holds an MPhil
degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Cape Coast.
Her research interests include employees’ well-being, employees’ work
attitudes, intentions and behaviour, as well as food handling, recipe
development and food tourism.
Reil G. Cruz is an associate professor at the University of the Philippines
Asian Institute of Tourism, where he also serves as the Institute Secretary.
He served as an international consultant in Human Resource
Development, Marketing, and Livelihood Generation for the UN World
Tourism Organization in East Timor, Sri Lanka, and North Korea from
2005 to 2006. His research interests include tourism planning and devel-
opment, tourism impact and sustainability, ecotourism, and sustainable
tourism.
Joy Sheelah B. Era is the Dean of the Institute of Tourism and Hotel
Management, Far Eastern University, Manila. She holds a PhD in
Philippine Studies and MA in Art Studies from the University of the
Philippines-Diliman. Her other affiliations include Accreditor of the
Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on
Notes on Contributors xv
xix
xx Abbreviations
Fig. 1.1 The tourism system. (Source: Adapted from Leiper (1995)) 6
Fig. 3.1 The progress of mass tourism events 52
Fig. 4.1 Destination competitiveness model. (Source: Ritchie
and Crouch (2003)) 82
Fig. 5.1 Model of consumer decision-making. (Source: Engel
et al., 1978) 110
Fig. 6.1 Proposed framework of linkages between service quality,
perceived value, tourist satisfaction, and destination loyalty 134
Fig. 7.1 Tourism distribution channel 151
Fig. 8.1 E-tourism system’s conceptual framework (Kazandzhieva &
Santana, 2019). (Notes: DMOs: Destination management
organisations; DMSs: destination management systems
[TISCover, VisitSingapore, VisitFinland, MySwitzerland,
VisitBritain]; WS: web service; SM BEs: social media booking
engines [TripAdvisor, HolidayCheck, Facebook, Twitter];
MoAs: mobile applications; P2P BEs: per-to-per booking
engines [Airbnb, Uber]; Meta SEs: metasearch engines
[Google, Kayak, Skyscanner]; OTAs/TEMs: online travel
agencies/tourism e-mediaries [Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity];
TAs WS: travel agents web service; TOs WS: tour operators
web service; GDSs: global distribution systems [Amadeus,
xxiii
xxiv List of Figures
xxv
Part I
Destination Attributes and Features
1
Nature and Scope of Destination
Marketing in Emerging Economies
Ishmael Mensah, Mohd Raziff Jamaluddin,
Vanessa Gaffar, Gina Alcoriza,
Kandappan Balasubramanian,
and S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh
Introduction
Emerging economies, which are also known as emerging markets, are
low- or middle-income economies with high economic growth potential.
However, they are usually less stable and imperfect with regard to the
efficiency and impartiality of their markets due to lapses in their
I. Mensah (*)
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
e-mail: ikmensah@ucc.edu.gh
M. R. Jamaluddin
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia
e-mail: raziff@uitm.edu.my
V. Gaffar
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
e-mail: vanessa@upi.edu
G. Alcoriza
University of Santo Tomas–Legazpi, Manila, Philippines
e-mail: gina.alcoriza@ust-legazpi.edu.ph
K. Balasubramanian • S. M. Rasoolimanesh
Taylor’s University, Selangor, Malaysia
e-mail: kandappan.balasubramanian@taylors.edu.my;
mostafa.rasoolimanesh@taylors.edu.my
1 Nature and Scope of Destination Marketing in Emerging… 5
Departing Tourists
Traveller Tourist
Generating Transit Route Destination
Region Region
Returning Tourists
Fig. 1.1 The tourism system. (Source: Adapted from Leiper (1995))
Destination Marketing
There is now a recognition that what tourist destinations offer is not just
a combination of various goods and services in a geographical unit, but
rather the experience of visiting a specific destination (Fyall et al., 2019).
Destination marketing is a type of marketing that seeks to promote a
destination (town, city, region, country) with the view to increase the
number of visitors (Lomanenko, 2018). Destination marketing can be
defined as a proactive, visitor-centred approach to the economic and cul-
tural development of a destination that balances and integrates the inter-
ests of visitors, service providers and the community (Wang, 2011). It is
also defined as a management process through which the national tourist
organisations and/or tourism enterprises identify their selected actual and
potential tourists; communicate with them to ascertain and influence
their wishes, needs, motivations, likes and dislikes, at the local, regional,
national and international levels; and develop and adapt their tourist
products with the view to achieving optimal tourist satisfaction, thereby
fulfilling their objectives (3G Learning, 2015). It is about engaging with
key players to drive awareness of the destination, thereby driving interest,
increasing tourist arrivals at the destination. Destination marketing is a
managerial process, demand-driven research, advertising and communi-
cation activity wherein the focus is on enticing potential external
consumers.
Destination marketing is now acknowledged as a pillar of the future
growth and sustainability of tourism destinations in an increasingly glo-
balised and competitive market for tourists (UNWTO, 2011).
Destination marketing as a management tool is a form of market-oriented
strategic planning and hence as a strategic approach to place develop-
ment rather than a promotional tool (Blumberg, 2007). Destination
marketing covers all the activities from conception of ideas to realisation
of profits. The scope of destination marketing can relate to the functions
of marketing as well as the roles and responsibilities of the destination
marketing organisations (DMOs) that revolve around customer satisfac-
tion (Roshani, 2020) and as the main vehicle to compete and attract visi-
tors to their distinctive place or visitor space (Pike & Page, 2014).
1 Nature and Scope of Destination Marketing in Emerging… 9
Table 1.1 Summary of the activities of the DMO categorised as either EDM or IDD
countries that are transitioning from the developing phase to the devel-
oped phase. Emerging economies are also known as developing coun-
tries. Emerging economies have shifted from agriculture and export of
raw materials to industrialisation and have invested in a more productive
capacity. Several countries fall into this category. However, in the context
of this book, they include the newly industrialised economies in East Asia
such as Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (Asian NIEs); Brazil,
Russia, India and China (BRICS); Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and
Turkey (MINT); Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and
South Africa (CIVETS); Countries of Central and Eastern Europe,
including the former Soviet Union, China and Mongolia (Transition
economies); and the new emerging economies of Africa, namely
Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and
Zambia. Emerging economies differ significantly from developed coun-
tries in terms of their cost and factor conditions; their stages of economic,
social and political development; as well as their business systems
(Enderwick, 2007).
Sunje and Civi (2008) describe an emerging market as a market within
the political borders of an independent state that has a lower level of eco-
nomic development, transitional economy and society, a high rate of eco-
nomic growth and a huge future growth potential.
Atadil et al. (2017) describe emerging markets in the context of tour-
ism as both emerging sources and destination markets. Emerging econo-
mies exhibit a lot of potentials, including a rapid pace of economic
development, high growth potential, trade liberalisation and a free mar-
ket economy. These economies have become increasingly important in
the global economy in recent years. Emerging market economies
accounted for close to 70% of global output growth and just over 70% of
global consumption growth during 2010–2015 (International Monetary
Fund [IMF], 2014). It has been projected that by 2035, the GDP of
emerging markets will permanently exceed that of all advanced markets
(Wilson & Purushothaman, 2003). It has been forecasted that by 2050,
the BRIC economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India and China, will over-
take developed countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, the
UK, France and Italy (Wilson & Purushorthaman, 2003). This has been
1 Nature and Scope of Destination Marketing in Emerging… 15
industries. This is also because emerging markets enjoy a huge cost and
price advantage from tourism (Enderwick & Nagar, 2011). Tourism
growth globally, over recent years, has largely been driven by emerging
economies (Kester & Croce, 2011).
Tourism in emerging markets has drawn increasing attention (Cohen
et al., 2014). Emerging tourist destinations have increasingly become
attractive to tourists from the key source markets in North America and
Europe due to their natural and cultural attractions, which offer suitable
alternatives to the traditional attractions in advanced countries. Many
destinations in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America offer cultural,
heritage and natural attractions, which appeal to Western tourists who
are in search of novelty and exotic experiences. Hitchcock et al. (2009)
describe this as the search for something different, with tourists prioritis-
ing new natural and cultural environments. Emerging economies have a
comparative advantage in their natural endowments, including climate,
wildlife and cultural resources. They offer a rich supply of attractions and
natural resources that appeal to the main source markets in Europe and
America. According to Laws (1996), the shift in tourists’ interests towards
destinations in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Pacific is a reflection of
changes in tourists’ preferences. Emerging economies must capitalise on
these shifts in preferences by leveraging their competitive advantage in
cultural and natural attractions.
Challenges of Marketing
Emerging Destinations
Despite their huge potentials in the global tourism market, emerging
economies are confronted with a myriad of challenges that impede suc-
cessful destination marketing. Tourism-related challenges confronting
emerging economies include the absence of a national tourism organisa-
tion (NTO), poor coordination among institutions, non-prioritisation of
the tourism industry by government, insufficient use of ICT, lack of
proper marketing and promotion, inadequate human resources and poor
1 Nature and Scope of Destination Marketing in Emerging… 17
Conclusion
Tourism destinations are becoming competitive as more and more desti-
nations look to tourism as the new economic generator, replacing activi-
ties in agriculture, mining and manufacturing (Goeldner & Ritchie,
2006). This is especially the case with emerging economies that have to
compete with the well-established destinations in North America,
Australia and Europe. The fact is that tourist destinations in emerging
economies are confronted with a number of issues, including crises like
terrorism, political unrest, natural disasters and epidemics, as well as
institutional and structural deficiencies, which tend to affect the image,
attractiveness and marketing efforts of DMOs of such destinations.
Addressing these challenges calls for a well-coordinated management and
marketing strategy. The tourist destination is very dynamic and new
issues have emerged in contemporary times, which have implications for
destination marketing in emerging economies. These include the emer-
gence of new tourist destinations, destination branding, disintermedia-
tion in the distribution system, application of ICT, changes in consumer
behaviour and collaboration. This book addresses these issues by explain-
ing the concepts and drawing practical examples from emerging econo-
mies. This book aims to highlight the destination marketing challenges,
best practices and strategies relevant to emerging economies.
20 I. Mensah et al.
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AMBULANCE CORPS.
All of the ambulances belonging to an army corps were to be
placed under the control of the medical director of that corps, for
now, in addition to a medical director of the army, there was a
subordinate medical director for each army corps. Such an
ambulance corps was put into the hands of a captain as
commandant. This corps was divided and subdivided into division,
brigade, and regimental trains, corresponding to the divisions of the
army corps to which it belonged, having a first lieutenant in charge of
a division, a second lieutenant in charge of a brigade, and a
sergeant in charge of a regimental detachment. Besides these, three
privates, one of them being the driver, were to accompany each
ambulance on the march and in battle. The duties of all these men,
both officers and privates, were very carefully defined, as well for
camp as for the march and battle. Besides the ambulances, there
accompanied each corps one medicine-wagon and one army wagon
to a brigade, containing the requisite medicines, dressings,
instruments, hospital stores, bedding, medical books, small furniture
(like tumblers, basins, bed-pans, spoons, vials, etc.).
In addition to the foregoing articles, which were carefully assorted
both as to quantity and quality, each ambulance was required to
carry in the box beneath the driver’s seat, under lock and key, the
following articles:—
Three bed-sacks, six 2-pound cans beef-stock, one leather bucket,
three camp kettles (assorted sizes), one lantern and candle, six tin
plates, six table-spoons, six tin tumblers; and, just before a battle,
ten pounds hard bread were required to be put into the box.
A FOUR-WHEELED AMBULANCE.
There was another scheme, which was conceived and carried into
execution by Dr. Letterman, which deserves mention in this
connection. This was the establishment of Field Hospitals, “in order
that the wounded might receive the most prompt and efficient
attention during and after an engagement, and that the necessary
operations might be performed by the most skilful and responsible
surgeons, at the earliest moment.” Under Surgeon Tripler, there had
been rendezvous established in rear of the army, to which all the
wounded were taken for immediate attention, before being sent to
general hospitals. But there was no recognized system and
efficiency in regard to it. Just before an engagement, a field hospital
for each division was established. It was made by pitching a suitable
number of hospital tents. The location of such a hospital was left to
the medical director of the corps. Of course, it must be in the rear of
the division, out of all danger and in a place easily reached by the
ambulances. A division hospital of this description was under the
charge of a surgeon, who was selected by the surgeon-in-chief of
the division. With him was an assistant surgeon, similarly appointed,
whose duty it was to pitch the tents, provide straw, fuel, water, etc.,
and, in general, make everything ready for the comfort of the
wounded. For doing this the hospital stewards and nurses of the
division were placed under his charge, and special details made
from the regiments to assist. A kitchen or cook-tent must be at once
erected and the cooks put in possession of the articles mentioned as
carried in the ambulance boxes and hospital-wagons, so that a
sufficient amount of nourishing food could be prepared for immediate
use.
Another assistant surgeon was detailed to keep a complete record
of patients, with name, rank, company, and regiment, the nature of
their wound, its treatment, etc. He was also required to see to the
proper interment of those who died, and the placing of properly
marked head-boards at their graves.
Then, there were in each of these division hospitals three
surgeons, selected from the whole division, “without regard to rank,
but solely on account of their known prudence, judgment, and skill,”
whose duty it was to perform all important operations, or, at least, be
responsible for their performance. Three other medical officers were
detailed to assist these three. Nor was this all, for the remaining
medical officers of the division, except one to a regiment, were also
required to report at once to the hospital, to act as dressers of
wounds and assistants generally. In addition to these, a proper
number of nurses and attendants were detailed to be on hand. The
medical officers left with regiments were required to establish
themselves during the fighting in the rear of their respective
organizations, at such a distance as not to unnecessarily expose
themselves, where they could give such temporary aid to the
wounded as they should stand in need of.
I have said that these hospitals were to be located out of all
danger. That statement needs a little modifying. In case the tide of
battle turned against our army and it was compelled to retreat, what
was before a safe place might at once be converted into a place of
great danger. But a hospital could not be struck and its patients
moved at a moment’s or even a day’s warning, as a rule, and so it
was made the duty of the medical director of a corps to select a
sufficient number of medical officers, who, in case a retreat was
found necessary, should remain in charge of the wounded. When the
Rebels captured such a hospital, it was their general practice to
parole all the inmates—that is, require them to give their word of
honor that they would not bear arms again until they had been
properly exchanged as prisoners of war. Our government
established what were known as parole camps, where such
prisoners were required to remain until duly exchanged.
A MEDICINE WAGON.
I think it can now be readily understood, from even this
fragmentary sketch, how the establishment of these field hospitals
facilitated the care of the wounded, and, by their systematic
workings, saved hundreds of lives. With a skilful, energetic man as
medical director of the army, giving his orders to medical directors of
corps, and these carefully superintending surgeons-in-chief of
divisions, who, in turn, held the surgeons and assistant surgeons
and officers of ambulance corps to a strict accountability for a careful
performance of their duties, while the latter fortified themselves by
judicious oversight of their subordinates, the result was to place this
department of the army on a footing which endured, with the most
profitable of results to the service, till the close of the war.
I vividly remember my first look into one of these field hospitals. It
was, I think, on the 27th of November, 1863, during the Mine Run
Campaign, so-called. General French, then commanding the Third
Corps, was fighting the battle of Locust Grove, and General Warren,
with the Second Corps, had also been engaged with the enemy, and
had driven him from the neighborhood of Robertson’s Tavern, in the
vicinity of which the terrific Battle of the Wilderness began the
following May. Near this tavern the field hospital of Warren’s Second
Division had been located, and into this I peered while my battery
stood in park not far away, awaiting orders. The surgeon had just
completed an operation. It was the amputation of an arm about five
inches below the shoulder, the stump being now carefully dressed
and bandaged. As soon as the patient recovered from the effects of
the ether, the attendants raised him to a sitting posture on the
operating-table. At that moment the thought of his wounded arm
returned to him, and, turning his eyes towards it, they met only the
projecting stub. The awful reality dawned upon him for the first time.
An arm had gone forever, and he dropped backwards on the table in
a swoon. Many a poor fellow like him brought to the operator’s table
came to consciousness only to miss an arm or a leg which perhaps
he had begged in his last conscious moments to have spared. But
the medical officers first mentioned decided all such cases, and the
patient had only to submit. At Peach-Tree Creek, Col. Thomas
Reynolds of the Western army was shot in the leg, and, while the
surgeons were debating the propriety of amputating it, the colonel,
who was of Irish birth, begged them to spare it, as it was very
valuable, being an imported leg,—a piece of wit which saved the
gallant officer his leg, although he became so much of a cripple that
he was compelled to leave the service.
It has been charged that limbs and arms were often uselessly
sacrificed by the operators; that they were especially fond of
amputating, and just as likely to amputate for a flesh-wound as for a
fractured bone, on the ground that they could do it more quickly than
they could dress the wound; that it made a neater job, thus gratifying
professional pride: but how the victim might feel about it or be
affected by it then or thereafter did not seem to enter their thoughts.
It was undoubtedly true that many flesh-wounds were so ugly the
only safety for the patient lay in amputation. A fine fellow, both as a
man and soldier, belonging to my company, lost his arm from a flesh-
wound—needlessly, as he and his friends always asserted and
believed.
A FOLDING LITTER.
A STRETCHER.
But to return to the field hospital again; on the ground lay one
man, wounded in the knee, while another sat near, wounded in the
finger. This latter was a suspicious wound. Men of doubtful courage
had a way of shooting off the end of the trigger-finger to get out of
service. But they sometimes did it in such a bungling manner that
they were found out. The powder blown into the wound was often the
evidence which convicted them. These men must be proud of such
scars to-day.
Three wounded Rebels also lay in the tent, waiting for surgical
attention. Of course, they would not be put upon the tables until all of
our own wounded were attended to; they did not expect it. In one
part of the tent lay two or three of our men, who were either lifeless
or faint from loss of blood. Only a few rods away from the tent were
some freshly made graves enclosing the forms of men whose
wounds had proved fatal, either having died on their way to the
hospital or soon after their arrival. Among these was the gallant
Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Hesser, who was shot in the head
while bravely leading the Seventy-second Pennsylvania Infantry in a
charge. The graves were all plainly marked with small head-boards.
A drizzling rain added gloom to the scene; and my first call at a field
hospital, with its dismal surroundings, was brief.
One regulation made for this department of the service was never
enforced. It provided that no one but the proper medical officers or
the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the
ambulance corps should conduct sick or wounded to the rear, either
on the march or in battle, but as a matter of fact there were probably
more wounded men helped off the field by soldiers not members of
the ambulance corps than by members of that body. There were
always plenty of men who hadn’t the interests of the cause so nearly
at heart but what they could be induced, without much persuasion,
when bullets and shells were flying thick, to leave the front line and
escort a suffering comrade to the rear. Very often such a sufferer
found a larger body-guard than could well make his needs a pretext
for their absence from the line. Then, too, many of these escorts
were most unfortunate, and lost their way, so that they did not find
their regiment again until after the battle was over. A large number of
them would be included among the Shirks and Beats, whom I have
already described. But, in truth, it was not possible for the
ambulance corps to do much more in a hot fight than to keep their
stretchers properly manned. Each ambulance was provided with two
of these, and the severely wounded who could not help themselves
must be placed on them and cared for first, so that there was often
need for a helping hand to be given a comrade who was quite
seriously wounded, yet could hobble along with a shoulder to lean
on.
The designating mark of members of the ambulance corps was,
for sergeants, a green band an inch and a quarter broad around the
cap, and inverted chevrons of the same color on each arm, above
the elbow; for privates the same kind of band and a half chevron of
the same material. By means of this designation they were easily
recognized.
By orders of General Meade, issued in August, 1863, three
ambulances were allowed to a regiment of infantry; two to a regiment
of cavalry, and one to a battery of artillery, with which it was to
remain permanently. Owing to this fact, an artillery company
furnished its own stretcher-bearers when needed. I shall be
pardoned the introduction of a personal incident, as it will illustrate in
some measure the duties and trials of a stretcher-bearer. It was at
the battle of Hatcher’s Run, already referred to, or the Boydton Plank
Road, as some called it. The guns had been ordered into position
near Burgess’ Tavern, leaving the caissons and ambulance nearly a
half-mile in the rear. Meanwhile, a flank attack of the enemy cut off
our communications with the rear for a time, and we thought
ourselves sure of an involuntary trip to Richmond; but the way was
opened again by some of our advance charging to the rear, and by
the destructive fire from our artillery. Soon orders came for the
battery to return to the rear. In common with the rest, the writer
started to do so when a sergeant asked him to remain and help take
off one of our lieutenants, who was lying in a barn near by, severely
wounded. So actively had we been engaged that this was my first
knowledge of the sad event. But, alas! what was to be done? Our
ambulance with its stretchers was to the rear. That could not now
avail us. We must resort to other means. Fortunately, they were at
hand. An abandoned army-blanket lay near, and, carefully placing
the lieutenant on this, with one man at each corner, we started.
But the wounded officer was heavy, and it was, as can readily be
seen, an awkward way of carrying him. Moreover, his wound was a
serious one,—mortal as it soon proved,—and every movement of
ours tortured him so that he begged of us to leave him there to die.
Just then we caught sight of a stretcher on which a wounded Rebel
was lying. Some Union stretcher-bearers had been taking him to the
rear when the flank attack occurred, when they evidently abandoned
him to look out for themselves. It was not a time for sentiment; so,
with the sergeant at one end of the stretcher and the narrator at the
other, our wounded enemy was rolled off, with as much care as time
would allow. With the aid of our other comrades we soon put the
lieutenant in his place, and, raising the stretcher to our shoulders,
started down the road to the rear. We had gone but a few rods,
however, before the enemy’s sharpshooters or outposts fired on us,
driving us to seek safety in the woods. But it was now dusk, and no
easy matter to take such a burden through woods, especially as it
rapidly grew darker. Suffice it to know, however, that, after more than
an hour’s wandering and plunging, our burden was delivered at the
ambulance, where another of our lieutenants, also mortally
wounded, was afterwards to join him. This fragment of personal
experience will well illustrate some of the many obstacles which
stretcher-bearers had to contend with, and disclose the further truth
that in actual combat the chances for severely wounded men to be
taken from the field were few indeed, for at such a time stretcher-
bearers, like the proverbial “good men,” are scarce.
I omitted to say in the proper connection that the men whose
wounds were dressed in the field hospitals were transported as
rapidly as convenient to the general hospitals, where the best of care
and attention could be given them. Such hospitals were located in
various places. Whenever it was possible, transportation was by
water, in steamers specially fitted up for such a purpose. There may
be seen in the National Museum at Washington, the building in
which President Lincoln was assassinated, beautiful models of these
steamers as well as of hospital railway trains with all their furnishings
of ease and comfort, designed to carry patients by rail to any
designated place.
Another invention for the transportation of the wounded from the
field was the Cacolet or Mule Litter, which was borne either by a
mule or a horse, and arranged to carry, some one and some two,
wounded men. But although it was at first supposed that they would
be a great blessing for this purpose, yet, being strapped tightly to the
body of the animal, they felt his every motion, thus making them an
intensely uncomfortable carriage for a severely wounded soldier, so
that they were used but very little.
The distinguished surgeon Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, whose son,
Lieut. Bowditch, was mortally wounded in the cavalry fight at Kelly’s
Ford, voiced, in his “Plea for an Ambulance System,” the general
dissatisfaction of the medical profession with the neglect or
barbarous treatment of our wounded on the battle-field. This was as
late as the spring of 1863. They had petitioned Congress to adopt
some system without delay, and a bill to that effect had passed the
House, but on Feb. 24, 1863, the Committee on Military Affairs, of
which Senator Henry Wilson was chairman, reported against a bill “in
relation to Military Hospitals and to organize an Ambulance Corps,”
as an impracticable measure at that time, and the Senate adopted
the report, and there, I think, it dropped.
CHAPTER XVII.
SCATTERING SHOTS.
THE CLOTHING.
ARMY CATTLE.
An army officer who was reputed to have been of high and hasty
temper, who certainly seemed to have been capable of rash and
inconsiderate remarks, was once overheard to say of soldiers that
they were nothing but cattle, and deserved to be treated only as
such. In the short sketch here submitted on the subject of Army
Cattle, I do not include the variety above referred to, but rather the
quadrupedal kind that furnished food for them.
In the sketch on Army Rations I named fresh beef as one of the
articles furnished, but I gave no particulars as to just how the army
was supplied with it. This I will now endeavor to do.
When there came an active demand for fresh and salt meat to
feed the soldiers and sailors, at once the price advanced, and
Northern farmers turned their attention more extensively to grazing.
Of course, the great mass of the cattle were raised in the West, but
yet even rugged New England contributed no inconsiderable quantity
to swell the total. These were sent by hundreds and thousands on
rail and shipboard to the various armies. On their arrival, they were
put in a corral. Here they were subject, like all supplies, to the
disposition of the commissary-general of the army, who, through his
subordinates, supplied them to the various organizations upon the
presentation of a requisition, signed by the commanding officer of a
regiment or other body of troops, certifying to the number of rations
of meat required.
When the army was investing Petersburg and Richmond, the
cattle were in corral near City Point. On the 16th of September,
1864, the Rebels having learned through their scouts that this corral