The American Plague - Molly Caldwell Crosby [126]
The Yellow Fever Commission
The letter from Surgeon General George Miller Sternberg to the adjutant general on May 23, 1900, is held in the Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Collection at the University of Virginia. In the original, typed version the reference to yellow fever has been stricken by hand. The reason for this is not known, but Hench believes it may have been to avoid offending the Cubans. At that time, yellow fever was still considered a disease associated with filth.
Again, for an impression of the Havana harbor I relied on personal experience as well as descriptions from letters. The account of Reed’s trip to Havana on board the Sedgwick was from a letter he wrote to Emilie on June 25, 1900. It is held in the Hench collection.
Information about Sanarelli and the bacteria he believed caused yellow fever was taken from Kelly’s book. As Kelly was a contemporary of both Sternberg and Reed, he was well aware of the controversy.
I based the theory that Reed, rather than Sternberg, chose the members of the Yellow Fever Board on the electrozone report he filed with the surgeon general on April 20, 1900. It can be found in the archives of the National Library of Medicine. In the report, Reed specifically thanks Carroll, Agramonte and Lazear for all of their help.
Biographical information about James Carroll came from several sources. I found a reference to his nickname as “Sunny Jim” in an interview Hench conducted with Kean on November 19, 1946. Carroll himself provided a lot of the information about his backgroundto Caroline Latimer in a letter in 1905. Latimer later wrote an article about Carroll published in A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography, 1920. Additional information was taken from Bean’s book.
Lazear’s description of Carroll was in a letter written to Mabel on July 15, 1900. And other impressions of Carroll were taken from an interview with Pinto and the memory of Charles S. White, a former student of Carroll’s and Reed’s. All can be found in Hench’s collection.
The quote by a colleague about Carroll needing to be led by a man with vision was in a letter Albert Truby wrote to Hench on September 3, 1941.
The letters in which Carroll chastises Jennie were written on August 27, 1900, and December 1, 1900. Both are held in the Hench collection and there are references to them in Bean’s book. Not all of his letters were so negative, but those two were chosen because they reflect what seemed to be a strained relationship between Carroll and his wife, as well as his children. In many other letters, he is perfectly cordial though never very affectionate. The information about Carroll’s son was found in a memorandum written by Hench on November 11, 1954.
Biographical information about Aristides Agramonte was taken primarily from the curriculum vitae of Aristides Agramonte, held in the Hench collection. There is also a photo in the collection on which I based the physical description of Agramonte. The reference to Agramonte’s work with Reed in Washington prior to their appointment in Cuba was found in Hench’s “Timeline of Agramonte’s Service in the Army Medical Corps.” Agramonte was assigned to work with Reed at the lab in Washington for the month of May, 1898.
William Welch’s recommendation of Lazear was part of a letter written to the surgeon general on January 12, 1900.
Reed’s account of the journey on board the Sedgwick was taken from his letter to Emilie on June 25, 1900. Details about the harbor, Plaza de Armas, and the Governor’s Palace came from personal observation during the trip to Havana. Descriptions of the plant life came from both personal observation and Reed’s descriptions in letters to his wife.
The board’s meetings on the veranda and the instructions from Sternberg come from Truby’s account as well as Sternberg’s biography. Agramonte described the scene in full, including the reverence with which they listened to Reed. The description of Reed as a teacher comes from Hench’s Notes on Reed and Carroll by Charles S.