Walter Reed was the commanding officer of the U.S. Army’s Yellow Fever
Commission working in Cuba at the turn of the Twentieth Century to
determine the cause of that dreaded disease. One of the members of the team
was Dr. James Carroll, an 1891 graduate of the University of Maryland School
of Medicine.
This collection consists of forty-four original pieces of correspondence, many of
them between Carroll and Reed. After Reed returned to the States, Carroll
became the principal on-site authority, and the two men had much to
coordinate in fulfilling the Commission’s charge. The letters reflect a growing
animosity in Carroll as the ordeal continued to wear onward toward its
conclusion.
Also, many of the letters are from Carroll to his wife Jennie back home. They
are genuine and tender, reflective of Carroll’s dedication in keeping his wife
apprised of the serious conditions under which he was living and working.
Carroll volunteered to be bitten by an infected mosquito, in attempt to prove
whether the insect was indeed the carrier. Carroll contracted the disease, but
fortunately survived, while one of his colleagues died as a result of his own
infection. Perhaps the center jewel of the collection is the letter dated
September 7, 1900 from Reed to Carroll, in which Reed expresses his jubilation
that Carroll was improving, and declares, “Did the mosquito do it?” Reed adds
his personal vow to “… simply go out and get boiling drunk!”
These letters present the very human dimensions of one of the most
momentous events throughout the whole of medical history.