Yellow Fever Tests One Man's courage.(SATURDAY)(THE CIVIL WAR)

Byline: Charles A. Earp, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

With the courage of youth, a 21-year-old surgeon's steward serving in the Federal blockade off Galveston, Texas, volunteered for a risky mission: to nurse a crew of yellow-fever victims, the surgeon himself having recently succumbed to the disease. The quarantined ship flew a yellow flag to warn passing vessels to keep their distance; hence the title of this slim journal, published for the first time in book form.

Yellow fever was an often lethal disease, best medicated with quinine water. (The British in India made the quinine palatable by adding gin, and thus was invented that summer favorite, the gin-and-tonic). Because the disease's cause remained unknown until the 1890s, when Gen. Walter Reed proved it was mosquito-borne, C. Marion Dodson's selfless action compensated for the puritanical zeal of a young man who led his ship's Sunday choir and berated the wine-lust of sailor and captain alike, yet …

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Publication information: Article title: Yellow Fever Tests One Man's courage.(SATURDAY)(THE CIVIL WAR). Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: September 21, 2002. Page number: B03. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

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