Letter of the Day: June 1

[this is a 3 ½” x 4 ½” handwritten order, and is a result of the Spanish-American War]

 

W.D. [War Department]

S.G.O [Surgeon General’s Office]

June 1. 1898

 

Orders:

 

Dr. William M. Gray, Microscopist Surgeon General’s Office will proceed without delay to New York City and report in person to Major George H. Torney, Surgeon USA for duty in the US Hospital ship “Relief.”

 

(signed) Geo M. Sternberg

Surg. Genl USA

 

To Dr. Wm Gray

Microscopist

Through Col. Dallas Bache

Asst. Surg. Genl USA

In charge of M+L Div.

S.G.O.

Letter of the Day: May 25 - yellow fever

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 4606

War Department,
Office of the Surgeon General,
Army Medical Museum and Library,
Washington,
May 25, 1900

Dr. Jesse Lazaer
Actg. Asst. Surgeon, U.S.A.
Camp Columbia
Quemados, Cuba

My Dear Doctor:

An order issued yesterday from the War Department, calls for a Board of Medical Officers for the investigation of acute infectious diseases occurring on the Island of Cuba. The Board consists of Carroll, yourself, Agramonte and the writer. It will be our duty, under verbal instructions from the Surgeon General, to continue the investigation of the causation of yellow fever. The Surgeon General expects us to make use of the laboratory at Military Hospital No. 1, used by Agramonte, and your laboratory at Camp Columbia.

According to the present plan, Carroll and I will be quartered at Camp Columbia. We propose to bring with us our microscopes and such other apparatus as may be necessary for bacteriological and pathological work. If, therefore, you will promptly send me a list of apparatus on hand in your laboratory, it will serve as a very great help in enabling us to decide as to what we should include in our equipment. Any suggestions that you have to make will be much appreciated.

Carroll and I expect to leave New York, on transport, between the 15th and 20th of June, and are looking forward, with much pleasure, to our association with you and Agramonte in this interesting work. As far as I can see we have a year or two of work before us. Trusting that you will let me hear from you promptly, and with best wishes,

Sincerely yours,

Walter Reed
Major & Surgeon,
U.S. Army

Letter of the day, May 16

[Numbered Correspondence 3138]
May 16, 1898.

Capt. Paul Clendenin,
Asst. Surgeon, U.S. Army.
Key West Barracks, Fla.

Dear Sir:

I have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt, on this day, of a fragment of shell with pieces of cloth removed from the chest of Manuel Rivas, wheelsman of the Spanish Steamer, "Guido", and a few cigarette papers found in his pocket. The Surgeon General desires me to thank you for this interesting contribution, the first received at this Museum from the present war.

Very respectfully,
Walter Reed,
Surgeon, U.S. Army,
Curator.

Two pictures from 1898

SKIN LESIONS OF HOG CHOLERA. AMM 489

SENDING CARRIER PIGEON FROM RELIEF (DURING THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR). AMM 64

This is a test to see what emailing photos to the blog results in...

More new pictures will go up on our Flickr site tonight as I browsed and picked some using the new software.

Interesting World War 1 article

Our colleagues at the the Office of the Surgeon General's Historian's office have put an article about volunteer Americans' experiences in the British Army on their website. Click here to download Yanks in King's Forces. For those who want more information, Mitch Yockelson, who co-curated The Cost of a Splendid Little War exhibit with me, has a new book on the topic coming out, Borrowed Soldiers: Americans Under British Command, 1918, and will be speaking at the Museum at some point later this year.