Jerry Summers
One of the most distinguished graduates of the University of the South (Sewanee) would have to be Dr. William Gorgas.
Gorgas was born in Toulminville, Alabama, and his family moved to Sewanee in 1869 when he was 14 years of age. His father, Josiah Gorgas, was a Confederate General who initially became superintendent of what would eventually become Sewanee Military Academy and later would be the second vice-chancellor of the college.
After graduating from Sewanee, William attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City and would be appointed to the United States Medical Corps in 1880, attaining the rank of Surgeon General of the Army.
While a student at Sewanee he and three other students volunteered to go to New Orleans, Louisiana, to assist in the fight against a yellow fever epidemic that killed over 500 persons including two of Gorgas fellow students.
Although he was not the originator of the medical theory that the diseases of yellow fever and malaria were caused by transmission of the viruses by the bite of mosquitos, Gorgas capitalized on the previous work of Army doctor Major Walter Reed and Cuban physician Carlos Finlay.
Gorgas originally gained recognition for his work in controlling yellow fever and malaria in the state of Florida. This was followed by successful control and elimination of the diseases in Havana, Cuba, after the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Using Reed and Finlay’s prior works that demonstrated that mosquitoes of a certain type transmitted yellow fever into human populations, he was able to lead a movement that eradicated yellow fever and malaria in Cuba.
Gorgas' methods of either draining or covering all sources of standing water with kerosene to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs and larvae from developing were highly successful. He further adopted the practice of isolating disease stricken patients with screening and netting.
Gorgas' successes did not come without controversy. Government health officials in America believed that yellow fever was caused by environmental filth and not from the bites of mosquitoes and vigorously attempted to discredit his work.
France had previously abandoned its efforts to build the Panama Canal on the Isthmus of Panama as the result of the death of 23,000 workers to yellow fever transmitted by mosquitoes.
Gorgas, upon learning of the United States government’s decision to build the Panama Canal requested assignment to Panama. He initiated a broader program of sanitation controls against mosquitoes than those used in Cuba and by 1906 had eradicated yellow fever and was able to bring malaria under containment during the 10-year period of successful construction of the Panama Canal in 1914.
Gorgas was elected president of the American Medical Association in 1908 and in 1914 was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to be Surgeon General of the Army.
He still received opposition from his superiors to the public health measures that he advocated for adoption during the First World War on the basis of high costs.
After the end of WWI, Gorgas continued to be a strong advocate for the effective control of infectious diseases with foreign governments and received numerous honors and awards for his efforts.
While in London, England, on a stopover on a trip to Africa in 1920 he suffered a major stroke. While on his deathbed he was knighted by King George V and upon his demise lay in state in St. Paul’s Cathedral prior to being returned to America for burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
His contributions to the saving of thousands of lives of all races greatly exceed the present trend of attempting to erase or minimize his father’s record of Military Service to the Confederacy!
* * *
Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Dr. William Gorgas