John Kissinger Volunteers to Get Yellow Fever
Indiana farm boy John Kissinger volunteered to be a human guinea pig in an army experiment to collect data about Aedes Aegypti,
the yellow fever mosquito.
In the year 1900, Major Walter Reed stood out among the group of surgeons battling to wipe the scourge of yellow fever from the earth. In the year 1900, John Kissinger was a farm boy in Huntington, Indiana. He was born on the farm on July 25, 1877, and at 23, a private in the Indiana militia. With his unit, he came within a day’s sailing distance of Cuba, but before he could fight in his front lines, the Rough Riders marched up San Juan Hill and the Spanish American War was over. He went home without seeing the enemy and without firing a shot.
John Kissinger Joins the Army and is Sent to Cuba
One hour after he got home, John enlisted in the regular army, hoping to be sent to the Philippines where there was “real action.” But one of his toes didn’t work right and John was allowed to transfer to the Hospital Corps. // The Army marked him for Foreign Service and Private Kissinger was happy with this turn of events. Then he discovered that his foreign service wasn’t going to be in the Philippines, but right on American’s doorstep in Cuba. John landed in Cuba, disappointed, but still willing to cooperate. In Cuba, Yellow Fever is the Enemy At this time in American history, the Army was busy cleaning up Cuba, which was torn by war and ravaged by disease.
The campaign was more of a sanitary mission than a war, and the real enemy was yellow fever which killed more men than Spanish bullets. Army physicians including Walter Reed, Jesse W. Lazear, James Carroll and Aristides Agramonte, had developed certain theories about yellow fever. They were convinced that its deadly germs were carried by a certain kind of mosquito, Aedes Aeypti, that infected humans. If the doctors could prove this, the disease could be controlled by killing the mosquitoes. The Doctors Allow the Mosquitoes to Bite Them Dr. Lazear was the first to make the test. He allowed himself to be bitten by a germ carrying mosquito, contracted yellow fever and died. Dr. Carroll got the fever the same way and was deathly sick, but eventually he recovered. While he was going about his duties as a hospital orderly,
Private Kissinger overheard several doctors saying that they needed to experiment on a human being. All that night, Private Kissinger thought about the conversation he had overheard. The next morning, Private Kissinger went to Dr. Reed and volunteered for the experiment. Major Reed Praises Private John Kissinger Seven days later, Private Kissinger lay in a hospital bed, racked with pain and burning with fever. The inoculation by the yellow fever mosquitoes had taken. In the eight days of his illness, the doctors learned more by studying Private Kissinger than they had discovered in eight years of experimentation. His commanding officer Major Walter Reed said of him, “In my opinion, his exhibition of moral courage has never been surpassed in the annals of the Army of the United States.”
John's Health Suffers
Then as far as Kissinger and the doctors knew, he recovered. At any rate, he was registered as “immune from yellow fever by previous attack,” and was sent out to continue working as a hospital orderly. Utilizing the data they had gathered from Private Kissinger, the doctors fought and won the yellow fever mosquito war in Cuba and the soldiers came home. Private Kissinger took his honorable discharge and settled down again to life on an Indiana farm. But he wasn’t as well as he had been when he went to war. His legs sometimes gave way under him and he was often weak and dizzy. Not strong enough to continue farming, he tried working in factories and restaurants. One day John fell to his knees and he couldn’t get up. Spinal mellitus, brought on by the yellow fever, had paralyzed his legs.
John Kissinger Receives the Congressional Medal of Honor
This turn of events ended his work in the box factory, but John got around on knee pads made for him by a kindly leather worker and he and his wife took in washings. She also added to the family income by scrubbing floors. When things looked darkest, friends came to John’s rescue, among them, noted physicians from New York and Baltimore who realized the courageous sacrifice he had made for his country. They loaned him enough money to keep alive and finally succeeded in getting Congressional approval of a $125 a month pension. In 1929, John received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his sacrifice for his country.
Friends Help John and His Family Survive
Through the American Association for Medical Progress, these same friends spearheaded a fund drive that raised $6,000 to buy a home for John and his wife. Hundreds of dollars were contributed by sympathetic school children and by South American women who fully realized the horrors of yellow fever. There was even enough money to buy a cow, which John wanted more than anything else. John and his wife named the little cottage paid for by the fund drive, “Dream House.” He fashioned a wooden, brightly painted Uncle Sam and fastened it to his mailbox with his own hands. After thirteen years, John gradually regained the use of his legs. He taught himself to stand again and to walk after a fashion, although he had to be careful not to get overly tired. “I’m grateful things are looking better,” he said.
John Lectures Across the Country
John lectured all across the United States and appeared in several motion pictures. His finances improved enough for him to move to Tampa, Florida, where he died on July 13, 1946. To the end of his life, he believed that the sacrifice of his health was worth preventing millions of people from contracting yellow fever.
References
Molly Caldwell Crosby, The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History, Berkley Hardcover, 2006
Howard A. Kelly,Walter Reed and Yellow Fever, New Library Press, 2003
the yellow fever mosquito.
In the year 1900, Major Walter Reed stood out among the group of surgeons battling to wipe the scourge of yellow fever from the earth. In the year 1900, John Kissinger was a farm boy in Huntington, Indiana. He was born on the farm on July 25, 1877, and at 23, a private in the Indiana militia. With his unit, he came within a day’s sailing distance of Cuba, but before he could fight in his front lines, the Rough Riders marched up San Juan Hill and the Spanish American War was over. He went home without seeing the enemy and without firing a shot.
John Kissinger Joins the Army and is Sent to Cuba
One hour after he got home, John enlisted in the regular army, hoping to be sent to the Philippines where there was “real action.” But one of his toes didn’t work right and John was allowed to transfer to the Hospital Corps. // The Army marked him for Foreign Service and Private Kissinger was happy with this turn of events. Then he discovered that his foreign service wasn’t going to be in the Philippines, but right on American’s doorstep in Cuba. John landed in Cuba, disappointed, but still willing to cooperate. In Cuba, Yellow Fever is the Enemy At this time in American history, the Army was busy cleaning up Cuba, which was torn by war and ravaged by disease.
The campaign was more of a sanitary mission than a war, and the real enemy was yellow fever which killed more men than Spanish bullets. Army physicians including Walter Reed, Jesse W. Lazear, James Carroll and Aristides Agramonte, had developed certain theories about yellow fever. They were convinced that its deadly germs were carried by a certain kind of mosquito, Aedes Aeypti, that infected humans. If the doctors could prove this, the disease could be controlled by killing the mosquitoes. The Doctors Allow the Mosquitoes to Bite Them Dr. Lazear was the first to make the test. He allowed himself to be bitten by a germ carrying mosquito, contracted yellow fever and died. Dr. Carroll got the fever the same way and was deathly sick, but eventually he recovered. While he was going about his duties as a hospital orderly,
Private Kissinger overheard several doctors saying that they needed to experiment on a human being. All that night, Private Kissinger thought about the conversation he had overheard. The next morning, Private Kissinger went to Dr. Reed and volunteered for the experiment. Major Reed Praises Private John Kissinger Seven days later, Private Kissinger lay in a hospital bed, racked with pain and burning with fever. The inoculation by the yellow fever mosquitoes had taken. In the eight days of his illness, the doctors learned more by studying Private Kissinger than they had discovered in eight years of experimentation. His commanding officer Major Walter Reed said of him, “In my opinion, his exhibition of moral courage has never been surpassed in the annals of the Army of the United States.”
John's Health Suffers
Then as far as Kissinger and the doctors knew, he recovered. At any rate, he was registered as “immune from yellow fever by previous attack,” and was sent out to continue working as a hospital orderly. Utilizing the data they had gathered from Private Kissinger, the doctors fought and won the yellow fever mosquito war in Cuba and the soldiers came home. Private Kissinger took his honorable discharge and settled down again to life on an Indiana farm. But he wasn’t as well as he had been when he went to war. His legs sometimes gave way under him and he was often weak and dizzy. Not strong enough to continue farming, he tried working in factories and restaurants. One day John fell to his knees and he couldn’t get up. Spinal mellitus, brought on by the yellow fever, had paralyzed his legs.
John Kissinger Receives the Congressional Medal of Honor
This turn of events ended his work in the box factory, but John got around on knee pads made for him by a kindly leather worker and he and his wife took in washings. She also added to the family income by scrubbing floors. When things looked darkest, friends came to John’s rescue, among them, noted physicians from New York and Baltimore who realized the courageous sacrifice he had made for his country. They loaned him enough money to keep alive and finally succeeded in getting Congressional approval of a $125 a month pension. In 1929, John received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his sacrifice for his country.
Friends Help John and His Family Survive
Through the American Association for Medical Progress, these same friends spearheaded a fund drive that raised $6,000 to buy a home for John and his wife. Hundreds of dollars were contributed by sympathetic school children and by South American women who fully realized the horrors of yellow fever. There was even enough money to buy a cow, which John wanted more than anything else. John and his wife named the little cottage paid for by the fund drive, “Dream House.” He fashioned a wooden, brightly painted Uncle Sam and fastened it to his mailbox with his own hands. After thirteen years, John gradually regained the use of his legs. He taught himself to stand again and to walk after a fashion, although he had to be careful not to get overly tired. “I’m grateful things are looking better,” he said.
John Lectures Across the Country
John lectured all across the United States and appeared in several motion pictures. His finances improved enough for him to move to Tampa, Florida, where he died on July 13, 1946. To the end of his life, he believed that the sacrifice of his health was worth preventing millions of people from contracting yellow fever.
References
Molly Caldwell Crosby, The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History, Berkley Hardcover, 2006
Howard A. Kelly,Walter Reed and Yellow Fever, New Library Press, 2003
