and trains during July carried the pestilence across the plains to every post on the Arkansas river and the Smoky Hill Fork, and three other notable instances of the transplantation of the disease occurred: one on the route between Forts Gibson and Arbuckle, one in the case of the posts in New York harbor, the third in that of certain recruits distributed from New York, by way of New Orleans, through Texas.

At New Orleans, where cholera had prevailed extensively, during 1866. among both citizens and troops, continuing during the summer and fall, until January, 1867, it reappeared among the citizens in June. The reports of the Board of Health record 4 deaths during June, and 571 during the following six months. During the same period only six cases and three deaths were reported among the white troops, and but four cases and two deaths among the colored troops. The first of these cases occurred at Jackson Barracks during August, and recovered; the second case, at the same barracks, during September, also recovered. After this, no cases occurred until November. During November and December there were a few cases both at Jackson Barracks and at Greenville, making, in all, but ten cases and five deaths during the six months in a garrison of over a thousand men. Besides these, one case, which recovered, was reported at Jackson Barracks during January, 1868, and two cases of cholera and nine of choleraic diarrhoea during the same month in Company "A," 33d Infantry, which had just arrived from Georgia.

In view of the prevalence of the disease among the citizens of New Orleans, this comparative immunity of the troops must be attributed, to a great extent, to the stringent hygienic measures adopted in view of the approach of yellow fever. These measures are fully recorded in the reports on the yellow fever epidemic.

At Fort Jackson, Mississippi, below New Orleans, one case, a colored soldier who recovered, is reported during September. No particulars have been received

During the month of June cholera also appeared among the freedmen on various plantations in the vicinity of Vidalia, Louisiana. The troops, however, escaped until October. During this month eight cases and three deaths are reported out of a strength of 61 officers and men.

At Vicksburg, Mississippi, where cholera had prevailed among the troops during 1866, it reappeared among the citizens during the month of June. The first case among the troops occurred on the 29th of that month and died the same day. There were eight cases and two deaths among the troops during July; one fatal case during September; during October two cases, which recovered; in all, eleven cases and three deaths, not including the fatal case during June. The average strength of the command during the six months was 267 officers and men.

At Madison, Arkansas, cholera appears to have been introduced by the body of a citizen dead of cholera who was brought from Linden for burial. Shortly afterwards the disease appeared among the troops. Eight cases and three deaths are reported during July; two cases and one death during August; in all, ten cases and four deaths; the average strength for the two months being 75 officers and men.

At Newport Barracks, Kentucky, where cases had occurred during 1866, two mild. cases are reported during June, both of which recovered. There was also one fatal case during August. The average strength of the command during the six months was 509. Cases are said to have occurred in both Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, a few days before the first of these cases.

At Paducah, Kentucky, four cases and two deaths are reported during August out. of a strength of 108. No particulars have been received.

At St. Louis, Missouri, where cholera had prevailed during 1866, it reappeared among the citizens during the month of June, 1867. (See St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal for July and August, 1867, p. 394.) Cases continued to occur with increasing frequency during the summer and fall. Only one case, however, is reported at the St. Louis arsenal out of an average strength of 125. This case occurred during October; the man recovered. At Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, where cholera had prevailed extensively among the 56th U. S. Colored Infantry during the previous summer, 256 cases and 134 deaths having been reported, one case of cholera and six of cholera morbus occurred during July, all of which recovered. Several fatal cases of cholera were reported, however, among government employés.

It may here also be mentioned that, during June, prior to their movement from the post, a considerable number of cases of diarrhoea occurred among the soldiers of the 38th U. S. Colored Infantry at Jefferson Barracks. To the story of these troops we shall presently recur.

On the 26th of October, Companies "G" and "H," 125 colored volunteers, arrived at Jefferson Barracks for muster-out. They had marched from Fort Bliss, Texas, across the plains, to Fort Harker, and thence been brought by railroad to St. Louis, where cholera was then prevailing. Two days after their arrival at Jefferson Barracks cholera appeared among them, thirteen cases and five deaths occurring before the close of the month, and two cases and one death during November.

At Fort Riley, Kansas, where there had been 59 cases and 27 deaths of cholera, and 641 cases of diarrhoea and dysentery among the troops during 1866, a quartermaster's employé was attacked June 22d, 1867, and died the same day. Company "K," of the 38th Infantry, which left Jefferson Barracks June 9th, and reached Fort Riley June 12th, had moved for Fort Harker on the 19th; and companies "D" and "F," which left Jefferson Barracks on the 19th for Fort Riley, also left that place for Fort Harker on the 224, arriving on the 25th. All these troops were suffering much from diarrhoea, and Companies “D” and “F” left behind them, when they moved, a number of men sick with diarrhœa. After this, however, no cases of cholera occurred at Fort Riley, where the most stringent. hygienic means appeared to have been adopted, until July 11th, when an employé of the Pacific Railroad was attacked and died the same day. He had just arrived from the vicinity of Fort Harker, where cholera was then prevailing. No other cases occurred until November, when two colored recruits for the 10th Cavalry were attacked; one of them recovered; the other died December 1st. Of these men, the first had arrived two days before his attack from St. Louis, Missouri, where he had been taken sick with diarrhoea. No particulars have been received with regard to his comrade. These two cases are included in table 10, Appendix I, p. 6; but the garrison of Fort Riley, averaging for the six months 26 white and 197 colored troops, wholly escaped.

At Fort Harker, Kansas, the disease appeared shortly after the arrival of Companies "K," "D," "F" and "II," of the 38th Infantry. There were three cases and one death among the colored troops in June; fifteen cases and ten deaths during July and August. Among the white troops, twenty-eight cases and twenty deaths are reported during July and August. The average strength of the command for July and August was 84 white and

197 colored troops. There were also at the post over four hundred quartermaster's employés, among whom were many deaths. The hygienic condition of the fort and its vicinity is reported to have been very bad at the date of the outbreak of the epidemic.

Company "K," of the 38th Infantry, reached Fort Harker June 22; Companies "D” and "F" arrived on the 25th; Company "H" on the 27th. Companies "A" and "B" had been stationed there since May 16th, and Company "G" since May 17th.

The first case among the troops at Fort Harker was a soldier of Company "H," who was taken sick June 28th and sent to the post hospital. On the same day, but a little earlier in the day, a citizen in the employ of the beef contractor was attacked. He lived in a dug-out on the bank of the river, near the slaughter-pen, a mile and a half from the fort, and half a mile from the camp of the detachment of the 38th. Stress has been laid on this case in some of the appended reports, as showing that cholera was not introduced at Fort Harker by the 38th Infantry; but the dates of the arrivals of Companies "D," " F." "H,” and "K," above given, perfectly accord with the theory that the detachments of the 38th Infantry brought the germs of the disease with them from Jefferson Barracks; and it has not been shown that the beef contractor's employé, living so near their camp, did not communicate freely with the newly arrived troops. At all events, the first cases among the troops at Fort Harker were soldiers of the 38th Infantry, who were carried from their camp to the post hospital; and it was not till a number of these cases had occurred that the disease began to spread among the garrison of the post.

But whatever question may be raised as to the introduction of cholera at Fort Harker by the 38th Infantry, there is no doubt of the mode in which the pestilence, once established at that post, was, unfortunately, carried thence across the plains.

On the 28th of June, the same day on which cholera appeared at Fort Harker, a detachment of the 38th Infantry, consisting of Companies "D" and "F," Brevet Lieutenant Colonel H. C. Merriam in command, and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel George McGill, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A., in medical charge, left Fort Harker to march by the Arkansas River route to New Mexico.

At the close of the first day's march they reached Plumb creek, and shortly after going into camp a case of cholera occurred among the men. The command marched next day, but cases continued to occur daily until it reached Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory.

The posts visited on this route were Fort Zarah, Fort Larned, and Fort Dodge, and the arrival of the detachment at each of these stations was promptly followed by the appearance of cholera.

The death of Dr. McGill, July 20th, has prevented the receipt of the usual monthly report of sick and wounded for this detachment; but it appears from the appended letter of Colonel Merriam that twenty-nine enlisted men were attacked, and ten died, out of a mean strength of 232 enlisted men. With the exception of Dr. McGill and his wife, the officers and their families escaped.

The headquarters of the 38th Infantry, with Companies "A," "H," and "K," remained at Fort Harker until the 20th of July.

The first case of cholera among the troops at Fort Harker, already mentioned as occurring June 28th, was a soldier of Company "H;" on the 29th another case occurred in the same company, on the 30th another; July 1st five cases were reported, July 20 three. All these cases are included in the statistical table for Fort Harker. July 4th there

B

were two cases; July 5th and 7th each one case. After this no more cases occurred in this command for some days, although the disease still prevailed among other troops at Fort Harker and among the quartermaster's employés and other citizens. July 20th, Headquarters, with Companies "A" and "K," started across the plains with 12 officers, 220 men, 44 quartermaster's employés, and 37 ladies, children, and servants. After crossing the Smoky Hill Fork they were joined by the sutler of Fort Sumner with a family of ten persons, making in all 324 souls.

July 21st, on the march, a soldier was attacked with cholera and cases continued to occur until July 30th, when the command had reached a camp a few miles west of Fort Dodge, after which no more cases occurred among the troops.

Up to this time there had been forty-six cases and seventeen deaths, all enlisted men; the rest of the party escaped, with the exception of the wife of one of the officers, who was taken sick after the command reached Fort Lyon and recovered. The case reported during August was a man who had been detached with the mail between Forts Larned and Harker, and who was brought sick to camp.

In making this march the command avoided communication with the posts along the route, and, after the 25th of July, avoided the route taken by Col. Merriam's detachment.

Two detachments of the 38th Infantry are thus shown to have carried cholera with them across the plains by the Arkansas River route. It was by the first of these that it was distributed to the military stations on the way.

On the first of July Colonel Merriam's detachment of the 38th Infantry arrived at Fort Zarah, and on July 2d or 3d at Fort Larned, going into camp within 500 yards of the fort, and remaining there for forty-eight hours. July 6th the first case occurred in the garrison at Fort Larned, and subsequently cases occurred at both this post and Fort Zarah.

Fort Zarah being occupied as a picket post of Fort Larned, the cases at both posts are included in the monthly reports of sick and wounded of Fort Larned, and are included in tables 15 and 16, (Appendix, p. 8.) In all, there were five cases and four deaths of white troops during July; of colored troops, one fatal case during July and one during August. There were quite à number of cases among the quartermaster's employés.

According to Brevet Major C. S. De Graw, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A., Colonel Merriam's command arrived at Fort Dodge on the afternoon of July 7th and went into camp a mile from the post, remaining forty-eight hours. An unsuccessful attempt was made to isolate the command when it was understood that cholera was prevailing in it.

During the evening of July 11th a government employé, living about three hundred yards from the garrison, was attacked; on the 14th another; and diarrhoea became very prevalent among the citizens about the post. On the 18th several trains arrived from Fort Harker with supplies for the post, and a man accompanying one of these trains was found to have cholera. On the 21st a soldier of the garrison was attacked while on guard duty some distance from the post and brought to the post hospital. This was followed by other cases, and during the rest of July and the early part of August, twenty-five cases and fourteen deaths occurred among the troops. The mean strength for the two months was 226 officers and men. There were also a number of cases among the citizens. The pestilence did not extend on this route to posts west of Fort Dodge.

Returning now to the neighborhood of Fort Harker, we find that Company "G," 10th Colored Cavalry, moved from Fort Harker July 16th, leaving behind three or four

men sick of choleraic diarrhoea; they went into camp at Wilson's creek, about 15 miles from Harker, where, during the rest of the month, they had fifteen cases of cholera, eight of which died during July and one in August. The command subsequently went to Fort Hays and became a part of the garrison of that post.

Company "F," 3d Infantry, in camp near Cow creek, Kansas, at the terminus of the Pacific Railroad not far from Fort Harker, reports seven cases and four deaths during July and one case during August, out of a strength of 68 officers and men; the disease was brought from Fort Harker.

Company "C," 10th Colored Cavalry, at Camp Grierson, Kansas, on the Little Arkansas river, reports seven cases and four deaths during July, and ten cases and four deaths during August, the mean strength for the two months being 78 men; the officers escaped. The disease is reported to have been brought to the camp by one of the messengers from Fort Harker.

Leaving, now, the vicinity of Fort Harker, we find cholera transported along the route of the Smoky Hill Fork, towards Denver, as far west as Fort Wallace. The posts on this route are Fort Hays, Downer's Station, Monument Station, and Fort Wallace. The first case at Fort Hays was a citizen, who had just arrived from Salina, whither the cholera had extended from Fort Harker. On the same day, July 11th, a colored soldier of the garrison was taken sick, and died next day. During July, August, and September, thirty-three cases and twenty-three deaths are reported among the colored troops, whose mean strength during the three months was 215 men. September 1st, a white soldier was attacked, but recovered; the rest of the white troops, averaging, during the three months, 34 in number, escaped. Free communication had existed with Fort Harker previous to the appearance of the first cases, and trains with escorts of troops were continually passing from Fort Harker, by way of Fort Hays and the other posts on this route, to Fort Wallace, and back again.

Notwithstanding the free passage of such trains, however, the detachment at Downer's Station, Kansas, escaped until August 9th, when a supply train en route from Fort Harker to Fort Wallace, accompanied by a detachment of Company "B," 38th U. S. Infantry, encamped at Grinnell Springs, a small stage station about 20 miles from Downer's, and guarded by a party from that post. The day after the arrival of the train, two of the men at the stage station were taken sick, and were sent to the hospital at Downer's Station for treatment. One of them recovered, the other died. The mean strength of the command at Downer's Station during August was 91 officers and men, but no other cases occurred.

Company "I," 38th Infantry, which had been stationed at Fort Hays since May 25th, left that place June 24th and established a post at Monument Station, Kansas. During July three cases and one death of cholera are reported in this detachment, the strength being reported at 115 men. No particulars have been received.

June 1st, 1867, a detachment of the 7th U. S. Cavalry left Fort Hays on an expedition to the Platte river, and, after marching over 700 miles, subjected to great hardships, went into camp July 13th, near Fort Wallace. A second detachment of the 7th left Fort Hays on the 12th of July, the day after the first cases of cholera had appeared at that post, and, marching directly to Fort Wallace, went into camp, July 18th, with the first detachment. July 22d, the first case of cholera occurred, and was rapidly followed by