The Lincoln Conspirators at Fort Jefferson

[Dave Taylor]

(12-03-2024 10:58 AM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Just watched part six on the yellow fever epidemic. Dave, when they took the sick to Hospital Key, were they placed in tents, or was there an actual building on the island? If they were in tents, I can't imagine that sleeping in the open air would have been very healthy. Forgive me if you addressed this and I missed it.

Best
Rob

Great question! A small isolation hospital building had been built on Hospital Key during the Civil War years. Initially, those infected with yellow fever were rowed to this key in order to isolate them. Dr. Joseph Smith and a series of nurses rowed back and forth to care for these men. However, eventually, the number of cases grew to be too much, and it was obvious that this practice of isolation was not working. After Dr. Smith himself contracted the fever and fell ill, Dr. Mudd gave up on the idea of isolating the sick elsewhere and converted more of the fort into a hospital. The dead were still considered a health risk, which is why they were transported to Bird Key for burial (as was the case for Michael O'Laughlen).

Here is a circa 1864 drawing of Hospital Key (then called Sand Key). It shows the isolation hospital building that had been constructed there. Hospital Key had also been used as a burying ground during earlier yellow fever epidemics, which explains the graves shown in this drawing.



As Rob pointed out, Part 6 about the yellow fever epidemic is now up:

https://youtu.be/iPClI6rof4E