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Leon Greene · (This post was last modified: 02-22-2019 03:28 PM by Leon Greene.)

(02-21-2019 06:22 PM)RJNorton Wrote: Kudos to forum member, Dr. Leon Greene, on his new book entitled The Confederate Yellow Fever Conspiracy: The Germ Warfare Plot of Luke Pryor Blackburn, 1864-1865.

From Amazon:

"Defeat was looming for the South—as the Civil War continued, paths to possible victory were fast disappearing. Dr. Luke Pryor Blackburn, a Confederate physician and expert in infectious diseases, had an idea that might turn the tide: he would risk his own life and career to bring a yellow fever epidemic to the North. To carry out his mission, he would need some accomplices. Tracing the plans and movements of the conspirators, this thoroughly researched history describes in detail the yellow fever plot of 1864–1865."

https://www.amazon.com/Confederate-Yello...1476668906

Personally, I have always been fascinated by this plot.

Congratulations, Dr. Greene!

Thanks, Roger. This book has been a 5-year project, and it's good to see it in print finally. I can say that researching the topic has introduced me to a wonderful group of people in various museums, archives, libraries, and on-line. To a person they were kind and helpful to an amateur getting his hands dirty (literally). It has been an enjoyable journey.

(02-21-2019 06:29 PM)GustD45 Wrote: If I remember correctly weren't they going to send Mr. Lincoln and others infected shirts or blankets to infect a large poplulation?

Yes, they packed a fancy shirt "contaminated with yellow fever" in a valise that they planned to deliver to the White House. We know that some of the trunks loaded with clothes and bedding arrived in Washington, D.C., because records exist for the sale of these garments by a D.C. auctioneer. Fortunately, yellow fever cannot be spread in this manner.

(02-21-2019 07:39 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Kudos - same here, Roger. Fortunately Blackburn wasn't expertise enough to add the mosquitoes.

Blackburn wanted to spread both yellow fever and smallpox to the North. Yellow fever needed the mosquitoes for its transmission, but smallpox can indeed be spread by articles of clothing. Fortunately for the North, at the time Blackburn was seeking disease to spread, smallpox was less common, so he concentrated on yellow fever, not knowing that mosquitoes were necessary.