Dr. James Carroll – Major (Surgeon), United States Army

Born in England, June 5, 1854, he was educated at Albion House Academy, Woolwich, England, to 1869.

He graduated from the Medical Department, University of Maryland in 1891, and from a post-graduate course in Pathology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1891.

He was associated with Major Walter Reed in the study of Sararelli’s supposed Yellow Fever bacillus, 1897-1902 in both the United States and in Cuba. To justify the experimentation on others, he voluntarily submitted to the bite of contaminated mosquitos that previously been caused three well-documented cases of Yellow Fever. With four days he was taken ill and suffered a severe attack of the disease. He recovered, but with significant damage to his heart.

He died in Washington, D.C. on September 16, 1907 and was buried in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1902 it was an Irish American, Surgeon Major James Carroll, who with another United Sates Army surgeon deliberately submitted himself to the perilous experiment then being made by the Government to ascertain by what means the yellow-fever germ was transmitted. As a result he contracted the disease and gave up his life as a sacrifice in the cause of science for the good of humanity.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard