12/18/2024
On December 16, 1899, the Fort Stanton Sanatorium lost their first patient to tuberculosis. John Dower, age 32, arrived at Fort Stanton on November 21, 1899, as one of the original four patients from the Marine hospital in Chicago and was being treated for tuberculosis of the lung. Dower was working on the steamer ship W. J. Carter when he contracted the disease and he had been declining in health rapidly. Sadly, just 26 days into Dower’s treatment, he died and became the first burial at Fort Stanton for the new hospital. With the deaths that followed, the new hospital would create the Merchant Marine Cemetery which on October 2, 2015, was approved to become the state’s first State Veteran’s Cemetery. Tuberculosis, however, was not the only disease that caused issues at Fort Stanton. Even before the hospital was established, soldiers at the Fort were dying from another disease called typhoid fever. Typhoid fever is a form of salmonella typhi bacteria and is usually contracted through contaminated food or water. Typical symptoms of typhoid fever include high fevers as well as stomach pain, confusion, weakness, headaches, vomiting, and constipation. Today typhoid fever is a treatable disease but in the 1800s, if left untreated, the disease could last for weeks to months and could be fatal. Private James Fagan of the 4th U.S. Cavalry Company D died from this disease at Fort Stanton on December 16, 1881.
