William Crawford Gorgas
| William Crawford Gorgas | |
|---|---|
Gorgas during World War I
|
|
| Born |
October 3, 1854 Toulminville, Alabama, USA |
| Died | July 3, 1920 (aged 65) London, England |
| Place of burial | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Years of service | 1880–1918 |
| Rank |
 Major General
|
| Commands held | Surgeon General of the US Army |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Medal Public Welfare Medal (1914) |
| Relations |
Josiah Gorgas (father) Amelia Gayle Gorgas (mother) John Gayle (grandfather) |
William Crawford Gorgas KCMG (October 3, 1854 – July 3, 1920) was a United States Army physician and 22nd Surgeon General of the U.S. Army (1914–1918). He is best known for his work in Florida, Havana and at the Panama Canal in abating the transmission of yellow fever and malaria by controlling the mosquitoes that carry them at a time when there was considerable skepticism and opposition to such measures. He was a Georgist and argued that adopting Henry George's popular 'Single Tax' would be a way to bring about sanitary living conditions, especially for the rich.
Born in Toulminville, Alabama, Gorgas was the first of six children of Josiah Gorgas and Amelia Gayle Gorgas. After studying at The University of the South and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, Dr. Gorgas was appointed to the US Army Medical Corps in June 1880.
He was assigned to three posts—Fort Clark, Fort Duncan, and Fort Brown—in Texas. While at Fort Brown (1882–84), he survived yellow fever and met Marie Cook Doughty, whom he married in 1885. In 1898, after the end of the Spanish–American War, he was appointed Chief Sanitary Officer in Havana, working to eradicate yellow fever and malaria. Gorgas capitalized on the momentous work of another Army doctor, Major Walter Reed, who had himself built much of his work on insights of a Cuban doctor, Carlos Finlay, to prove the mosquito transmission of yellow fever. He won international fame battling the illness—then the scourge of tropical and sub-tropical climates—first in Florida, later in Havana, Cuba and finally, in 1904, at the Panama Canal.
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