The Assassin's Doctor: The Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd

Private James Forsythe, 5th U.S. Artillery, was the first to die. Private Joseph Enits died next, on August 30th. The yellow fever spread to Company L and to the officers' servants. Company I, housed in the barracks adjoining the hospital, was then attacked. Company M escaped the plague until September 7th when 30 men were stricken. The fort's doctor, Joseph Sim Smith, contracted the disease on September 5th.

This was all happening at Fort Jefferson, a military fortress located on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, and 90 miles north of Havana, Cuba. Three-hundred thirteen soldiers, 54 prisoners, and 20 civilians, a total of 387 people, were at the fort. Two-hundred seventy of them contracted yellow fever. Thirty-eight died.

Four of the 54 prisoners were men who had been convicted of conspiracy in the 1865 Lincoln assassination trial. They were Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, Edman Spangler, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd.

When Dr. Smith fell ill, the fort's commander, Major Valentine Stone, sent an emissary to Key West to ask Dr. Daniel Whitehurst to come help. Whitehurst had once been a civilian contract doctor at the fort. Stone knew he would come, but he needed help right away. He went to see Dr. Mudd. Would he help until Dr. Whitehurst arrived? Dr. Mudd said "Yes," and went to work.

Dr. Whitehurst arrived the next day. For the next three weeks, he and Dr. Mudd together worked day and night to treat those afflicted with the disease. On October 1st, Dr. Whitehurst was relieved by Dr. Edward Thomas, a civilian contract doctor from New York. Dr. Mudd himself contracted the disease on October 4th, but survived.