WILLIAM C. GORGAS - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/08/1917 - HFSID 5347

WILLIAM C. GORGAS
Shortly after US entry into World War I, the US Army Surgeon General writes Presidential aide Joseph Tumulty about assignment of surgeons to National Guard divisions.
Typed Letter Signed:"W.C. Gorgas"as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, 1p, 8x10½. War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Washington, 1917 August 8. To J.P. Tumulty, President Woodrow Wilson's Secretary, at the White House. In full:"Your letter of August 3rd addressed to the Honorable Secretary of War, in the interest of Major Joseph Rector of the National Guard of New Jersey, is acknowledged. In reply thereto I beg to inform you that the General Staff has decided that there shall be an officer of the regular Medical Corps assigned to each division of the National Guard as Division Surgeon except in those instances where a complete division is formed of the National Guard of one state. At present the latter conditions only obtain in the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Under this rule it will be impracticable to assign Major Rector as Division Surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Division."William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920) secured a medical degree from Bellevue Medical College, New York and then joined the Army Medical Corps. He traveled from post to post and contracted yellow fever at Fort Brown, Texas. Since his recovery from that illness made him immune to its effects, he was put in charge of the yellow fever camp in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. As Chief Sanitary officer in Havana (1898-1902), Gorgas succeeded in freeing Havana from yellow fever. As Chief Sanitary officer of the Panama Canal Commission (1904-1913), his work in suppressing yellow fever and malaria, made the digging of the Panama Canal possible. Gorgas served as Surgeon General from 1914-1918. It is possible that New Jersey-connected President Wilson was helping a constituent through his secretary. White House rubber stamped receipt in blank right area, erased pencil notes at upper blank area below letterhead. Encapsulated. Fine condition.