BROWNSVILLE'S UNHEALTHINESS DATES BACK TO THE 1800S

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The recent ranking of Brownsville as the unhealthiest city in the United States is not the first time that this area, about 23 miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande river across from Matamoros, Mexico, has been considered an unhealthy environment, even for the soldiers stationed at Ft. Brown.

During hearings of  the U.S. House of Representatives of the 51st Congress on January 31, 1891, the Committee on Military Affairs recommended the abandonment of the fort because of the unhealthy conditions there. 

At the time, the committee had determined that clear title should be had for a mere $50,000 after its original occupation by U.S. troops since 1846 by troops under Zachary Taylor at the outbreak of the U.S.-Mexican War.

In its findings, the committee heard a report that stated that Gen. William Sherman, then Commanding General of the U.S. Army, had reported in his annual report that:

"Fort Brown is subject to overflow and during the present year has been afflicted with yellow fever in the worst form. I advise its absolute abandonment."

 Again, in the same report he says : 

"The following military posts are obsolete and ought to be abandoned: "Fort Brown, Texas." 

General Phillip Sheridan, in his testimony before the committee, testified as follows: 

Q. What, in your opinion as a military man, is the strategic value of this post?

A. Very little. It has very little value. 

Q. What, from a military standpoint, would justify its establishment?

A. I mean it has a very little value now, since new conditions have obtained and since railroads have been built. 

Q. You mean it is no longer an important point as a crossing point from one country to the other?

A. No, sir.

Q. That the growth and development of the country and the building of railroad have transferred what particular advantages it had to other points.

A. Yes, sir. 

The committee's report included the following table comparing malarial diseases at the various U.S. forts.

Surgeon J. C. Baily, medical director, Department of Texas, in forwarding a sanitary report from Fort Brown, Tex., remarked:

"On an inspection of the post, February 24, 1889, when the number of admissions had fallen much below that of November, I found members of nearly all the officers' families suffering with some form of malarial troubles...

"I was informed that many of the men, when suffering from chills, preferred continuing on duty to reporting sick. The washed-out appearance of nearly every soldier in the command plainly showed the unhealthful surroundings.

This post is closely hemmed in on the north by a large town (Brownsville) (population 5,000 or 6,000) which is practically undrained and filthy beyond description; on the east by a marsh, and south by a lagoon (resaca) which for 8 months of the year is cut off from the river. Into this marsh and lagoon all the sewage of the post drains. The lagoon is within 30 feet of the officers' quarters, and the marsh crowds up on occupied buildings on the other side. There must be taken into account the probability of the command being hemmed in by a yellow-fever quarantine. It will be a mild epidemic that does not decimate it in its present condition. If this unwholesome spot must be occupied I can only recommend that the garrison be reduced to the minimum and entirely changed every year."

The Surgeon-General of the Army in the same report, page 27, says: 

"At Fort Brown, which must be set down as the most unhealthy post in the country, 286 cases of malarial disease, or nearly two attacks yearly for each man of the garrison, added 1,986.11 to the admission rate and 26.72 to the noneffectives. These fevers alone give this post a much higher rate of admission than was given to the Army by all diseases and injuries... The nature of the Fort Brown is thus seen to have the worst record of any post in the Army. The nature of the prevailing diseases has already been mentioned. This post held the same unenviable position in 1888 and 1889..."

The Secretary of War, in his annual report for 1889, after referring to the investigation in the last Congress in regard to Fort Brown, concludes as follows: 

"In this connection attention is called to the report of the Surgeon-General for the past year, by which it appears that Fort Brown is the unhealthiest post in the country; also to the fact that General Sherman in his report for 1882 recommended its abandonment."