Dr. Elnathan Judson’s 1823 report to the Secretary of the Navy on the successful vaccination of 161 naval seamen in the Boston area
for small pox with related demographic and ethnic data

Transcribed with Introduction and Notes by John G. M. Sharp

The following is a transcription of an important and long forgotten report by naval surgeon Dr. Elnathan Judson USN to the Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard. Judson’s report provided the number of seamen vaccinated in Boston and on the North River during the period 5 June 1823 to 5 September 1823. Dr. Judson’s letter dated 17 September 1823 was written while he was residing in Washington D.C. In his report Judson breaks down the number of men vaccinated during the three month period and, remarkable for the era, the report contains the seamen’s demographic and ethnic data with self-reported ages and country of birth.¹ Noteworthy too, Dr. Judson enumerated the names, ages and country of origin for all the seamen vaccinated. For black seamen he distinguished between those born in the United Staates and those born in England.²

1 Sharp, John G. "The Recruitment of African Americans in the U.S. Navy 1839" Naval History and Heritage Command 2019 accessed 20 December 2019
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/the-recruitment-of-african-americans-in-the-us-navy-1839.html

2 McKee. Christopher, "Ungentle Goodnights Life in a Home for Elderly and Disabled Naval Sailors and Marines and the Perilous Seafaring Careers that Brought Them There" (Naval Institute Press: Annapolis 2018) 285-286

The author and compiler of this unique report was Dr. Elnathan Judson Surgeon (1794-1829). The only comparable document for African Americans in this period is a brief letter that summarized black recruits at the Philadelphia Naval Rendezvous written by Captain William Bainbridge to Secretary Southard and dated 14 September 1827. Bainbridge in his letter simply notes, "Finding that 18 Blacks had been entered in the total number of 102. I ordered the Recruiting officer not to exceed any more until further orders."³

3 William Bainbridge to Southard, 14 September 1827, NARA M125, "Captains Letters" 30 July 1827 – 6 Oct 1827, letter 51

Dr. Judson was a native of Massachusetts and graduate of Brown University and was an enthusiastic supporter of vaccination. In the report (see below) he ardently notes the results of vaccination.

Experience induces the belief that vaccination may be performed with safety, at any time of the years, upon all sexes, all constitutions & all ages; and it is most satisfactorily proven that after it once effects the general stem, a person is never liable to small pox either by contagion or inoculation

Dr. Judson was born in Wenham, Massachusetts, 28 May 1794. His father, the Reverend Adoniram Judson, was a Congregational Minister, and his brother also Adoniram Judson became a noted Baptist Minister who with his wife Ann Hasseltine Judson became the first American missionaries to Burma.⁴ Judson chose medical school over the ministry and instead became a zealous and tireless supporter of smallpox vaccination. His work promoting vaccination was widely recognized with an honorary M. A. degree from Brown University in 1818, followed by an M. D. from Dartmouth in 1823 and an M.A. from Hamilton College that same year. ⁵

4 Weyland, Francis A Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D.D. (Phillip Sampson and Company: Boston 1853)

5 Langley, Harold D. A History of Medicine in the Early U. S. Navy (The Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore 1995) 343

Following his graduation Dr. Judson wrote on 15 June 1816 to President James Monroe requesting his support for a plan to vaccinate all seamen.⁶ Monroe like Jefferson and Madison was sympathetic to the idea and favored implementation of Judson’s plan. On 7 August 1816 with the support of the president, Dr. Judson was appointed by the Navy Department "to visit the several ports of the United States for the purpose of vaccinating gratis with the best vaccine matter all seamen, ordinary seamen and others attached to the United States Navy who may not have previously been secured against smallpox by that salutatory operation."⁷

6 Elnathan Judson to James Monroe 6 June 1816 A Comprehensive Catalogue of the Correspondence and Papers of James Monroe Volume 2, (Greenwood Press: Westport Ct 2001) 642 Daniel Preston editor

7 Benjamin Homans to Elnathan Judson 7 August 1816 American State Papers Volume II, Naval Affairs (Gales and Seaton: Washington 1860), 641

In the United States the physician Valentine Seaman administered the first smallpox vaccine in 1799. He gave his own children a smallpox vaccination using a serum acquired from Edward Jenner, the British physician who invented the vaccine from fluid taken from cowpox lesions. Though vaccines were misunderstood and mistrusted at the time, Dr. Seaman advocated their use and in 1802 coordinated a free vaccination program for the poor in New York City. Jenner’s work reached the U.S. in part due to the efforts of a Harvard professor, Benjamin Waterhouse, who also vaccinated his own family and exposed them to smallpox patients. Waterhouse however wanted to spread the word, so he wrote to an amateur scientist in Virginia. That scientist was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, after conducting trials on three of his slaves, than gave the vaccine to his family and neighbors. These tests conducted at Monticello were successful and Jefferson quickly became a strong national voice for smallpox vaccine and inoculations.⁸

8 Fessenden, Marrisa "Thomas Jefferson Conducted Early Smallpox Vaccine Trials" Smithsonian Magazine online 4 February 2015, Retrieved 18 December 2019 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thomas-jefferson-conducted-early-smallpox-vaccine-trials-180954146/ Fessenden was quoting Stephen Johnson "How we get to Next"

Edward Jenner performing the first vaccination 14 May 1796

In 1806 President Jefferson wrote Dr. Jenner the following congratulatory endorsement of the new procedure.

I have received a copy of the evidence at large respecting the discovery of the vaccine inoculation which you have been pleased to send me, and for which I return you my thanks. Having been among the early converts in this part of the globe to its efficacy, I took an early part in recommending it to my countrymen. I avail myself of this occasion of rendering you a portion of the tribute of gratitude due to you from the whole human family. Medicine has never before produced any single improvement of such utility. Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood was a beautiful addition to our knowledge of the animal economy, but on a review of the practice of medicine before and since that epoch, I do not see any great amelioration which has been derived from that discovery. You have erased from the calendar of human afflictions one of its greatest. Yours is the comfortable reflection that mankind can never forget that you have lived. Future nations will know by history only that the loathsome small-pox has existed and by you has been extirpated. Accept my fervent wishes for your health and happiness and assurances of the greatest respect and consideration."
Thomas Jefferson⁹

9 Thomas Jefferson to G. C. Edward Jenner, 14 May, 1806 Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Papers Series 1 Retrieved 18 December 2019 https://www.loc.gov/resource/mtj1.036_0006_0006/

His successor President James Madison on 27 February 1813 signed the first major piece of vaccine legislation to combat smallpox entitled entitled “An Act to Encourage Vaccination”. For the War of 1812, the U.S. War Department ordered vaccination to prevent smallpox, the US Navy did the same. Dr. Judson’s vaccinations were first performed with live cowpox and later vaccinia virus. ¹⁰ On 26 May 1826, Secretary of the Navy Southard issued a special order informing all commanders of navy yards and vessels that smallpox vaccination was now essential and that any seamen of "whom there was the least doubt will be vaccinated without delay."¹¹

10 Rohit K. Singla "Missed Opportunities: The Vaccine Act of 1813" (Harvard University 1998 Third Year Paper https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10015266/rsingla.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Epidemiologic Reviews, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomburg School of Public Health, Vol 28, 2006, p.5 “Immunization to Protect the US Armed Forces: Heritage, Current Practice, and Prospect” John D. Grabenstein, Phillip R. Pittman, John T. Greenwood, and Renata J. M. Engler

11 Langley, 279

The report, method and limitations: Dr. Judson’s report to the Secretary of the Navy listed seamen vaccinated from 5 June 1823 to 5 September 1823. In total this document provides data for 161 men and boys ranging from age eight to seventy-one for naval service "of which 30 were "Black" or 18.7% of the total. How the data was actually collected is not stated. Most likely Dr. Judson or an assistant took their information prior to inoculation. In 1839 Commodore Lewis Warrington collected data on naval recruits at five naval recruiting stations over a one year period. Information from Boston Navy Yard from 1 September 1838 to 17 September 1839 is included as part of the larger report. In that report, the Boston recruiting station entered the least number of recruits with 187 men "of which 13 were enumerated as Black" for 6.95 % of the total.¹²

12 Warrington to Secretary of the Navy Isaac Chauncey 19 September 1839 NARA M125, "Captains Letters" 1 Sept 1839, letter number 58, 1-3 and see Sharp, John G. The Recruitment of African Americans in the U.S. Navy 1839 Naval History and Heritage Command

^{https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/the-recruitment-of-african-americans-in-the-us-navy-1839.html Retrieved 20 March 2020}

Data summary of small pox vaccinations from 5 June through 5 September 1823:
1. Total number of seamen vaccinated: 161
2. Youngest seaman vaccinated: 8 years. Oldest seaman vaccinated: 71 years
3. Average age of 161 seaman vaccinated: 23 years 9 mos.
4. Total number of Black seamen 18.7% : 30
5. Nationalities of the 161 seamen vaccinated: American: 111. English: 37. Scottish: 6. French: 3. Irish: 2. German: 2

Transcription: This transcription was made from digital images of letters and documents received by the Secretary of the Navy, NARA, RG 45 M148 "Officers' Letters" volume 76-77, 30, July 1823 to 21 October 1823, letter to Secretary of the Navy from Surgeon Elnathan Judson dated 13 September 1823. In transcribing I have striven to adhere as closely as possible to the original in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviation, superscripts, etc., including the retention of dashes and underlining found in the original.

John G. Sharp 18 December 2019

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Washington City 13th Sept. 1823

To the Honorable Secretary of the Navy

Sir,

I have the honor to report my arrival in this city and that in compliance with instructions from the Department, I have continued the execution of my duties during the last Quarter at Boston and on the North River.

Upward of one hundred and sixty Seamen have been vaccinated by me in those places - a Report and Description of which I respectfully submit for your inspection, with my remarks. The Small Pox at the present moment appears to be in a measure subdued in this Country, particularly in the marine service, but from the circumstances of the facility of introduction and the rapid dissemination of the disease, it is presumed that the most active exertions not only to restrain this disease but attain so desirable an object as its extermination altogether will not be relaxed.

Upon an accurate estimation of it is found that less than five thousand boys and young men, natives of this Country, are annually converted into Seamen and that of them but a small part are secured against the disease by the salutary remedy of Vaccination.

Since the decision of the President that the Naval Vaccine Institution should be permanent, I have endeavored to comply with the instructions of the Department, as regard a general dissemination of the vaccine to the medical officers of the Navy and to the Commanders of all merchant vessels belonging to the U. States; but so long as I lead a roving life, it is extremely difficult to keep on hand a sufficient quantity of the vaccine virus for more than my own use. I have however transmitted during the past quarter to the Mediterranean an ample supply for the use of that Squadron and also to the Squadron in the West Indies.

I would beg leave respectfully to suggest to the Department the propriety of my remaining more constantly at one of our large Sea Ports for the purpose of dissemination, or also of vaccinating gratuitously all such seaman as plan to apply. In our large Cities there is a constant ingress & egress of Seamen and almost the whole body of American Seamen appears once in each year.

I am confident that much more might be done to affect the object of examination in this way than in any other. More than one sixth of my time is now occupied in traveling from City to City, and in this lost to the Government, and however pleasant it might be to me to continue a course of travelling, I feel it to be my duty to state distinctly to the Department my impression.

Should this measure be adopted, a very considerable savings of expense to the Govt will be the result, and I have of doubt that in less than one year, the advantage will be manifest; and in this event I propose shortly commencing my duty in Baltimore with a view of a more general dissemination of vaccine lines thro the Union. All of which is most respectfully submitted, By your most obedient Servant.

Elnathan Judson
Surgeon U.S. Navy & vaccine agent

Quarterly Report and Description of Seamen gratuitously vaccinated by the authority of the Honorable Secretary of the Navy –
Commencing on the 5th of June and closing on the 5th of September 1823 –

No.	Names	Age	Country	Colour	Remarks
1	William Thompson	25	Engd	White	Successful -
2	John Reed	18	Amer.	Black	do
3	Thomas White	23	do	White	Unknown
4	Willm Robbins	29	England	do	Successful -
5	Peter Beale	34	do	do	Vaccinated twice & successful
6	Joseph Higgins	15	Ireland	do	Successful -
7	Ezekiel Drew	14	Amer.	do	do
8	Simon Talmadge	26	Amer	Black	Unknown
9	Sampson Dotey	38	do	do	Successful -
10	Jeremiah Hoskins	41	do	White	Unsuccessful
11	Solomon Strong	19	England	do	These eight [numbers 11-18] were all vaccinated the same day & with the same virus- The last unsuccessful, owning to the Venereal -
12	William Warren	11	do	do
13	John Cooper	24	Amer.	Black
14	John Warner	18	England	White
15	Stephen Robson	26	do	do
16	Silas Snow	15	Amer.	do
17	Daniel Miller	19	do	Black
18	David Chase	22	do	White
19	Isaac Coffin	18	England	White	Successful -
20	Stephen Swift	32	do	do	do
21	Joseph Reed	31	do	do	do
22	Lewis Stephens	17	Amer.	Black	Unknown-
23	John Churchill	15	do	White	These nine [numbers 23 -31] were vaccinated & inoculated at the same time. In every case vaccination had induce effect in the inoculation occasioned a slight local inflammation, but was entirely expressed successful.
24	John Le Baron	11	do	do
25	Thomas Leech	26	do	do
26	William Finney	37	do	do
27	Peter Harlan	15	do	do
28	Simon Dimond	19	England	Black
29	John Dike	21	Amer.	so
30	Joseph Thompson	18	England	White
31	Ezekiel Thacher	32	Amer.	do
32	James Spooner	17	do	do	Successful
33	Samuel Atwood	27	do	do	do
34	Morris Atwood	28	do	do	do
35	Isaac Morchow	16	England	do	do
36	John Sampson	10	Amwer.	Black	do
37	John Dupree	43	do	do	Unsuccessful
38	William Macumber	18	do	White	Successful
39	Samuel Naylor	22	do	do	Vaccination tested by subsequent inoculation & Vaccination [Number 39 to 43]
40	Adonijah Reed	16	do	do
41	David Raymond	18	do	do
42	Peter Slawson	14	do	Black
43	John Simmons	17	do	do
44	Charles Cotton	32	Ireland	White	Successful
45	John Gregson	17	Amer.	do	do
46	Peter Puthins	34	do	do	Unknown
47	James Puthins	11	do	do	Unknown
48	William McClune	31	Scot	White	Successful
49	Charles Brice	18	Amer.	do	do
50	Stephen Stewart	19	Scot	White	do
51	William Doane	23	England	White	Unsuccessful
52	William Davis	18	Amer.	do	Successful
53	William Hedge	16	do	do	do
54	Charles Carter	31	France	do	do
55	William Bonnean	17	do	do	Unknown
56	Isaac Robbins	31	Amer.	Black	Successful
57	William Morant	18	France	White	Unsuccessful
58	John Johnson	26	Amer.	do	Successful
59	Simon Billings	18	do	do	Unknown – They [numbers 59 to 62] sailed immediately after vaccination was performed -
60	Paul Lancaster	25	Eng.	Black
61	Benm Talonman	23	Amer.	do
62	Stephen Terry	11	do	do
63	James Ducan	36	Scot	White	Successful
64	John Bramhall	15	Amer.	do	do
65	Elijah Sprague	32	Amer	White	From No. 62 to 87 the cases were generally unsuccessful on the first operation, but all proved successful after a second careful operation – It was during the warmest part of the summer that these men were operated upon & I presume the vaccine virus is carried off by perspiration before it takes effect - Whenever I could keep my patients perfectly quiet & cool for an hour or two after vaccinating it never fails. I have frequently found also that the virus is insert until some constitutional disease is eradicated – of this part I have ample testimony
66	John Haskins	18	do	do
67	Wm Simmons	15	do	Black
68	Ezekiel Price	24	England	White
69	John Taylor	24	do	do
70	William Goodwin	10	Amer.	do
71	Peter Yates	17	do	do
72	Stephen Kidder	10	Scotland	White
73	John Thomas	8	Amer.	do
74	William Allison	23	do	do
75	John Schyler	34	do	do
76	John Muer	26	England	White
77	John Frash	22	do	do
78	William Morehead	18	do	do
79	Stephen Moreton	31	Amer.	do
80	John Winship	17	Amer.	Black
81	Charles Davis	25	do	do
82	Robert Schoefield	21	Amer.	White
83	Joseph Langley	19	do	do
84	John Davidson	34	do	do
85	Abner Langley	17	England	do
86	Wm. Mitchell	18	do	do
87	Isaac Dobbins	29	Amer.	do
88	Israel Curtis	24	Amer.	do	Successful
89	Alexander Simmons	18	do	do	do
90	Arthur McClure	47	Scot	do	Unknown
91	Lewis Thompkins	15	do	do	do
92	John Lewis	18	Eng.	do	Successful
93	Thomas Laboard	24	do	do	do
94	Isaac Brown	17	Amer.	Black	These ten [94-104] were all vaccinated on the same afternoon – They were all successful cases – They all belonged to Pachets [packet boats]& communicated the virus to more than one hundred on the North River –Besides disseminating it thro the Country
95	Paul Brown	11	do	do
96	William Brown	19	do	do
97	William Darling	28	do	White
98	John Loving	32	do	do
99	Peter Spencer	34	do	do
100	Isaac Hayward	17	do	do
101	Thomas Thompson	19	do	do
102	Wm Mckey	26	do	do
103	John Doty	24	do	Black
104	Joseph Krantz	23	Ger	White	Successful
105	Sampson	18	do	do	do
106	Gershan Borden	21	Engl	do	do
107	John Birchell	27	do	do	Unsuccessful
108	William Bunel	16	Amer.	do	Successful
109	Frank Baxter	41	do	do	do
110	David Burchmore	57	do	do	do
111	John Moriot	18	Eng.	White	Unsuccessful
112	John Putanam	15	Amer.	White	Successful
113	William Terry	17	do	do	Unknown
114	Isaac Goodrich	26	do	do	Unsuccessful
115	Stephen Willis	45	do	do	Successful
116	John Deering	33	do	Black	do
117	John Ross	31	Eng.	White	From 117 to 137 all the cases were eventually Successful – All this I had much difficulty with the greater part from the circumstances that more laboring men – not taken from duty – During this period I discovered two cases of the vacillated disease which appears to be a compound of the kinds of small pox and the same which I saw in Baltimore in 1821 – I believe it owing to bad vaccine-
118	William Braxton	18	do	do
119	Joseph Ross	24	Amer.	do
120	Daniel Hannch	26	do	do
121	Peter Starr	14	do	do
122	David Dale	71	do	do
123	John Sheppard	32	do	do
124	Thomas Merriam	16	do	do
125	William Lewiston	18	do	do
126	John Lenox	19	do	Black
127	Thomas Young	25	Eng.	White
128	Moses Campbell	28	do	do
129	Isaac Mills	33	do	do
130	Thomas Anderson	36	Amer.	do
131	William Coulter	27	do	do
132	Henry Moore	18	do	do
133	Wm Morgan	21	do	do
134	Thomas Murphy	22	do	do
135	Henry Stephens	31	do	do
136	Wilson Ward	24	Amer.	do	These were all successful cases – Experience induces the belief that vaccination may be performed with safety, at any time of the years, upon all sexes, all constitutions & all ages; and it is most satisfactorily proven that after it once effects the general stem, a person is never liable to small pox either by contagion or inoculation.. – Of those marked "Unknown" they never returned to be examined of their safety after vaccination. It is presumed most of them were successful cases. I have been rather more unsuccessful this quarter than usual, owning to the deterioration of my virus, having been obtained none direct from the Con -
137	Abner Wheeler	36	Engd	do
138	Walter Britten	37	Amer.	do
139	Judah Parker	18	Amer.	Black
140	John Miller	12	Amer.	do
141	George Brown	15	Amer.	White
142	Joseph Pellman	21	Amer.	do
143	John Alword	33	England	do
144	Jacob Davis	34	do	do
145	Joseph Mure	18	Amer.	do
146	Sampson Ward	22	Amer.	do
147	George Brown	26	Amer.	do
148	Jonah Ellam	12	Amer.	Black
149	Noah Betts	44	Amer.	do
150	James Purdy	18	Amer.	do
151	Anderson Paxton	17	Amer.	do
152	Richard Kennan	13	Amer.	do
153	Henry Fitch	19	Amer.	do
154	John Willis	24	Amer.	do
155	Charles Norton	27	Amer.	Black
156	Simon Parsons	18	do	White
157	Amana Durshan	32	Eng.	do
158	Alex Gales	64	do	do
159	William Frost	18	Amer.	do
160	Isaac Robinson	22	Amer.	do
161	Isaac Adams	23	do	do

 

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Vaccination in Department of the Navy, are part of a long tradition.
Here in July 1964 naval recruits at Great Lakes Illinois receive their
first vaccinations. Image Dept. of the Navy

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John G. "Jack" Sharp resides in Concord, California. He worked for the United States Navy for thirty years as a civilian personnel officer. Among his many assignments were positions in Berlin, Germany, where in 1989 he was in East Berlin, the day the infamous wall was opened. He later served as Human Resources Officer, South West Asia (Bahrain). He returned to the United States in 2001 and was on duty at the Naval District of Washington on 9/11. He has a lifelong interest in history and has written extensively on the Washington, Norfolk, and Pensacola Navy Yards, labor history and the history of African Americans. His previous books include African Americans in Slavery and Freedom on the Washington Navy Yard 1799 -1865, Morgan Hannah Press 2011. History of the Washington Navy Yard Civilian Workforce 1799-1962, 2004. 
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/heritage/washington-navy-yard/pdfs/WNY_History.pdf
and the first complete transcription of the Diary of Michael Shiner Relating to the History of the Washington Navy Yard 1813-1869, 2007/2015 online:
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/d/diary-of-michael-shiner.html
His most recent work includes Register of Patients at Naval Hospital Washington DC 1814 With The Names of American Wounded From The Battle of Bladensburg 2018,
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/register-patients-naval-hospital-washington-dc-1814.html
The last three works were all published by the Naval History and Heritage Command. John served on active duty in the United States Navy, including Viet Nam service. He received his BA and MA in History from San Francisco State University. He can be reached at sharpjg@yahoo.com

 

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Norfolk Navy Yard Table of Contents

Birth of the Gosport Yard & into the 19th Century

 Battle of the Hampton Roads Ironclads

The Norfolk Navy Yard into the 20th Century

Image Index