Percy Moreau Ashburn

Percy Moreau Ashburn (July 28, 1872 – August 20, 1940) was a Colonel and medical officer in the United States Army. With then Lieutenant Charles Franklin Craig, Ashburn made the link that mosquitoes were involved in the transmission of Dengue fever.[1]

Percy Moreau Ashburn
Born(1872-07-28)July 28, 1872
DiedAugust 20, 1940(1940-08-20) (aged 68)
Service/branchUnited States Army
Years of service1898–1932
Commands heldMedical Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana
Medical Field Service School
Spouse(s)Agnes Davis

Early life

Ashburn was born on July 28, 1872 to Allen W. Ashburn and Julia M. née Kennedy in Batavia, Ohio.[2]

Ashburn graduated from Batavia High School in 1890. He then attended Jefferson Medical College.[2]

Personal life

Ashburn married Agnes Davis on July 6, 1896.[2] Together they had three children.[2]

Major General Thomas Q. Ashburn was his brother.[3] Brigadier General Julius Penn was his cousin.[4]

Career

Ashburn was appointed a contract surgeon with the United States Army on May 30, 1898.[2] He was promoted through grades to colonel.[2]

In 1906 to 1907, Ashburn presided over the Army board for the study of tropical diseases in the Philippines.[2] The board's findings were released as Experimental Investigations Regarding the Etiology of Dengue Fever, with a General Consideration of the Disease with Ashburn and Craig as the co-authors.[5] In 1913, he was detailed to presiding over the Army board for the study of tropical diseases in the Philippines and at Ancon, Panama.[2] Afterwards, Ashburn wrote Mosquito-borne Diseases.[6]

He commanded the Medical Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana in 1917.[2]

Ashburn served as the Commandant of the Medical Field Service School from August 1, 1920 to August 1, 1923.[2]

Then, Ashburn served as the professor of military hygiene at the United States Military Academy from 1923 to 1927. He then served as librarian at the Army Medical Library in Washington, DC from 1927 to 1932, when he retired.[2]

He authored the following books: The Elements of Military Hygiene (1909),[7] History of the Medical Department of the United States Army (1929),[8] and with his son Frank Davis Ashburn The Ranks of Death, A Medical History of the Conquest of America.[9]

Awards and honors

Ashburn was made an officer in the Legion of Honour for his services during World War I.[10]

Death and legacy

Ashburn died on August 20, 1940.[2]

His papers are held by the National Library of Medicine.[11]

References
  1. Grove, David (2014). Tapeworms, Lice, and Prions: A compendium of unpleasant infections. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 672–673. ISBN 9780199641024. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. Who Was Who in American History – the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1975. p. 17. ISBN 0837932017.
  3. Coyle, William (1962). Ohio Authors and Their Books: Biographical Data and Selective Bibliographies for Ohio Authors, Native and Resident, 1796-1950. Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company. p. 18.
  4. Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy (1935). Sixty-Sixth Annual Report. Newburgh, NY: Moore Printing Company. p. 137.
  5. Ashburn, P. M., and Charles Franklin Craig. Experimental Investigations Regarding the Etiology of Dengue Fever, with a General Consideration of the Disease. Bureau of Printing, 1907. [It also appeared in Philippine Journal of Science. – Vol. 2, no. 2 (1907)]
  6. Canal Zone, and P. M. Ashburn. Mosquito-Borne Diseases. Washington: Govt. Print. Off, 1914.
  7. Ashburn, P. M. The Elements of Military Hygiene; Especially Arranged for Officers and Men of the Line. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1909. OCLC 5233667
  8. Ashburn, P. M. A History of the Medical Department of the United States Army. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1929. OCLC 1246362
  9. Ashburn, P. M., and Frank Davis Ashburn. The Ranks of Death, A Medical History of the Conquest of America (1947). New York: Coward-McCann, 1947. OCLC 844128
  10. "Percy Moreau Ashburn, Colonel, U.S. Army Retired :: Army Medical Bulletin, 1922–1949".
  11. "ArchiveGrid : Percy Moreau Ashburn papers, 1932–1947".
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