Dr. Walter Reed (1851-1902)- Conqueror of the Yellow Fever
Walter Reed was born on September 13, 1851, in a small country home at Belroi, Gloucester County, Virginia. He was the last of five children of the Reverend Lemuel Sutton Reed and his wife Pharaba White. His father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who moved every two years to a different circuit of the church.
It was during a two-year service (1851-1852) that Walter was born. He studied medicine at the University of Virginia.
On July 1, 1869, Walter and nine other students received their M.D. degrees. He stood third in his class and was the youngest graduate of the Medical Department. Two years after receiving his diploma from Bellevue Hospital Medical College (New York University Medical Center), Reed sought an appointment in the Medical Corps of the United States Army and in 1875 he was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon, with the rank of first lieutenant.
In this same year he married Miss Emilie Lawrence, of Murfreesboro, North Carolina. He had two children Walter Lawrence Reed born at Fort Apache (1877) and Emilie Lawrence Reed born at Fort Omaha
(1883). Stricken with appendicitis, he died of acute peritonitis on November 23, 1902. On the granite shaft over his grave is a bronze tablet with the legend: "He gave to man control over that dreadful scourge, yellow fever." Even more suitable than bronze as a memorial is the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., established by the United States Army in 1906.
Walter Reed’s Birthplace
Located at the intersection of routes 616 and 614 is a small mid-19th century building authentically furnished. It is significant because it represents the early small rural dwellings once so common to Tidewater Virginia. One-story, three-bay, frame gable-roofed dwelling covered with white weather boarding and set on short brick piers.
Reverend Lemuel Reed lived here with his family for a short time during his service as minister of the Methodist Church circuit in Gloucester. His fifth child, Walter Reed (1851-1902), born here, later became a doctor and while a member of the Army Medical Corp conquered yellow fever.
The Fairfield Foundation manages preservation activities and educational programming at the Walter Reed Birthplace. Download the brochure to learn more, and check out our calendar for opening times.