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*[[1873]]
*[[1874]]
The 1874 epidemic killed 354 of Pensacola's 1400 residents. In the mistaken belief that the disease was usually transmitted by day, victims were buried in the cemetery at night by the light of lanterns.<ref>[Zemenick, D.J. http://barrierislandgirl.blogspot.com/2006/10/st-michaels-cemetery-history-of.html "St. Michael's Cemetery - History of Pensacola"]</ref> (Actually, the <i>Aedes aegypti</i> mosquito that transmits yellow fever generally bites at night.<ref name="Straight">Straight, William.["Yellow Fever at Miami: The Epidemic of 1899" http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1995/95_1_02.pdf]</ref>)
Commodore Melanchton B. Woolsey, commandant of the Navy Yard, correctly believed that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, some years before this was demonstrated scientifically. "He erroneously believed, as others did also, that disease carrying mosquitoes could only fly a few feet high. So Woolsey moved into the third-story cupola. He got his meals, rum (which he claimed was a 'tonic' against the fever) and tobacco for his pipe by lowering a basket on a rope from one of the cupola's windows. One day his servant forgot the rum! Woolsey died soon thereafter."<ref>[http://benefits.military.com/misc/installations/Base_Content.jsp?id=1080 "Military.com Installation Guide"]</ref> Shortly before the epidemic began, Woolsey had received orders to transfer to a northern post, but he had chosen to remain on duty in Pensacola.<ref>[http://famousamericans.net/melanchtontaylorwoolsey/ "Virtual American Biographies"]</ref>.
