ABSTRACT

The war with Spain signaled the United States’ arrival on the imperial stage. Army medical officers were soon engaged as the primary agents of American imperial administration. As others struggled with the subtle nuances of the imperialist game, the Medical Department took on the immediate task of reconciling an alien indigenous people with their new overseers. Thanks to their rising status as experts in identifying the disparate causes of disease, the Army’s medical personnel were America’s primary contact with its new imperial subjects. Were Americans to reside in a potentially hostile environment, interacting with a distinctly different people who might carry dangerous diseases, then it was the Army Medical Department’s job to clear the way.