USS De Soto-- Part 11: Yellow Fever Outbreak

After those repairs, the De Soto patrolled off the east coast of Florida in Mid-March 1864 and then again to Key West for coaling and repairs.  (It sure seems like this ship needed a lot of repairs.)    Then, it was back to her regular patrolling grounds southeast of Mobile Bay.

Beginning in April or May, members of the crew began coming down with yellow fever and the ship was sent north to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where it arrived 6 June 1864.  As per normal practice, the De Soto was decommissioned and the crew quarantined until the fever broke.

Once the yellow fever was gone, the ship went to Baltimore, Maryland, for the installation of new boilers.  The De Soto was there when the war ended.

--Old B-R'er