Changes

== Conditions In and Around the Alamo ==

Doctor Amos Pollard, who was present at the hospital in Bejar, wrote to Governor Smith that he was “nearly destitute of medicine” and continued to say he could be “of very little use to the sick” were an attack to occur.<ref>Amos Pollard to Henry Smith, Bejar, February 13, 1836, in ''Official Correspondence of the Texan Revolution, 1835-1836,'' ed. William C. Binkley (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), 1:423.</ref> Lack of medicine combined with the lack of nutritious food and [[How did Public Sanitation Develop?|poor sanitary conditions]] created an ideal environment for disease to thrive. A water-well in the center of the Alamo courtyard did provide fresh water, but was also a breeding ground for mosquitoes. It is possible that Bowie contracted yellow fever for a second time if he did not fully recovered from his first bout with the disease.

Upon contracting yellow fever in 1833, Bowie had access to medicinal plants and herbs which may have aided in his recuperation and provided a false sense of recovery. While confined at the Alamo compound, he and his peers had access to only sparse amounts of food and what was available held little nutritional value or healing qualities. The combination of his noted binge drinking, the breeding well for mosquitoes and the sources from which they derived the disease ——— slaves ——— the setting was ideal for Bowie to contract yellow fever a second time.<ref>CDC, ''Yellow Fever Transmission.'' Africans had acquired immunity to yellow fever, thus making them carriers of the disease. Travis’ slave, “Joe” was present inside the Alamo and was likely a carrier. The process of transmission is as follows; a mosquito bites a carrier and contracts the virus then transmits the disease to someone without immunity through biting.</ref> The reports are conflicting as to the events surrounding Bowie’s death, but all concur with regards to the symptoms he was presenting.