This Soldier Died of Yellow Fever During a Hurricane 153 Years Ago. Archaeologists Just Found His Grave

George Tupper, a 22-year-old from Massachusetts, was nearly a year into his military service when a yellow fever outbreak struck Fort Jefferson

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

April 6, 2026

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Archaeologists in Florida have discovered the original burial site of a U.S. Army soldier who died of yellow fever 153 years ago.

In October 1872, a young bookbinder named George Tupper enlisted in the Army. He left his home in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and moved to Fort Jefferson, a remote fort on a small island roughly 70 miles west of Key West. Today, the fort is part of Dry Tortugas National Park.

Tupper was nearly a year into his service when a yellow fever outbreak struck the base. Transmitted by mosquitoes, the viral disease causes nausea, jaundice, bleeding, vomiting, body aches, fatigue, headache, fever and, in some cases, death.

No natural drinking water was available at the fort, so steam condensers were installed to desalinate seawater. The fresh water was stored in open barrels at the parade grounds, creating a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes. At the time, however, no one knew how yellow fever spread.

“Those steam condensers are one of the main reasons yellow fever came about at the fort,” Jeff Jannausch, lead interpreter for the Yankee Freedom III ferry that brings visitors to Dry Tortugas, told Smithsonian magazine’s Kat Long in 2015.

Tupper succumbed to the illness on October 6, 1873, at the age of 22. He was the final person to die during that outbreak, which killed 14 people between August and October.

Typically, bodies of soldiers were buried in a post cemetery on a nearby island, but an impending hurricane made the journey too risky. Instead, Tupper’s comrades buried him in a lime pit near the fort’s parade ground.

Though civilians were interred on site, Tupper was the only documented service member to be buried inside the fort’s walls. His body was later exhumed and reburied elsewhere, most likely at Fort Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida.

Researchers discovered Tupper’s initial resting place in June 2024 while surveying the parade ground in preparation for the installation of a new radio tower. Ground-penetrating radar revealed an empty grave that likely belonged to Tupper.

Locating Tupper’s original grave “allows us to honor him and the service members who lived and served at Dry Tortugas,” says Josh Marano, an archaeologist for the National Park Service who served as field director for the project, in a statement. “It is also a great reminder of why careful survey work before projects is essential.”

The survey also revealed other archaeological discoveries at the fort, including a variety of personal artifacts. Researchers found several shell and porcelain buttons, a limestone marble, a brass fastener, an iron ring buckle and a brass Union General service button featuring an eagle and a shield.

Archaeologists also discovered a variety of glass fragments, including flat window glass and thicker vessel glass. One highlight was a pale blue-green fragment with beveled edges and the characters “ER’S.” Researchers think it came from a bottle of Ayer’s sarsaparilla, a medicinal drink made between 1852 and 1870.

The discovery of Tupper’s original grave builds on recent research at the national park. In 2022, researchers discovered the remains of the fort’s post cemetery on a neighboring island that’s now submerged. Nearby, they also found the remains of a 19th-century quarantine hospital that was used to treat individuals with yellow fever between 1890 and 1900.

Work on Fort Jefferson started in 1846, though construction was never fully finished before the fort was abandoned in 1874. Crafted from 16 million bricks, it was part of a chain of coastal forts stretching from Maine to California. According to the National Park Service, Fort Jefferson was “a brilliant and undeniable symbol that the United States wanted to be left alone.”

During the Civil War, the base was used as part of the Anaconda Plan to cut off shipping to and from the Confederacy. It was also used as a prison, holding high-profile criminals like Samuel Mudd, the physician who treated John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. In 1867, after yellow fever killed Fort Jefferson’s post physician, Mudd took over the main hospital and began treating patients. Because of his life-saving efforts, he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in February 1869.

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.