Percy Moreau Ashburn

Percy Moreau Ashburn (July 28, 1872 – August 20, 1940) was a medical officer in the United States Army. With then Lieutenant Charles Franklin Craig, Ashburn made the link that mosquitoes were involved in the transmission of Dengue fever.

Early life
Ashburn was born on July 28, 1872 to Allen W. Ashburn and Julia M. née Kennedy in Batavia, Ohio.

Ashburn graduated from Batavia High School in 1890. He then attended Jefferson Medical College.

Personal life
Ashburn married Agnes Davis on July 6, 1896. Together they had three children.

Major General Thomas Q. Ashburn was his brother. Brigadier General Julius Penn was his cousin.

Career
Ashburn was appointed a contract surgeon with the United States Army on May 30, 1898. He was promoted through grades to colonel.

In 1906 to 1907, Ashburn presided over the Army board for the study of tropical diseases in the Philippines. The board's findings were released as Experimental Investigations Regarding the Etiology of Dengue Fever, with a General Consideration of the Disease with Ashburn and Craig as the co-authors. In 1913, he was detailed to presiding over the Army board for the study of tropical diseases in the Philippines and at Ancon, Panama. Afterwards, Ashburn wrote Mosquito-borne Diseases.

He commanded the Medical Officers Training Camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana in 1917.

Ashburn served as the Commandant of the Medical Field Service School from August 1, 1920 to August 1, 1923.

Then, Ashburn served as the professor of military hygiene at the United States Military Academy from 1923 to 1927. He then served as librarian at the Army Medical Library in Washington, DC from 1927 to 1932, when he retired.

He authored the following books: The Elements of Military Hygiene (1909), History of the Medical Department of the United States Army (1929), and with his son Frank Davis Ashburn The Ranks of Death, A Medical History of the Conquest of America.

Awards and honors
Ashburn was made an officer in the Legion of Honour for his services during World War I.

Death and legacy
Ashburn died on August 20, 1940.

His papers are held by the National Library of Medicine.