Chronic gastrointestinal symptoms of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson following Mexican-American War exposure: A medical hypothesis

Abstract

In a recent study, a large proportion of veterans seen for chronic heartburn or dyspepsia after the Persian Gulf War had evidence for Helicobacter pylori. Thomas Jackson was born and raised in an area of West Virginia that has a high prevalence of H. pylori. He suffered chronic dyspeptic symptoms following his service in the Mexican-American War. Therapies that he tried included treatment with a variant of the Sippy diet. Following a bullet wound to the left arm at the battle of Chancellorsville on Saturday, May 2, 1863, Thomas Jackson underwent amputation of the left arm below the left shoulder. He died 1 week later with a diagnosis of pleuropneumonia. The records of the postsurgical course are incomplete. The available clinical information raises the hypothesis that his chronic dyspepsia and his cause of death could have been related to chronic peptic ulcer disease due to gastric H. pylori infection. Copyright © by Association of Military Surgeons of U.S., 2007.