the date of their discharge or death. Mortality at Pensacola would remain high due to the prevalence of Yellow Fever and Malaria. Many naval officers and men considered the Navy Yard an unhealthy and potentially lethal assignment. For example, Naval Constructor Samuel Keep writing to his brother in July 1826 stated emphatically, "I shall not remain here unless I am obliged to do so." Despite heroic efforts by the medical community yellow fever would revisit the navy yard intermittently e.g. 1835, 1874, 1882, etc., the disease only coming under control with the work of Major Walter Reed in 1901. From its foundation until the Civil War enslaved labor was extensively utilized at Pensacola Navy Yard. In May 1829 the monthly Pensacola Navy Yard list of mechanics and labors enumerates a total of 87 employees, of which 37 were enslaved laborers. Pensacola Navy Yard was built with enslaved labor. Captain Lewis Warrington the first commandant of the Pensacola Navy Yard complained to the Board of Navy Commissioners "neither laborers nor mechanics are to be obtained here." As early as April 1826 Warrington had requested and received permission to hire enslaved labor, " for I would recommend the employment of black laborers in preference to white, as they suit this climate better, are less liable to change, more easily controlled, more temperate, and more will actually do more work." Even after Warrington was finally able to get skilled white journeymen mechanics from Norfolk, he asked for and received permission to continue utilizing enslaved labor since due to the unhealthy conditions and poor pay white laborers simply would not remain at the new naval station. As a consequence Pensacola Navy agent Samuel R. Overton advertised for 38 enslaved workers promising local slaveholders "17 dollars per month with common Navy Rations." The bondsman's names are found on the May 1829 list of navy yard employees. To allay slaveholder concerns, Commandant William Compton Bolton advertised that enslaved workers would have the benefit of medical attention at no charge at the shipyard hospital. Pensacola was not the first to use enslaved labor, Washington Navy Yard established 1799 and soon after at Gosport Navy Yard in Virginia both employed enslaved labor. The enslaved quickly "constituted a majority of the employees at the shipyard. They performed nearly every task required including ship construction and repair, carpentry, blacksmithing, bricklaying and general labor." While not explicitly stated in Pensacola Navy