To the editor:

Elizabeth Varon’s “Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South” describes the relationship between Robert E. Lee and his most trusted general, James Longstreet. But Longstreet’s successes on the battlefield were balanced by great personal tragedy.

In six days in early 1862, three of the Longstreet’s four children died of scarlet fever: one-year-old Mary on Jan. 25, four-year-old James the next day, and 11-year-old Augustus on Feb. 2. These deaths followed the loss of two young children when Longstreet was stationed in New Mexico Territory two years earlier.

Fortunately, because of the development of vaccines, few families today have to endure the agony the Longstreet’s suffered. The experience of Louise and James Longstreet was common with families often losing half of their young children and more.

We find another example of such loss closer to home. If you take state Route 30 towards Malone from Paul Smith’s, about 6 miles north you come to a small cemetery and the monument to the McCollom family. Eliza and Amiel McCollom, born in 1816 and 1819, lived long lives, passing in 1892 and 1893. They had five children.

Daughter Eliza, born in 1852, died at seven months, but the other children survived their hazardous early years — until 1861-62. First-born son, Charles, died on Sept. 2, 1861, at age 17. His sister, Freelove, age 8, died 10 days later on Sept. 12. Amiel, carrying his father’s name, age 10, died on Oct. 1. Joseph, the last surviving child, died on Jan. 2, 1862, at the age of 14.

There is no record of what illness may have carried them off. Diphtheria? Scarlet fever like the Longstreet children? Two children have recently died in the Southwest of measles, another possibility. Though measles doesn’t kill as often as some illnesses, it often has other terrible consequences. I have a friend whose sister has a disability because her mother contracted measles when she was pregnant. Deafness is also another possible outcome of measles.

Because of the success of vaccines in preventing many childhood illnesses, some have forgotten what life was like for families in years gone by. I remember getting the first vaccine as a child and how relieved my parents were to have it. An older cousin was not as fortunate; he contracted polio before the vaccine came along. Some argue that vaccination should be a matter of personal choice, but choosing not to get vaccinated may mean exposing someone more vulnerable to a serious illness or worse.

We forget our history at our own risk.

Kirk Peterson

Lake Clear