1799 — Yellow Fever, esp. Charleston, SC, NYC, Philly, Delaware & Greene –1,356
— 1,356 Blanchard compilation from city totals below.
Maritime ( >40) (June-July)
— 20 USS Delaware[1] (40 cases). Keating 1879, 80.
— 20 USS General Greene[2] Trask 2005, 4.
— >20 U.S. Dept. of Navy. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “General Greene.”
Maryland ( ?)
— ? Baltimore. U.S. Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Report FY 1895. 1896, p. 432.[3]
— ? Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, Charles, Dorchester and other Counties. Cordell 1903, p. 671.[4]
— ? Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, Charles and Dorchester counties. Quinan 1884, p. 21.
New York ( 76) (July-Nov)
— 76 New York City Keating 1879, 80;[5] Sternberg 1894, 42; US MHS, 1896, 432.[6]
NYC & Philly (1,076) Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 17 [7]: New York Times, 10-7-1888.[8]
North Carolina ( 1)
–? New Berne. Keating 1879, 80; Sternberg 1894, 43.
–1 Washington, Oct 11. Swain, Gail. “Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery, Craven County, NC.”
–? Wilmington Newport Mercury, RI. 11-26-1799, p. 3.
Pennsylvania (1,000) (July-Nov)
— ? Bald Eagle Valley, central PA. Keating 1879, 80.
— ? Centre County Keating 1879, 80.
–1,000 Philadelphia, July-Nov. Keating 1879, 80;[9] US MHS, 1896, 432.[10]
— ? Mifflin County. Quinan, J.R. Medical Annals of Baltimore from 1608-1880. 1884, p. 21.
Charleston, SC ( 239)
— 239 Keating 1879, p. 80.
— 239 Kohn. Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence… 2001, p. 62.
— 239 NYT. “Yellow Fever. Epidemics in Charleston, S.C. –Statistics from 1700.” 9-18-1871.
— 239 Ramsay. “Medical History From 1670-1808,” Ramsay’s History of SC, 1858, p. 47.
— 239 Sternberg 1908, p. 719.
— 239 US Marine-Hospital Service, 1896, p. 431.[11]
Virginia ( ?)
— ? Norfolk. Keating 1879, 80; U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Rpt. FY 1895. 1896, p. 432.[12]
Narrative Information
Cuba
“Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Havannah, to his Friend in Baltimore, received by the Ship Abigail, dated Havannah, April 3.
“The Havannah is at present very sickly. Sixteen Americans died of the yellow fever on the 28th ult. One of our passengers was taken sick on the 2d day after our arrival. We can, from the mast head of vessels in this port, see Americans taken by the English and French daily, within gun shot of the Moro castle.” (Philadelphia Magazine and Review. “Domestic Intelligence.” 4-1-1799, p. 245.)
New York
“March 19….A letter from the Havana, dated the 6th ult. [Feb], confirms the accounts we have already received of the yellow fever raging at that place. Among a number of other American vessels, there was one from New-York, with about 70 men, almost the whole of whom were taken down.” (Newport Mercury, RI. 5-14-1799, p. 2.)
“It appears by a Report of the Health Committee of New-York of the 19th Instant [July?], that no new Case of Yellow Fever has occurred in the last 48 Hours, and that there were, at that Time, but no suspicious Cases in the Whole.” (Newport Mercury, RI. 8-6-1799, p. 3.)
North Carolina
Nov 26 report: “North-Carolina has been amongst the severest Sufferers by the Yellow Fever. Wilmington, in that State, has lost nearly one Sixth of its Inhabitants. – Washington has been nearly evacuated by its Inhabitants. – At the last dates the Fever had abated.” (Newport Mercury, RI. 11-26-1799, p. 3.)
Philadelphia
Aug 23: Secretary of War James McHenry writes William Simmons, War Department Accountant, noting that War Department offices in Philadelphia are being relocated to Trenton, NJ, due to yellow fever then prevailing in Philadelphia, and that the Quartermaster General has instructions for providing transportation. (Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 (A project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and George Mason University.) “Escaping the Fever in Philadelphia.” 2012. Accessed 10-8-2013 at:
http://wardepartmentpapers.org/document.php?id=34607
South Carolina
Ramsay: “For forty-four years after 1748, there was no epidemic attack of this disease [yellow fever], though there were occasionally in different summers a few sporadic cases of it. In the year 1792 a new era of the yellow fever commenced. It raged in Charlestown in that year, and in 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1804, and 1807. The number of deaths from it in these, its worst years, were…In 1799, 239; in 1800, 184; in 1802, 96; in 1804, 148; in 1807, 162.”
USS General Greene
La Roche on “…the origin of the disease [yellow fever] on board the U.S. frigate General Greene in 1799… The ship left Newport (R.I.) on the 3d of June, and reached the Havana on the 4h of July. The disease commenced during the passage, and extended rapidly. The crew thus affected had had, to use the language of Dr. Kollock, to whom we are indebted for an account of the occurrence,[13] no communication with any vessel at sea, nor had they touched at any place in their passage, or even had intercourse with the town, or vessels in the harbour, till after the breaking out of the disease. Other vessels in port were no more than usually sickly, and the inhabitants of the island were remarkably healthy. ‘The principle of disease,’ continues that writer, ‘seemed to have been generated on board, and to have gradually acquired virulence and activity as they approached the place of their destination.’ ‘Those who frequented the hold, and were stationed in the neighbourhood of the pumps, suffered more especially during the continuance of the disease, as they had been the first attacked by it.’….The disease was identified as yellow fever by Dr. Halliday, an experienced practitioner of the Havana, and author of a clever essay on the disease as it appeared there in 1794.” (La Roche, Rene, M.D. Yellow Fever, Considered in its Historical, Pathological, Etiological, and Therapeutical Relations, Including A Sketch of the Disease as it has Occurred in Philadelphia from 1699-1854… (Vol. 2 of 2). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1855, p. 425. Google digitized at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=YTrUAOOJXCAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false )
U.S. Dept. of the Navy: The General Greene was named after Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. “The second General Greene was built under government contract… [at] Warren, R. I.; launched 21 January 1799; and placed under command of Captain Christopher R. Perry, The frigate sailed 2 June 1799, joining Governor Jay in convoying five merchantmen bound to Havana. Damage suffered in a heavy gale caused her to put in at Havana for repairs. Her crew was struck down with yellow fever. More than 20 perished and she returned to Newport on 27 July with 37 men in various stages of recovery. After a thorough cleaning, fumigation, and change of ballast, she departed Newport 23 September 1799 to take station at Cap Francois, San Domingo.” (United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “General Greene.” 6-17-2013 modification. Accessed 10-8-2013 at:
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g3/general_greene-ii_.htm )
Sources
Arnebeck, Bob. Destroying Angel: Benjamin Rush, Yellow Fever and the Birth of Modern Medicine. Web-published, 1999. At: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/table.html
Cordell, Eugene Fauntleroy, M.D. The Medical Annals of Maryland 1799-1899 (Prepared for the Centennial of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty, Maryland Hospital). Baltimore: 1903. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=Wx8SAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Keating, J. M. A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN: Howard Association, 1879. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Kohn, George Childs (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence From Ancient Times to the Present (3rd Ed.) NY: Facts On File, Inc., an imprint of Infobase Publishing, 1995, 2001, 2008. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=tzRwRmb09rgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
La Roche, Rene, M.D. Yellow Fever, Considered in its Historical, Pathological, Etiological, and Therapeutical Relations, Including A Sketch of the Disease as it has Occurred in Philadelphia from 1699-1854… (Vol. 2 of 2). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1855, p. 425. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=YTrUAOOJXCAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
New York Times. “Yellow Fever. Epidemics in Charleston, S.C. – Statistics from 1700.” 9-18-1871. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0C13F938541A7493CAA81782D85F458784F9
New York Times. “Yellow Fever Retrospect.” October 7, 1888. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D03EFD81F38E033A25754C0A9669D94699FD7CF&oref=slogin
Newport Mercury, RI. 5-14-1799, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=199387012&sterm=yellow+fever
Newport Mercury, RI. 8-6-1799, p. 3
Newport Mercury, RI. 11-26-1799, p. 3. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=200287933&sterm=yellow+fever
Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 (A project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and George Mason University.) “Escaping the Fever in Philadelphia.” 2012. Accessed 10-8-2013 at: http://wardepartmentpapers.org/document.php?id=34607
Philadelphia Magazine and Review. “Domestic Intelligence.” 4-1-1799, p. 245. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=191816492&sterm=yellow+fever
Quinan, John R., M.D. Medical Annals of Baltimore From 1608-1880, Including Events, Men and Literature. Baltimore: Press of Isaac Friedenwald, 1884. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=xNcRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Ramsay, David (M.D.). Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, From its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808. Published by W. J. Duffie, Newberry, SC, printed in Charleston by Walker, Evans & Co., 1858. Digitized by archive.org and accessed 9-11-2016 at: https://archive.org/stream/ramsayshistorys00ramsgoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Sternberg, George M. (US Public Health Service, US Marine Hospital Service). “Yellow Fever,” pp. 39-72 in A Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences (Vol. 8), Albert Henry Buck, (Ed.). NY: William Wood & Co., 1894. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=Jr00AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Swain, Gail. “Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery, Craven County, NC.” Dec 2008. Accessed 10-9-2013 at: http://craven.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/cems/christepiscopalchurchcem.htm
Trask, Benjamin H. “The World of ‘Septic Vapours:’ Yellow Fever and United States Shipping, 1798-1905.” The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du nord, Vol. XV, No. 2, April 2005, pp. 1-18. Accessed at: http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol15/tnm_15_2_1-18.pdf
United States Marine Hospital Service, Treasury Department. Annual Report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1895 (Document No. 1811). Washington: GPO, 1896. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “General Greene.” 6-17-2013 modification. Accessed 10-8-2013 at: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g3/general_greene-ii_.htm
United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “History of USS Delaware.” 8-9-2001. Accessed 10-8-2013 at: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d/delaware.htm
[1] For background on the USS Delaware, see: U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. “History of USS Delaware.” 8-9-2001.
[2] In June 1799, the USS General Greene sailed from Havana. In port, fever had consumed an unfortunate few. The frigate left Cuba, escorting a merchant fleet. Once underway, yellow jack continued its rampage; among the twenty deaths of the forty cases were the frigate’s surgeon and purser. The fever was so consuming that the survivors did not keep proper mortality records. When the General Greene returned to Newport, Rhode Island, the fever spread to some of the inhabitants, alarming the populace.”
[3] From “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Cites W. Hume, Charleston Medical Journal and Review, 1860, p. 24, and Toner.
[4] Cordell, Eugene Fauntleroy, M.D. The Medical Annals of Maryland 1799-1899 (Prepared for the Centennial of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty, Maryland Hospital). Baltimore: 1903.
[5] “…commencing in July and ending in November, mortality 76.”
[6] “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Cites Editor, New York Journal of Medicine, 1856, p. 278 and Toner.
[7] Arnebeck writes: “The official death toll in Philadelphia was 720, less than the 1797 epidemic. In New York the board of health counted 356 deaths.”
[8] NYT: “In 1799 the death list in Philadelphia from yellow fever reached 1,000, and in New York 76.”
[9] “…Philadelphia, commencing in July and ending in November, with a mortality of 1,000.”
[10] “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Notes: “The disease is said to have been brought here this year by the sloop La Marie taken by the LeGange.” Cites: Bérenger-Féraud, p. 67; La Roche; Charleston Medical Journal and Review, 1852, p. 458; and Toner.
[11] “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Notes: “Contaminated by a Spanish vessel and cites: “Bérenger-Féraud, loc. Cit., p. 67; W. Hume, Ch. M. J. and Rev., 1854, p. 145; and Toner.” Hume reference is probably to William Hume, “The Yellow Fever of Charleston, Considered in its Relations to the West India Commerce,” Charleston Medical Journal and Review. Toner reference is probably to Joseph M. Toner and John M. Woodworth. Contributions to the Study of Yellow Fever. 1874.
[12] From “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Cites Virginia Medical Journal, 1857, p. 95 and Toner.
[13] La Roche footnote: An Account of the Malignant Disease which appeared in the U.S. frigate General Greene, Med. Repos., iv, 2, 3.”