military; ~800), LA-850

lornajarrettblanchard January 1, 1809

–850 Blanchard tally from State and locality breakouts below.

Brooklyn, NY ( 42)

–42 Brooklyn & NYC Keating 1879, p. 83.[1]

–40 Brooklyn US Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, p. 433.[2]

Charleston, SC ( 8)

–8 Charleston Porter. 1855, p. 97, citing Dr. Samuel Wilson letter of 8-31-1809.[3]

–? Sporadic cases. Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853. 1854, p. 14.

New Orleans, LA (~800)

–~800 All military deaths. Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 50.[4]

Philadelphia, PA ( ?)

–? US Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, p. 433.[5]

Narrative Information

Carrigan: “Although the records of yellow fever’s visits in the early 1800’s are rather sketchy and sometimes contradictory, during the first two decades of the century New Orleans experienced at least five major outbreaks of the disease: 1804, 1809, 1811, 1817, and 1819.” [p.40]

“In early December of 1809 a New Orleans resident wrote that ‘people die here this year without almost any warning,’ and he mentioned several persons who had fallen prey to yellow fever.[6] Of some 2,000 United States troops concentrated in New Orleans in 1809, nearly 800 died, probably a large proportion from the yellow pestilence. Possibly the disease was introduced that year by French refugees from Cuba, Jamaica, and other West Indian islands whence they poured into New Orleans by the hundreds in June and July.[7] [pp. 49-50] ….

“Indicating further the extent of the disease in 1808, another New Orleanian wrote in mid-November: ‘I wish I was out of town–for its very sickly–people are running into the Country very fast.’ As late as November 20 he remarked again that ‘the Yellow fever is raging much in town.’[8]” [p.51] (Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge, 1961, p. 40, 49-51.)

Sources

Carrigan, Jo Ann. The Saffron Scourge: A History of Yellow Fever in Louisiana, 1796-1905 (Doctoral Dissertation). Louisiana State University, LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses, 1961. Accessed 3-11-2018 at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1665&context=gradschool_disstheses

Dowler, Bennet, MD. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853, with Topographical, Chronological, and Historical Sketches of The Epidemics of New Orleans Since Their Origin in 1796, Illustrative of the Quarantine Question. New Orleans: The Office of the Picayune, 1854, 76 pages. Accessed 3-16-2018 at: https://ia600300.us.archive.org/18/items/65020990R.nlm.nih.gov/65020990R.pdf

Keating, J. M. A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN: Howard Association, 1879. Google preview accessed 3-16-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Porter, John B, MD (Surgeon, USA). “On the Climate and Salubrity of Fort Moultrie and Sullivan’s Island, Charleston Harbour, S.C., with Incidental Remarks on the Yellow Fever of the City of Charleston.” Art. V., pp. 86-101 in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (Isaac Hays, Editor), New Series, Vol. 29. Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea, Jan 1855. Accessed 3-18-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=wfRGAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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, DC: GPO, 1896. Google preview accessed 3-16-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] The US Marine Hospital Service Annual Report states that the NYC cases were introduced by the ship Concord from Havana. Cites: “Ed. N.Y.J.M., 1856, p. 284. (Toner.)”

[2] Cites: Ed. N.Y.J.M., 1856, p. 278. (Toner.)

[3] “….we…were flattering ourselves with the hopes of an exemption from the yellow fever, but this has unfortunately not been the case, for about eight cases have occurred among strangers, and, as is usually the case, the whole have terminated fatally…”

[4] We use this number in that it is the only number we have seen that indicates a level of mortality. (1) The number for 800 U.S. Military fatalities undoubtedly includes military deaths from other causes. (2) We have no estimate of the deaths from yellow fever which was “raging” as an epidemic in New Orleans. (3) We, thus, conclude, for purposes of recognition that there was an epidemic and to contribute to a tally, that it is not inappropriate to use the number 800 as the death toll, until more information is acquired.

[5] Does not provide fatality information. Cites: B. Dowler, Tableau of Yellow Fever, 1853, p. 14. (Toner).

[6] Carrigan, in footnote 39, cites: Sterrett to Nathaniel Evans, December 2, 1809, Nathaniel Evans Family Papers.

[7] Carrigan, in footnote 40, cites: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, IV, 214-20, 222.

[8] Carrigan, in footnote 42, cites: Samuel Philips to John M. Pintard, November 13, 20, 1808, John M. Pintard Papers (Louisiana State University Archives, Baton Rouge).