1829 — Yellow Fever, esp. FL, Mobile AL/130; Natchez MS/90; New Orleans LA/900 –1,146

–1,146  Total                                      Blanchard tally based upon numbers below.

 

Alabama         (  130)

–130  Mobile[1]  1st case Aug 14     Augustin 1909, 443; Keating 1879, 85; Sternberg 1908, 719;

–130       “                                           Toner 1873, p. 16;[2] US MHS 1896, p. 435.

 

Florida            (    26)

—  26  Jacksonville                              Augustin. History of Yellow Fever, 1909, p. 455.

 

Louisiana       (~900)

–~900  Statewide.                              Blanchard estimate.[3]

—      7  Baton Rouge                          Augustin. History of Yellow Fever, 1909, p. 475.

—  900  New Orleans[4]                         Barton. The Cause and Prevention of Yellow Fever, 1857.[5]

>900  New Orleans  “at least 900”  Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge, 1961, p. 66.[6]

–<900  New Orleans                          Clapp 1857, p. 115.

—  215             “          May 23 start   Augustin 1909, 487; Keating 1879, 85; Sternberg 1908, 719

—  215                                                 U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, 435.

 

Mississippi      (    90)

—  90  Natchez                                    Keating 1879, 85; Sternberg 1908, 719.

 

Narrative Information

 

Carrigan: “In 1829 the pestilence [yellow fever] again went on the rampage. The Louisiana Courier incurred the wrath of other New Orleans newspapers by printing as early as July 10 a letter to the editor announcing the appearance of yellow fever in the city and advising strangers to evacuate. A journalistic battle developed as the Price-Current and the Mercantile Advertiser insisted the city was unusually healthy in spite of attempts to discredit its salubrity. Undaunted, the Courier editor continued his frank reporting and on August 12 commented at length on the pestilence which ‘threatens entire desolation to our city.’ Again he warned the unacclimated to disperse. The fever continued its ravages throughout August and September, but by October 12, according to the Courier, the early arrival of cool weather had terminated the epidemic. Absent citizens were assured that they might return home in perfect safety.[7] The epidemic of 1829 resulted in at least 900 fatalities and probably more.

 

Sources

 

Augustin, George.  History of Yellow Fever.  New Orleans:  1909; General Books reprint, Memphis, TN, 2010.

 

Barton, Edward H., MD. The Cause and Prevention of Yellow Fever at New Orleans and other Cities in America (Third Edition, with a Supplement). New York: H. Bailliere; London and Paris, 1857. Google preview accessed 3-14-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=yEJZDrCO-ZkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

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

 

Clapp, Theodore.  Autobiographical Sketches and Recollections, During A Thirty-Five Years’ Residence In New Orleans.  Boston:  Phillips, Sampson & Company, 1857.  Google digitized at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=IWhXvsO4YYcC&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

 

Sternberg, George M. (US Public Health Service, US Marine Hospital Service).  “Yellow Fever:  History and Geographic Distribution.”  Pages 715-722 in Stedman, Thomas L., M.D. (Ed.) Appendix to the Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences.  NY: William Wood & Co., 1908.  Google digitized:  http://books.google.com/books?id=3ezqX415M5wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Toner, Joseph M. (M.D., President, American Medical Association). “The Distribution and Natural History of Yellow Fever as it has Occurred at Different Times in the United States” (Paper read before the American Public Health Association, November 12, 1873). Washington, DC: 1873, 33 pages. Accessed 8-23-2013 at: http://cdm16313.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/LSUBK01/id/10240/rec/19

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

[1] Population 4,000.  (Augustin 1909, p. 443.)

[2] Toner has date of commencement, Sept. 14. Cites: Drake. Iis. Int. Valley of N.A., p. 220.

[3] I do not know why three sources note 900 fatalities for New Orleans and four note 215. All three of the sources which note 900 fatalities are at the time, or cite sources close to the time of the epidemic. We use the figure of approximately 900 in order to take account of Baton Rouge, and in that Carrigan notes that “In the decade of the 1820’s yellow fever traveled in Louisiana beyond New Orleans practically every year, varying its itinerary from season to season, sometimes appearing in Opelousas, Donaldsonville, Natchitoches, and Thibodaux, as well as its most frequently visited points — Alexandria, Baton Rouge, and St. Francisville.” I suspect there were indeed yellow fever fatalities elsewhere in the region than New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

[4] Population 47,501.  (Augustin 1909, p. 487.)

[5] “Comparative Table. Estimate of the Salubrity of New Orleans, as affected by her Epidemics. 1st — of Yellow Fever.” (p. xlix)

[6] Cites: New Orleans Medical & Surgical Journal, New Series, VI, March 1879, p. 699.

[7] Cites: Louisiana Courier, July 10, 11, 13, August 12, September 7, 23, October 5, 12, 1829.