1855 — June-Nov, Yellow Fever, esp. New Orleans/2,670; Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA/3K–6,059
–6,059 Blanchard compilation based upon sources below.
—5,783 Keating 1879, p. 90.
Summary of Yellow Fever Deaths by State
Alabama ( 33) Sep-Oct Principally Montgomery
Arkansas ( >5) Sep-Oct Principally Helena
Louisiana (2,688) June-Oct Principally New Orleans
Mississippi ( >102) Aug-Nov Principally Natchez & vicinity
NY Marine Hospital ( 5)
Tennessee ( 220) Oct Memphis
Texas ( 6) Aug-Oct Houston
Virginia (3,000) June-Oct Norfolk and Portsmouth
Breakout of Yellow Fever Deaths by State and Locality for 1855
Alabama ( 33) Sep-Oct[1]
— 3 Mobile (Hillary Foster, his son and niece). Adams Sentinel, PA. 10-22-1855, p. 2, co. 4.
–30 Montgomery AL Keating 1879, 90.
Arkansas ( >5) Sep-Oct
—>5 Helena (devastating epidemic) Korn. Tennessee Thunder: A Tale of Two Armies.[2]
— ? “ (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
—>5 “ epidemic. Sesser. “Disease during…Civil War.” Encyclopedia of AR. 4-5-2016.[3]
“ Sep 10, Augusta Young Branch. Find A Grave. “Rev. Absolom Harper Kenneday.”
“ Oct 4, James M. Cleveland. Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. 10-24-1855, p. 6, col. 7.
— ? Napoleon (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
Louisiana (2,688) June-Oct
— 15 Alexandria. (Sep)[4] Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana. 541
— ? Ascension Parish. (Oct) LA State Med. Soc. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Ashwood (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Avoyelles Parish (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Baton Rouge (Aug) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Bayou Sale (Aug) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Carroll (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Catahoula Parish (Aug). LA State Med. Soc. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Centreville (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— 1 Clinton (Sheriff A. J. Law, Aug 21). Feliciana Democrat. “Health of Clinton.” 8-25-1855.[5]
— ? Concordia (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Convent of the Sacred Heart, St. James Parish. Oct.[6]
— ? Donaldsonville. (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Grosse Tête Bayou (Sep) LA State Med. Soc.. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Harrisonburg (Aug) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Jackson (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Lake Providence (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Lobdell’s Store (Aug). LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— 1 Marksville[7] (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Monroe (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Morganza (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? New Iberia. (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
–2,670 New Orleans. Carrigan 1961, p. 116; Keating 1879, p. 90; NYT, 10-7-1888;
–2,670 “ Sternberg 1908, p. 719; US M-HS 1896, p. 438.
–2,070 “ Augustin. History of Yellow Fever, 1909, p. 50.
–250 “ Sep 2-8 Daily Tribune, New Albany, IN. 9-13-1855, p. 3, col. 3.
— ? Paincourtville (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Pattersonville. (Aug) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Pineville (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Plaquemine. (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Point a la Hache (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Point Coupée (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Point Meagre (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Port Hudson (Aug) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— 1 Shreveport (T. Alexander). Biographical and Historical Memoirs of NW Louisiana. 48.
— ? St. Joseph. (Nov) Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, Mississippi.[8]
— ? St. Martinville (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Thibodeaux (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
— ? Trinity (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Waterproof (Oct) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
Mississippi ( 102) Aug-Nov
— 11 Adams County, State Hospital.[9]
–Emile James Bevin, 11, Oct 13.
–Andreas Blanch, Sep 15.
–Christiana Blanch, Mrs., Sep 9.
–Minnie Blanz, 14, Oct 2.
–Augustus Boas, 45, Aug 31.
–Thomas Costello, 35, Nov 27.
–John F. Crompton, 22, Oct 18.
–Mrs. C. McCabe, 20, Oct 11.
–William McCabe, about 20, Nov 3.
–Daniel Morris, 35, Oct 2.
–Morris Morris, Nov 11.
— ? Bolivar (Aug) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Canton (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
–13 Cooper’s Well, Hinds County. (Sep)[10] Keating 1879, p. 90.
—>3 Fayette. (Sep-Oct) Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, Mississippi.[11]
–14 Fort Adams (by Oct 3) Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg. “Yellow Fever…South.” 10-22-1855, p2.[12]
— ? Grand Gulf (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
— ? Jackson (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”[13]
–47 Natchez. Blanchard tally from breakouts below.
–1 “ Sep 11, Dr. Hassle.[14]
–15 “ (~Sep 22-23) Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, Mississippi.”[15]
–30 “ Oct 1-7. Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, Mississippi.”[16]
–Oct 1, Rev. Fly, Methodist preacher.[17]
— 1 “ Oct 17 note: “Dr. Sanderson of Natchez died with yellow fever.” Moore.[18]
— 1 “ Dec 3, Dr. James A. McVey.[19]
—>8 Port Gibson (Aug-Nov) Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, Mississippi.”[20]
— ? Raymond (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
—>8 Rodney (Oct 8-13 & Nov 12-18) Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, MS.”[21]
— 1 Vicksburg (Aug-Sep) Sep 26, Rev. Williams, Presbyterian Church, Vicksburg. Moore.[22]
— ? Warrenton (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
–10 Woodville (by Oct 3) Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg. “Yellow Fever…South.” 10-22-1855, p2.[23]
— ? Yazoo City (Sep) LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
NY Marine Hospital ( 5)
— 5 Keating 1879, 90; US Marine-Hospital Service, 1896, 437.
Tennessee ( 220) Oct
— >250 Memphis Oct[24] Ellis, John H. Yellow Fever & Public Health… 1992, p. 32.[25]
— 220 “ National Board of Health. Annual Report of… 1879. 1879, 252.
— 134 “ Kraut. “A. E. Frankland’s History of the 1873 Yellow…” p. 90
— 65 “ Keating 1879, 90.
Texas ( 6) Aug-Oct
— ? Galveston by Sep 25 Galveston Weekly News, TX. 9-25-1855, p. 1., col. 6.[26]
–~6 Houston by Aug 13 Galveston Weekly News, TX. 8-21-1855, p. 1, col. 6.[27]
— ? Houston Aug Galveston Weekly News, TX. 8-21-1855, p. 1, col. 3.[28]
— ? Houston Oct LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever…1855…”
Virginia (3,000)[29] June-Oct
— ? Gosport[30] July LA State Med. Society. “A…Tableau…Yellow Fever of 1855…”
–18 “ By July 30. Argus and Democrat. Madison, WI. 8-7-1855, p. 3, col. 5.[31]
— ? Hampton Aug Petersburg Express, VA. “[YF] at Hampton,” 8-13-1855, p3, c2.[32]
— ~4,000 Norfolk & Portsmouth. Childs, Emery. A History of the United States… 1886, 145.
— ~3,000 “ “ Hand, D.W. “Yellow Fever. Its History…” 1879, p. 98.
— >2,000 Norfolk Hoffman. Race, Class and Power…Richmond… 2004, p. 82
— 2,000 “ McPhillips. “Norfolk’s…” 2005; Tucker. “The 1855…” 1976.
— 1,807 “ Keating 1879, 90; NYT, 10-7-1888; USMHS 1896, 437.
–20 “ July 30-Aug 11. Armstrong. The Summer of the Pestilence. Pp. 13 & 31.[33]
— 26 Norfolk refugees die of yellow fever in Baltimore, MD; no Baltimore deaths.[34]
— 1,000 Portsmouth Keating 1879, 90; McPhillips 2005; NYT, 10-7-1888.
— <1,000 “ “nearly 1000” Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 141.[35]
— 1,000 “ Sternberg 1908, 719.
— 30 “ Irish Row, by Aug 1. Portsmouth Relief Assoc. Report of…, 1856, p. 126.[36]
— 43 “ Aug 3. Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 133.
— 20 “ Aug 4-5 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 133.
— 32 “ Sep 2. Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 137.
–150 “ Sep 2-8 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 137.
— 22 “ Sep 21 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 8 “ Sep 22 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 9 “ Sep 23 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 5 “ Sep 24 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 3 “ Sep 25 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 12 “ Sep 26 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 2 “ Oct 2 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 140.
— 2 “ Nov 10 Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 141.
–208 “ US Naval Hosp. Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of…, 1856, p. 159.
Narrative Information
Arkansas — Helena
Confederate Veteran: “As a citizen of Helena, Cleburne [General Patrick R. Cleburne] won distinction, for he was scrupulously honest, enterprising, and public spirited. At no time in his life did he display more heroism than when in 1855 Helena was stricken with yellow fever and the public in a panic fled in every direction. Cleburne remained in the plague-tortured city, and went daily his rounds among the fever patients, nursing them and helping to bury the dead.” (Confederate Veteran, “Cleburne and His Command,” Vol. XVII, No. 9, (Nashville, TN), Sep. 1909, p. 475.)
Oct 16, Daily Express: “At Helena, Ark., a few days since, the yellow fever made its appearance, and two or three deaths occurred. The people, believing that the wharf boat, then lying in the river, had brought the infection, they set it on fire and burned it with all its contents — valued at several thousand dollars. The most intense excitement pervaded during the affair.” (Daily Express, Petersburg, VA. “Destroying a Plague Boat.” 10-16-1855, p. 4, col. 1.)
Oct 24, Weekly Wisconsin: “In the town of Helena, Ark., the fever has been very severe. The Helena Star of the 6th Inst. comes to us in mourning for the editor, James M. Cleveland, who died on the 4th inst. of yellow fever. The Shield of the same date says:
During a residence of sixteen or seventeen years in Helena, we have never seen the place wear so desolate and deserted an appearance as at present. Probably three-fourths of the inhabitants have left town in consequence of the fever — it being the opinion of medical men that the best means to arrest the ravages of the disease was for the population to disperse, as far as practicable.”
(Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Yellow Fever at the South.” 10-24-1855, p. 6, col. 7.)
Louisiana — Alexandria
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana: “Judge Cushman of Alexandria, who died of yellow fever September 17, 1855, was the first victim of the disease at that point. There were forty persons under its influence at that time, but the type was not so malignant as in 1853. Fifteen deaths were reported prior to September 25.” (Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana.” (The Southern Publishing Company, 1890, p. 541.)
Louisiana — New Orleans
Carrigan: “The epidemic visitation [yellow fever] in the summer of 1854 strengthened the public demand for protective measures, and finally on March 15, 1855, the lawmakers passed ‘An Act to Establish Quarantine for the Protection of the State,’ therewith creating a board of health to administer the quarantine — Louisiana’s first State Board of Health and the first state board in the country as well.[37] Unfortunately, Yellow Jack arrived in New Orleans in the summer of 1855 before the Board was able to make all the necessary arrangements for establishing the quarantine stations.[38] For the third time in three successive years the Crescent City experienced a yellow fever epidemic….The high point of the epidemic occurred in the third week of August, when the fever claimed almost 400 victims. In gradually building up to that point from late June, the fever had caused a total mortality of almost 1,300, and in its gradual decline from late August to late October, it destroyed approximately 1,300 more….According to the report of Louisiana’s first State Board of health, the Crescent City had suffered a total loss of 2,670 yellow fever deaths that season.” (Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, pp. 114-116.)
“In spreading through the state of Louisiana the pestilence of 1855 touched more points than the previous one of 1854…The 1855 fever extended up the Mississippi to Baton Rouge, Plaquemine, and Point Coupe Parish; up the Red to Alexandria; all along the Ouachita and Black rivers; and to various points in the southern part of the state, including Pattersonville, Centerville, and St. Martinville on the Teche, and also New Iberia.[39] (Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 117.)
Tennessee — Memphis
National Board of Health: “Yellow fever….Second epidemic in 1855; confined principally to area south of Union street (South Memphis and Fort Pickering), but followed the bayou on both sides, north and west, to Wolf River; estimated number of cases, 1,250 in a population of about 13,000; mortality 220 (estimated).” (Annual Rpt. of…Nat. Board of Health, 1879. 1879, p. 252.)
Norfolk & Portsmouth, Virginia
Childs: “The yellow-fever ravaged the cities of Norfolk and Ports mouth, Va. , in the summer. Soon after its arrival at Norfolk a panic seized the citizens, and as many took refuge in flight as were able to do so. The population of sixteen thousand was reduced within a short time to five thousand, and that of Ports mouth from eleven to four thousand. Portsmouth was speedily almost deserted. Whole streets had only two or three families remaining. Hotels and stores, and even drug-shops, were closed; the great thoroughfares were empty; grass grew up between the bricks, and weeds over the roadside. The entire duration of the epidemic was one hundred and thirty-seven days, during which period the mortality in the two cities was about four thousand almost one half the number of those who had not fled.” (Childs 1886, 145)
Hand: “…at Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., where it has not been of frequent occurrence, about 3,000 persons died from it [yellow fever]. Nearly the whole population that remained at home, estimated at about 12,000, took the disease. The medical committee appointed by the city councils, to report on this epidemic, say: ‘The number of deaths was about 3,000, or one-fourth of the entire population remaining in the city. When we consider that half of this population was black, among whom there were few deaths, it seems probable that more than one-third of all the whites attacked died.’” (pp. 98-99)
Hand quotes from same Norfolk medical commission to the effect that “We are unanimously of the opinion that it was introduced by the str. [steamer] Ben Franklin, from St. Thomas, and there is no reason to suppose that we should have been visited by the epidemic, but for the arrivals in our harbor of this or some other vessel with the fever on board.” “In no case that we have known or heard of, was there the least reason to suspect that the disease was contagious. Many hundreds of our people flying from the pestilence, sickened and died in the neighboring counties and cities; in hotels and private houses, in infirmaries and hospitals, under all possible varieties of place and circumstance; and yet we have not heard of a single instance in which it was even alleged that the disease was communicated to the attendants or friends.” (p. 101) (Hand, D. W., M.D. “Yellow Fever. Its History in the United States…” 1879.)
Hoffman: “In 1855, after several promising years of economic expansion, Norfolk was transformed into a virtual ghost town by a yellow fever epidemic that took over 2,000 lives and destroyed the city’s economy….
“The toll exacted by epidemic diseases during the nineteenth century was so horrendous that even rumors of disease could influence trading patterns. In the fierce urban competition of the times, partisan newspapers sometimes concocted stories about reported epidemics in neighboring towns in order to undermine a rival city’s trade. As a result, city boosters throughout the South were quick to proclaim false all mentions of the existence of epidemic disease. One consequence of this response on the part of the business community was that city authorities were often slow to acknowledge real outbreaks of disease. Even as confirmed cases of contagious diseases were discovered, businessmen helped suppress the news about epidemics in order to safeguard their economic interests. In 1855, the Norfolk Board of Health delayed over one month from the first reported cases before announcing the existence of a yellow fever epidemic.” (Hoffman. Race, Class and Power in the Building of Richmond, 1870-1920. 2004, p. 82.)
Macomber: “In 1855, it was the turn of Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia. By October the number of people living in those two neighboring cities had dropped from 27,000 to nine thousand. The initial exodus then turned into one of the worst panics for those left behind ever seen in the country, with entire blocks of homes being burned down in an effort to stop the death from spreading. It struck everyone, no matter the race, age, sex, or amount of wealth. Companies and governments ceased to function for lack of employees able to work. By the 28th of August, even the local newspaper had to stop reporting, since it was down to one editor and one compositor and there was no one else left to print the paper. The dead began to pile up in vacant houses where entire families lay decomposing in the heat. A shortage of coffins led to an appeal to the rest of the country for help. In the end, forty five percent of the remaining population, those who did not panic and leave, or could not leave, died the tormented death caused by yellow fever.” (Macomber, Robert. “My Worst Fears Have Been More Than Realized…”
McPhillips: “On June 7, 1855, the steamer Ben Franklin arrived in Hampton Roads from the Virgin Islands, where yellow fever was rampant. Two crewmen had died of the fever along the way. The steamer lay in quarantine for twelve days before going to a Gosport shipyard for repairs, under orders that her bilges not be pumped out, orders that the Captain disobeyed. Another crew member came down with the fever on June 21 and died the next day. A fourth man died on July 8th. After the disease spread along Irish Row, a tenement on the Portsmouth waterfront, those residents evacuated to Barry’s Row in Norfolk. Yellow fever was epidemic there by early August. The homes and all their contents on Barry’s Row were burned to the ground on the night of August 9, a futile attempt to curb the spread of yellow fever.
“Citizens fled both cities in panic. At Old Point, they were turned away by soldiers with bayonets. Other cities enforced quarantine or imposed fines. But some doors remained open, notably those in Richmond, Mathews County and Fredericksburg, and on the Eastern Shore. Governor-elect Henry Wise took refugees into his own home and set up tents on the lawn for the overflow.
“By August, businesses and offices had closed. Church services were suspended. Doctors and nurses came from around the country to offer their services, many falling prey to the disease. When the Sisters of Charity came down from Maryland aboard the Old Bay Line, Anne Herron invited them into her large home on Church Street to tend yellow fever victims. It was Norfolk’s first public hospital and the forerunner of today’s Bon Secours DePaul. Miss Herron, who died of the fever in September 1855, left her home and estate to the Sisters of Charity to carry on their work in Norfolk. At peak around the first of September, as many as 80 people died per day – with 400 burials in the first week of the month. In all, there were an estimated 1,000 deaths in Portsmouth and 2,000 in Norfolk, about a third of those who did not flee.
“The Richmond Daily Dispatch attempted to frame the significance of the numbers in an article published on October 4, 1855: “Some idea of the destructiveness of the pestilence in Norfolk may be formed from comparing it with the great Plague in London. In that plague, one in seventeen died; in Norfolk, one in three. In fact, we know of no pestilence which has ever visited any part of the world, equal in destruction to that which has desolated the City of Norfolk.”
“The fever abated after the first frost in October, and the editor of Norfolk’s Southern Argus newspaper wrote “In the short space of ninety days, out of an average population of 6,000, every man, woman and child, almost without exception, has been stricken … and about 2,000 have been buried. But the storm is over, and again our good ship lays her course…her flag…sadly at half mast.” (McPhillips 2005)
Tucker: “The 1855 yellow fever epidemic, referred to by contemporaries as “The Death Storm,” that wiped out around two thousand of Norfolk’s population, was one of the worst disasters in the history of the city. Norfolk had previously experienced bad outbreaks of “Yellow Jack” — notably in 1795, 1802, 1821, and 1826 — but none of them could compare with the epidemic of 1855.” (Tucker 1999)
Selected Sources:
Adams County, Mississippi Genealogical and Historical Research. “Physicians & Surgeons of Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi (Physicians E-M). Accessed 4-21-2018 at: http://www.natchezbelle.org/adams-ind/doc_e_m.htm
Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Yellow Fever at the South.” 10-22-1855, p. 2, cl. 4. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-sentinel-oct-22-1855-p-2/
Argus and Democrat. Madison, WI. 8-7-1855, p. 3, col. 5. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/weekly-argus-and-democrat-aug-07-1855-p-3/
Armstrong, George D. The Summer of the Pestilence. A History of the Ravages of the Yellow Fever in Norfolk, Virginia, A.D. 1855. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1856. Google preview accessed 4-21-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=neVZAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Augustin, George. History of Yellow Fever. New Orleans: 1909; General Books reprint, Memphis, TN, 2010.
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
Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Digitized by Google. At: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Confederate Veteran, “Cleburne and His Command,” Vol. XVII, No. 9, (Nashville, TN), Sep. 1909, p. 475. Google preview accessed 4-20-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=D5U3AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Daily Express, Petersburg, VA. “Destroying a Plague Boat.” 10-16-1855, p. 4, col. 1. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/petersburg-daily-express-oct-16-1855-p-4/
Daily Tribune, New Albany, IN. [Yellow Fever, New Orleans] 9-13-1855, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-albany-daily-tribune-sep-13-1855-p-3/
Ellis, John H. Yellow Fever & Public Health in the New South. University Press of Kentucky, 1992. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=pqRcT7sFYYYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Feliciana Democrat. “Health of Clinton.” 8-25-1855, p. 78, col. 2. Accessed 4-20-2018 at: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88067030/1855-08-25/ed-1/seq-2/
Find A Grave. “Rev. Absolom Harper Kenneday.” Posted 9-26-2013. Accessed 4-21-2018 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117657370/absolom-harper-kenneday
Galveston Weekly News, TX. [Yellow Fever, Galveston] 9-25-1855, p. 1., col. 6. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-weekly-news-sep-25-1855-p-1/
Galveston Weekly News, TX. [Yellow Fever, Houston] 8-21-1855, p. 1, col. 3. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-weekly-news-aug-21-1855-p-1/
Hand, D. W., M.D. “Yellow Fever. Its History in the United States; An Account of the Recent Epidemic in the South and the Conclusions of the Yellow Fever Conference at Richmond, Va., in 1878,” pp. 97-106 in Minnesota State Board of Health. Seventh Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Minnesota, January, 1879. Minneapolis: Johnson, Smith & Harrison, 1879. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=10VNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Hoffman, Steven J. Race, Class and Power in the Building of Richmond, 1870-1920. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2004. Partially Google digitized. Accessed 12-9-2012 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=Oy0RzmjeM1gC&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
Kraut, Alan M. “A. E. Frankland’s History of the 1873 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee.” American Jewish Archives Journal, Vol. 59, 2007, pp. 89-98. Accessed 4-20-2017 at: http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/2007_59_01_02_doc_kraut.pdf
Louisiana State Medical Society. “A Provisional Tableau of the Geography of the Yellow Fever of 1855 in the United States.” The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, Jan 1856, p. 576. Google preview accessed 4-20-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=1bU1AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Macomber, Robert. “My Worst Fears Have Been More Than Realized: Yellow Fever Hits The Union.” Huntingdon, TN: Civil War Interactive (website). Accessed 8-15-2013 at:
http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/ArticleYellowFeverMacomber.htm
McPhillips, Peggy Haile. “Norfolk’s Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1855.” Courier, Summer 2005, Norfolk Historical Society. At: http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/insights/2005_summer/epidemic.html
Medical Record (Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery), George F. Shrady, MD, editor, Vol. 61, 2-8-1902 (New York: William Wood and Company). Google preview accessed 4-21-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=8wRYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Moore, Sue B. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, Mississippi.” Jefferson County, MSGenWeb Project webpage. Accessed 4-21-2018 at: http://jeffersoncountyms.org/yellowfever.htm
New York Times. “Yellow Fever Retrospect.” 10-7-1888. Accessed at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D03EFD81F38E033A25754C0A9669D94699FD7CF&oref=slogin
Petersburg Express, VA. “Yellow Fever at Hampton,” 8-13-1855, p. 3, col. 2. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/petersburg-daily-express-aug-13-1855-p-3/
Portsmouth Relief Association. Report of the Portsmouth Relief Association to the Contributors of the Fund for the Relief of Portsmouth, Virginia, During the Prevalence of the Yellow Fever in that Town in 1855. Richmond: H. K. Ellyson’s Steam Power Presses, 1856, 364 pages. Google preview accessed 4-21-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=nEEJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Quinan, John R., M.D. Medical Annals of Baltimore From 1608-1880, Including Events, Men and Literature, to Which is Added A Subject Index and Record of Public Services. Baltimore: Press of Isaac Friedenwald, 1884. Google digitized. Accessed 1-14-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=xNcRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sesser, David. “Disease during the Civil War.” The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. 4-5-2016. Accessed 4-21-2018 at: http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=8630
Southern Publishing Company. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana. Nashville and Chicago: The Southern Publishing Company, 1890. Google preview accessed 4-20-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=ZucxAQAAMAAJ&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, MD. Contributions to the Annals of Medical Progress and Medical Education in the United States Before and During The War of Independence. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1874. Google preview accessed 4-4-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=BRUJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#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
Tucker, George Holbert. “The 1855 Yellow Fever Epidemic.” Chapter 36 in Norfolk Highlights 1584-1881. Norfolk Historical Society, 1976. Accessed at: http://www.norfolkhistorical.org/highlights/36.html
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 National Board of Health. Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1879. Washington, DC: GPO, 1879. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=0SsgAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “Yellow Fever at the South.” 10-24-1855, p. 6, col. 7. Accessed 4-22-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/weekly-wisconsin-oct-24-1855-p-6/
[1] Louisiana State Medical Society. “A Provisional Tableau of the Geography of the Yellow Fever of 1855…”
[2] “The two men [Thomas C. Hindman and Patrick Cleburne] had met in 1855 during a devastating epidemic of yellow fever that had swept through Helena, Arkansas. Most in the town had fled the city to the countryside to escape the disease, except for two doctors who too had stayed to minister to those too ill to travel. A call for nurses to assist the overwhelmed medical men had gotten three responses; a young Methodist preacher, a recent immigrant and ex-soldier-turned apothecary named Patrick Cleburne, and Hindman. The event was the beginning of a very strong friendship.”
[3] Our number — in that it is stated to have been of epidemic proportions, we assume five or more lives lost.
[4] Louisiana State Medical Society. “A Provisional Tableau of the Geography of the Yellow Fever of 1855…”
[5] Article notes: “The occurrence of this case has caused great alarm among our citizens, and at least two thirds of them have left for the country.”
[6] Louisiana State Medical Society. “A Provisional Tableau of the Geography of the Yellow Fever of 1855
[7] Death “of a man brought from Marksville (where an epidemic existed). The man was in a dying condition when landed — was buried the following day…” (Medical Record, Vol. 61, 2-8-1902, p. 208.)
[8] Cites Susan Darden diary: “Nov 13:….There is a case black vomit in St. Joseph, LA.”
[9] Adams County, Mississippi Genealogical and Historical Research.
[10] Louisiana State Medical Society. “A Provisional Tableau of the Geography of the Yellow Fever of 1855…”
[11] Susan S. Darden diary: “Oct 1. Mr. Darden went to Fayette….Good deal sickness in Fayette, Fr. Fox had the fever today; his little boy had fever last night.” Also: “Oct 9: John Fleming eat dinner here; says they have all got well in Fayette. He met John Collier, told him that Dr. Baldwin’s wife was buried yesterday; died with yellow fever.”… “Oct 15: Mr. Darden sent Major to…Fayette…Mrs. Mundy had black vomit yesterday; thought she would die…The Baptist preacher (Vaughan) died with (yellow fever); took it from going to Mrs. Mundy’s. They buried by torch light.”…. “Oct. 18: Mrs. Truly died last night at 11 oc….She was buried at the grave yard in Fayette.”
[12] Notes that “up to the 3d inst., there had been 30 cases and 14 deaths…”
[13] An Oct 22 newspaper article notes that up to Oct 3, “At Kackson, Miss., the disease continues to prevail.”
[14] Adams County, Mississippi Genealogical and Historical Research.
[15] Cites diary of Susan Sillars Darden, Jefferson County, Mississippi, who wrote: “Sept 24: Got a dispatch from Natchez; there was 15 deaths in the city the two last days.” The preceding entry concerned yellow fever.
[16] Darden diary: “Oct 10 [Wednesday]: Mr. Darden went to Fayette, got the Natchez paper. There is 30 deaths reported last week with yellow fever.”
[17] Susan Sillars Darden diary: “Oct. 1: Mr. Darden went to Fayette. They had a dispatch that Mr. Fly, the Methodist preacher in Natchez died this morning with yellow fever.” (Moore. “Yellow Fever in Jefferson County, MS.”)
[18] Cites Darden diary entry for Oct 17
[19] Adams County, Mississippi Genealogical and Historical Research.
[20] Cites Darden diary for Nov 13: “….There has been 8 deaths in Port Gibson.”
[21] Susan Sillars Darden notes in her diary: “Sept. 30…There is 24 cases fever in Rodney.” Then,: Oct 13:…There have been 6 deaths with yellow fever in Rodney this week.” Darden diary for Oct 19: “The yellow fever is on Mr. Batchelor’s place near Rodney.” Nov 21 entry: There has been 2 deaths of yellow fever in Rodney this week.”
[22] Cites: Susan Sillars Darden diary.
[23] “…up to the 3d inst.,…at Woodville, Miss., 68 cases and 10 deaths.”
[24] Louisiana State Medical Society. “A Provisional Tableau of the Geography of the Yellow Fever of 1855…”
[25] Ellis writes: “The first clearly identifiable outbreak of yellow fever in Memphis occurred in 1855, causing at least 250 deaths in 1,250 cases. As the fever spread, a group of young clerks, following the example set by a similar group in New Orleans in 1837, organized a volunteer benevolent society known as the Howard Association to provide food, medical attention, and burial for the poor.”
[26] “We learn, this morning, that yellow fever has made its appearance in Galveston. We shall look to you for correct information as to the extent of its ravages.”
[27] “Houston, August 13th, 1855. Editors News….We have had some half dozen deaths in our city within a few days past, which are attributed to yellow fever. Indeed, I suppose there is no doubt but that a few cases of yellow fever have occurred. The disease does not yet seem to have assumed an epidemic form. I hear of no new cases today.
[28] “The Houston Telegraph is on the opinion that the yellow fever now in that city originated there, and was not imported.”
[29] Not using Child’s number in that it seems out of keeping with other sources.
[30] “Gosport is that part of the of the town [Portsmouth] which lies at the southern terminus of the corporation limits.” (Report of the Portsmouth Relief Association. P. 78.)
[31] We are not treating Gosport differently than Portsmouth — was contiguous. The report was from a July 30 Baltimore paper.
[32] “It was reported Friday on good authority, that two or three cases of yellow fever had been manifested among the refugees at Hampton, which excited such a panic that the steamer Coffee, full of passengers, was ordered off and not permitted to land.”
[33] Armstrong writes on Aug 1, that “on the day before yesterday it became generally known here that the yellow fever existed in our city.” Goes on to note: “It seems now that cases of fever have existed in our midst since the 16th of July…”
[34] Quinan, John R., M.D. Medical Annals of Baltimore From 1608-1880…, 1884, p. 41.
[35] “It is a liberal estimate to place the population of the town during the fever at four thousand, of which probably a little more than one half were whites. In round numbers, nine hundred of these died, and one hundred of the negroes…” (p. 142.)
[36] This does not include deaths in Gosport, where the fever had been taking lives for weeks.
[37] Cites, in footnote 32, Acts Passed by the Second Legislature of the State of Louisiana, at Its Second Session…1855 (New Orleans, 1855, pp. 471-477. Notes to also see Gordon E. Gillson, “The Louisiana State Board of Health: The Formative Years” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1960).
[38] Cites, in footnote 33: Report of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana to the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives {for 1855} (New Orleans, 1856), p. 10.
[39] Cites, in footnote 37: “Toner. Reports upon Yellow Fever.