1871 — July 30-Dec 18, Yellow Fever, esp. MS/143, Charleston SC/213, New Orleans/55 ~454
–~454 Blanchard tally based on numbers below.
Summary of State Breakouts Below
Alabama ( 1) Refugee from New Orleans via Natchez.
Louisiana (84-85) July 30-Dec 18
Mississippi ( 143) Sep 10-Nov 1 Especially Jackson, Natchez, Vicksburg.
New York ( 2)
Ohio ( 1) Contracted by man on trip to Natchez.
South Carolina ( 220) Aug-Nov
Maritime ( 2) Schooner Florence Rogers, Charleston SC to Virginia.
Breakout of 1871 Yellow Fever Deaths by State and Locality
Alabama ( 1)
–1 Mobile (a man arriving there sick from New Orleans via Natchez). LA Health Board, p. 19.[1]
Louisiana (84-85) July 30-Dec 18
–55 New Orleans. Keating 1879, p. 92; Sternberg 1908; USMHS 1896, p. 439.
–54 “ Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 168.[2]
–54 “ LA State Board of Health Rpt. 1871, pp. 12-14.[3]
— 1 “ July 30. (1st death). LA State Board of Health Rpt. 1871, p. 12.
— 2 “ Aug LA State Board of Health Report 1871, p. 12.
–12 “ Sep LA State Board of Health Report 1871, 12..
–29 “ Oct LA State Board of Health Report 1871, pp. 12-13.
–10 “ Nov LA State Board of Health Report 1871, p. 13-14.
— 1 “ Dec 18 (last death). LA State Board of Health Report 1871, 14.
–30 Vidalia, Concordia Parish, Sep 12-Nov 31. Vidalia Herald. Dec 1871, in Walker, CPGH.[4]
–19 Vidalia. 18W & 6B. Vidalia Herald. 10-20-1871. Walker, Concordia Parish Gen.[5]
Mississippi (>143) Sep 10-Nov 1
–143 State Blanchard tally of locality breakouts below.
Breakouts of 1871 Yellow Fever in Mississippi by Locality:
— >2 Jackson, civilians. Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel, IN. “Yellow Jack.” 11-4-1871, p1, c5.
— 24 Jackson, US garrison. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi (V2, Pt.1), 298.
— 99 Natchez Anderson. Builders of a New South. 2013, p. 201.[6]
— 60 “ (since Sep 18) Evening State Journal, Richmond, VA. 11-1-1871, p. 4, col. 3.[7]
— 20 “ (in ten days) Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel, IN. “Yellow Jack.” 11-4-1871, p1, c5.[8]
— ? Vicksburg Oct 21. Yellow fever declared epidemic in Vicksburg; visitors to stay away.[9]
— 15 “ Oct 24 The Herald, Troy, MO. 11-2-1871, p. 2, col. 1.[10]
— 3 “ Oct 29. Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. 10-31-1871, p. 1, col. 3.
–10 “ one week[11] Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel, IN. “Yellow Jack.” 11-4-1871, p1, c5.[12]
–30 “ (cases being treat, Nov 1). Evening State Journal, Richmond, VA. 11-1-1871, p4, c3.
New York ( 2)
–2 New York City Kotar and Gessler. Yellow Fever: A Worldwide History. P. 270.
Ohio ( 1)
–1 Cincinnati, ~Sep 30. Man (Smith) after returning from Natchez to identify fever victim.[13]
South Carolina ( 220) Aug-Nov
— 7 Beaufort Keating 1879, 92.
–213 Charleston. Keating 1879, 92; Sternberg 1908, 719; USMHS 1896, 439.
–212 “ New York Times, “The Yellow Fever,” 12-3-1871.
A few samples of daily breakouts of yellow fever deaths in Charleston, SC in 1871:
— 3 Charleston Aug 29 NY Herald. “The Yellow Fever in Charleston,” 8-30-1871, p. 7.
— 6 “ Sep 27-28 Evansville Daily Courier, IN. “Electric Sparks.” 9-30-1871, p. 1.
— 4 “ Oct 3 Boston Post. “Yellow Fever.” 10-4-1871, p. 2, col. 4.
— 4 “ Oct 5 Alton Telegraph, IL. “News Items.” 10-6-1871, p. 2, col. 5.
Maritime ( 2)
–2 Schooner Florence Rogers, Charleston SC for Fortress Monroe, VA. Cpt. And 2nd mate.[14]
Narrative Information
Mississippi
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi: “The epidemic of 1871 at Jackson, Vicksburg and Natchez assumed a type so peculiar in characteristics that for a long time physicians were slow to pronounce it yellow fever. On July 22, 1871, an Englishman residing at Vicksburg was attacked; but the fever did not reach its highest point until November 1, that year. The disease at Natchez was called yellow fever by all the physicians there except Dr. Bonduvant, who inclined to the belief that it was typho-malarial fever. Dr. P. F. Whitehead, writing on the subject in 1872, inclines to the opinion that the disease at Natchez was of local origin, beginning under the hill and extending to the city. Dr. M. S. Craft places the date of the first case at Jackson, September 7, 1871, and pronounced the epidemic yellow fever. Of thirty cases within the United States garrison at Jackson, twenty-four were fatal. Dr. Craft’s paper, given in the reports of the medical society for 1873, is a brief but extraordinarily complete description of the dreaded disease as diagnosed by him at Jackson in 1871.” [p. 298]
Sep 24, Vicksburg Times: “There was some excitement on the streets, yesterday afternoon, in consequence of the report that there were several cases of yellow fever in the city. We have the authority of two physicians for saying that there are two or three cases of this dreadful scourge in the city and while we would not advise those who have not had it, especially those unacclimated, who can get away, to remain, yet we do not think the fever has assumed the form of an epidemic. It is getting late in the season, and there has been very little of it…in New Orleans. It appeared some time since in Charleston, in a mild form[15] but it has entirely disappeared. We hope to be able to announce in our next issue that there have been no more cases, but it the meantime it may be well to prepare for the worst.” (Reprinted in Indianapolis Evening Journal. “The Yellow Fever in Vicksburg.” 9-28-1871, p. 2, col. 2.)
South Carolina — Charleston
Sep 18, NYT: “The Charleston (S.C.) Courier insists that the evidence thus far is conclusive that whatever fever has prevailed in that city this year is owing entirely to local causes and the want of proper attention to the hygiene of the city, and that there has been nothing epidemic in its character….” (New York Times. “Yellow Fever. Epidemics in Charleston, S.C. – Statistics from 1700.” 9-18-1871.)
Nov 28: “From the Charleston (S.C.) News, Nov 28. Annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the Howard Association was held on Saturday last, in Market Hall, for the purpose of receiving reports of the operations of the Association during the late epidemic. The following is a synopsis of the highly interesting report submitted by Dr. George S. Pelzer, the Secretary of the Association:
“The Association began its operations on the 29th day of August, and closed on the 15th day of November, during which time 466 indigent persons were visited and relieved by the directors of the Association. Of these 466 cases there were 37 colored and 429 white; 192 were natives of the city, 100 of South Carolina. 35 of other parts of the United States, 61 of Germany, 59 of Ireland, 9 of England, 5 of Scotland, and 5 of other nationalities. There were 287 cases of yellow fever, 107 of brokebone,[16] and 72 of other diseases; 398 of the cases recovered and 68 died, viz.: 66 whites and 2 colored. Eight of the deaths were from ‘other diseases,’ leaving 60 deaths from yellow fever during the whole epidemic among the patients of the Association.
“The above shows the extent of the fever among those of the poorer classes, who could not afford to employ physicians and nurses at their own expense. It does not indicate, of course, the entire extent of the fever, especially as the disease, during the late epidemic, principally attacked those in better circumstances.
The Total Mortality
“The following table shows the total number of deaths from yellow fever in the present year as compared with the mortality in the epidemics of 1854, 1856, and 1858. There were six deaths more in 1871 than in 1856, the mildest of three former epidemics, but the table shows that the increased mortality in the present year was altogether in the latter part of the season. From Oct. 14 to Nov. 18, 1856, there were only 31 deaths, while for the same period in 1871 there were 76 deaths. Indeed, the fever shows its greatest strength just at the time when according to precedent, it should have been on its last legs.
Week ending 1854 1856 1858 1871
August 5 — 1 1 2
August 12 — 5 6 1
August 19 4 3 28 3
August 26 20 7 39 6
September 2 26 16 73 21
September 9 70 16 103 14
September 16 127 24 128 9
September 23 118 24 86 30
September 30 72 32 64 21
October 7 53 23 45 13
October 14 48 24 41 16
October 21 31 16 22 13
October 28 23 5 24 25
November 4 8 4 12 22
November 11 6 5 8 8
November 18 3 1 — 8
November 25 5 — — —
Grand total 614 266 689 212
(New York Times. “The Yellow Fever.” 12-3-1871.)
Sources
Alton Telegraph, IL. “News Items.” 10-6-1871, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/alton-weekly-telegraph-oct-06-1871-p-2/
Anderson, Aaron D. Builders of a New South: Merchants, Capital, and the Remaking of Natchez, 1865-1914. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013. Google preview accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=I-waBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi (Vol. II, Part I). Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1891. Accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://ia801200.us.archive.org/30/items/biographicalhist11good/biographicalhist11good.pdf
Boston Post. “Yellow Fever.” 10-4-1871, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-post-oct-04-1871-p-2/
Cambridge City Tribune, IN. [Yellow Fever, Vicksburg] 11-16-1871, p. 4, col. 1. Accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cambridge-city-tribune-nov-16-1871-p-4/
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
Daily Oil City Derrick, PA. “Mississippi. The Yellow Fever at Vicksburg,” 10-23-1871, p. 1, col. 3. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oil-city-derrick-oct-23-1871-p-1/
Evansville Daily Courier, IN. “Electric Sparks.” 9-30-1871, p. 1. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/evansville-daily-courier-sep-30-1871-p-1/
Evening State Journal, Richmond, VA. [Yellow Fever, Natchez] 11-1-1871, p. 4, col. 3. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/richmond-daily-state-journal-nov-01-1871-p-4/
Fort Wayne Daily Sentinel, IN. “Yellow Jack.” 11-4-1871, p. 1, col. 5. Accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/fort-wayne-daily-sentinel-nov-04-1871-p-5/
Indianapolis Evening Journal, IN. “The Yellow Fever in Vicksburg.” 9-28-1871, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/indianapolis-evening-journal-sep-28-1871-p-2/
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
Kotar, S. L. and J. E. Gessler. Yellow Fever: A Worldwide History. McFarland, 2017. Google preview accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=e1YQDgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
New York Times. “The Yellow Fever – Total Number of Cases and Deaths in Charleston This Season” (from the Charleston News, November 28, 1871). 12-3-1871. Accessed 5-5-2018 at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E06EFDA1639EF34BC4B53DFB467838A669FDE
New York Times. “Yellow Fever. Epidemics in Charleston, S.C. – Statistics from 1700.” 9-18-1871. Accessed 3-18-2018 at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0C13F938541A7493CAA81782D85F458784F9
Philadelphia Inquirer. “Virginia…Yellow Fever Deaths.” 11-3-1871, p. 1, col. 2. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-inquirer-nov-03-1871-p-1/
State of Louisiana Board of Health. Annual Report of the Board of Health, to the General Assembly of Louisiana, December 31st, 1871. New Orleans: 1872. Google preview accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=bsLjrCfWn6wC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=1871&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 preview accessed 3-18-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=3ezqX415M5wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sturgeon Bay Door County Advocate, WI. [Yellow Fever, Vicksburg] 11-9-1871, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 5-5-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sturgeon-bay-door-county-advocate-nov-09-1871-p-2/
Telegraph and Herald, Dixon IL. [Yellow Fever] 10-5-1871, p. 4, col. 2. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dixon-telegraph-and-herald-oct-05-1871-p-4/
The Herald, Troy, MO. 11-2-1871, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/troy-lincoln-county-herald-nov-02-1871-p-2/
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
Vidalia Herald. 10-20-1871 and Dec 1871. Transcribed by Bryant W. Walker, 3-6-2017 in Concordia Parish Genealogy History. “1871 Yellow Fever Epidemic. Accessed 5-5-2018 at: http://www.theusgenweb.org/la/concordia/history/yellowfever.html
Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. [Yellow Fever, Vicksburg] 10-31-1871, p. 1, col. 3. Accessed 5-6-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/madison-wisconsin-state-journal-oct-31-1871-p-1/
[1] “In 1871, but one death occurred [in Mobile], that of a man arriving there sick, via New Orleans from Natchez, at which latter place he contracted his sickness.”
[2] Cites, in footnote 19, p. 168: Report of the Louisiana State Board of Health for 1871, p. 98.
[3] Notes, however, in the case details which follow the table of deaths by name, that particularly at the beginning there were other deaths which “were not reported, as such, nor submitted to examination,” were probably yellow fever, but “do not appear in the foregoing table. See pp. 16-17.
[4] “The following list comprises the names of those who fell victims to the yellow fever during the past few months. Considering the fact that the total number of whites who during the time of the scourge were dwelling within the town limits, to be only 152, that 74 were sick and 23 died, it will be seen that nearly one-half of the whites were attacked with the disease, and that abut fifteen percent of the total white population died.” Lists names of 22 whites and 4 blacks. (In Oct 20 article noted six deaths among blacks, but provided no names then.) Adding the 24 whites said to have died due to yellow fever in this article and the six unnamed blacks in the Oct 20 article, we derive 30.
[5] “In Vidalia the yellow fever must soon necessarily run it’s course for want of material. But grave fears are entertained that it may spread to the surrounding plantations by persons coming to town from sheer curiosity or under trivial pretenses. This is as dangerous as it is unwise….We give below the names of the persons who have had the yellow fever in our little town and recovered. Also those who have died.” Notes names of 12 whites & 6 blacks.
[6] During one particularly virulent episode [of yellow fever] in 1871…1,200 cases in Natchez alone produced at least ninety-nine deaths, and many more in swampy flatlands across the river in Vidalia and Concordia Parish. Many people fled town for the countryside or beyond, and by September local business came to a standstill….”
[7] Notes one hundred fifty cases under treatment.
[8] “The Natchez Democrat, of the 21st, published a list of 20 deaths in that town from yellow fever, all of which took place within the ten days preceding the date of the paper.”
[9] “Jackson, Miss., Oct. 22. The Vicksburg, Miss., papers yesterday contain a proclamation declaring yellow fever an epidemic, and advising all persons not to come to that city during the present state of affairs.” (Daily Oil City Derrick, PA. 10-23-1871, p. 1, col. 3.)
[10] “Yellow fever has reached as far north as Vicksburg. Fifteen deaths occurred there on the 24th ult. Three thousand people have left the city.”
[11] A Nov 9 paper writes: “The yellow fever is now an epidemic at Vicksburg.” (Sturgeon Bay Door County Advocate, WI. 11-9-1871, p. 2, col. 1). A Nov 16 paper notes: “Vicksburg (Miss.) papers say that the yellow fever is abating, but advise people to keep away for a time.” (Cambridge City Tribune, IN. 11-16-1871, p. 4, col. 1.)
[12] “A Memphis journal says: ‘After entirely disappearing from Vicksburg and other towns below, the yellow fever has again commenced its work of death. The mortuary report of Vicksburg for the week ending last Saturday, shows that twenty deaths occurred, ten of which were from fever…”
[13] “A dispatch from Cincinnati on Saturday, says a man named…[?] Smith, returned, five days ago, from a visit to Natchez, Miss., sick and died this morning, of yellow fever, and was buried this afternoon, by order of the Health Officer. The sanitary police guarded the house to prevent persons entering. The clothing and bedding were burned by the Health Police, and the room disinfected. The deceased visited Natchez, and went to a vault and saw the body of his brother-in-law, who had just died of yellow fever.” (Telegraph and Herald, Dixon IL. 10-5-1871, p. 4, col. 2.)
[14] Philadelphia Inquirer. “Virginia…Yellow Fever Deaths.” 11-3-1871, p. 1, col. 2.
[15] Two hundred twenty deaths before it was over for 1871.
[16] Name given locally to dengue fever, or other illnesses which caused joints to ache.