–Dozens. Blanchard estimate based on Dawson and DeSaussure note comparing it to 1732.

Narrative Information

Dawson and DeSaussure: “It [yellow fever] again appeared [after 1732 outbreak] in 1739, 1745, and 1748, and is said to have raged as severely in these years as in 1732. The number of deaths which it caused in those years cannot now be ascertained. (p. 201.)

Duffy: “Outbreaks of yellow fever in Charleston and the ‘bilious plague’ in New York were reported in 1745, but both were unquestionably yellow fever. The New York outbreak was so diagnosed by Dr. Colden in the course of an extensive correspondence with Dr. Mitchell of Virginia. He made the point that the fever had broken out in June and commented that it always developed in the dock areas — a fact which he attributed to filthy conditions there.

“The Charleston outbreak was a more serious one. Mr. John Fordyce reported to the S.P.G.[1]in November 1745 that ‘Charles-Town, is now, & has been for some time past, very much afflicted with a great & Malignant Sickness called the Yellow Feaver, in which they die Suddenly,’ that business there ‘can Scarce be transacted,’ and that ‘the General Assembly has been Prorogu’d and Adjourn’d several times on account of said Sickness.’ Fordyce added that a fellow minister was dangerously ill presumably from the fever. ‘I may Justly say’ he added later, ‘there is Scarce a House or Family, but what some, or more have Died in it.’ Like most other attacks of the fever, these two outbreaks probably originated in the West Indies [Caribbean], for Dr. Rush specifically mentioned the prevalence of the disease in Santo Domingo during this year.” (Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953, reprinted 1979, pp. 156-157.)

Keating: “1745.–Charleston, S.C., New York, and Stamford, Conn., were invaded.” (A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. 1879, p. 78.)

Porter: “Yellow fever is endemic in the cities of the low country on our southern coast, including Charleston….

“Dr. John Moultrie did not believe the disease to be contagious:–

I cannot believe, with others, that this disease is propagated from one place to another by contagion, unless the atmosphere is in a fit state to produce it. In the year 1745, this disease prevailed to a very great extent in South Carolina, when it was very evident that contagion from some other place had no influence in producing it. For the first person seized with the disease that year was a sailor, who, having been drunk for two or three days in succession, afterwards fell ill of this fever, and the heat continuing excessive during the month, the fever spread widely throughout the city of Charleston. For when the weather is hot, there is danger lest an ardent fever should change into this disease of a more violent character; and I very little doubt that this is also occasioned by improper remedies and bad treatment.

(Porter, “…Incidental Remarks of the Yellow Fever of the City of Charleston.” p. 100.)

Ramsay: “In 1745 and 1748 it [yellow fever] returned, but with less violence [than 1732][2]; however, many young people, mostly Europeans, died of it.” (Ramsay. Ramsay’s History of South Carolina. 1858, p. 47.)

Sources

Dawson, J. L. MD, and H. W. DeSaussure, MD. Census of the City of Charleston, South Carolina, For the Year 1848, Exhibiting the Condition and Prospects of the City, Illustrated by many Statistical Details, Prepared under the Authority of the City Council. Charleston, SC: J. B. Nixon, Printer, 1849. Google preview accessed 4-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=xCxNAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1953, reprinted 1979.

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. “On the Climate and Salubrity of Fort Moultrie and Sullivan’s Island, Charleston Harbour, S.C., with Incidental Remarks of the Yellow Fever of the City of Charleston.” Article V in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (Isaac Hays, MD, editor), New Series, Vol. 29. Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea, 1855. Google preview accessed 4-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=UgQHAAAAcAAJ&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, Vol. 2. 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

[1] Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

[2] There were 130-150 yellow fever deaths in Charleston in 1732.

1745 — June-Nov, Yellow Fever, New York City and especially Charleston, SC –Dozens