1825 — Yellow Fever, esp. Mobile, Key West & Pensacola, NOLA, Natchez, Washington MS-428
–428 Blanchard tally based on State and Maritime breakouts below.
Alabama (>55)
— >55 Mobile. Blanchard estimate.[1]
— ~40 “ Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Sickness at Mobile.” 9-21-1825, p. 3.[2]
–Many “ AL Genealogy Trails. AL Epidemic History (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925).
Reporting by date:
— 13 “ Late July (two days). Torch Light, Hagerstown, MD. 11-29-1825, p. 2, col. 2.
–25-30 “ Aug 6-8. The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. 9-7-1825, p. 3.
Florida ( 89)
–~40 Key West Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “From Key West,” 8-25-1825, p. 2.
— 49 Pensacola Keating 1879, 85.
— ? “ Monette. History of the Discovery and Settlement… p. 103.[3]
— ? “ Monette. Observations…Epidemic Yellow Fever…. 1842, p. 121.[4]
— ? “ U.S. Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Report…FY 1895, p. 435.[5]
Georgia ( 7)
— 7 Augusta Augustin. History of Yellow Fever, 1909, 462.
Louisiana ( 59)
–59 New Orleans Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 92.[6]
–49 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, 435.[7]
Mississippi (~210) (~mid-Aug-Nov 1)
— 150 Natchez Keating 1879, p. 85; Monette 1842, p. 67; Sternberg 1908, p. 719.
— ~60 Washington Monette 1842, pp. 67-68.
— 52 “ Keating 1879, p. 85.
New York ( 1)
— 1 NY Marine Hospital Keating 1879, 85; U.S. Marine Hosp. Svc. An. Rpt… 1896, 435.[8]
South Carolina ( 2)
— 2 Charleston Keating 1879, 85; U.S. Marine Hosp. Svc. An. Rpt… 1896, 435.[9]
Maritime ( 5)
–4 US ship Decoy. Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “Melancholy from…Decoy.” 11-13-1825, p3.
–1 The Constitution. Lt. William Lawton, July 22 (believed to have contracted at Key West).[10]
Narrative Information
Alabama, Mobile
Torp, AL Genealogy Trails: “1825. Severe epidemic at Mobile. The board of health concealed the true conditions, and although the disease made its appearance as early as July, no official report was given out until September 2, when only one case was announced. It was not until September 11 that official admission of epidemic conditions was made. Many deaths reported.” (Alabama Genealogy Trails. “Yellow Fever.” Alabama Epidemic History (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925 as source). Submitted by K. Torp. 2013.)
Newspapers
July 26, prior to: “Baton Rouge, (Lou.) Aug. 6….Accounts from Mobile, state that the Yellow Fever rages there with exterminating fury. Almost all the inhabitants have deserted the place. Previous to Sunday the 26th ultimo [July], thirteen persons had died in two days and the lives of seventeen were despaired of, on that day.” (Torch Light and Public Advertiser, Hagerstown, MD.
Aug 7-8: “The Mobile Register of the 9th ult. estimates the deaths in that city of yellow fever, at 25 to 30, within the preceding three days. The city is almost depopulated. The public offices have been removed into the country; and a guard has been established to keep watch, day and night, for the preservation of the property of absent citizens.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Sickness at Mobile.” 9-21-1825, p. 3, col. 1.)
Late Oct report: “Several cases of malignant fever have again made their appearance in Mobile, in consequence, of the return of warm weather about the last week in October.” (Torch Light and Public Advertiser, Hagerstown, MD. 11-29-1825, p. 2, col. 2.)
Florida, Key West
Maryland Gazette: “A gentleman who came passenger in the schr. Thorn, arrived at Charleston from Key West, states that the yellow fever was prevailing at that place to an alarming extent. When Com. Warrington left there (five or six weeks before) there were at the island about 30 marines, and from 30 to 40 sailors. On this number, when the informant departed, but three men of the marines were enabled to perform duty, two thirds of them being dead, and the remainder lying very ill. Lieut. Com. Tupper was left in a dying state –The fever was also very fatal among the sailors — the hospital being crowded with the sick, and but five or six enabled to do duty — Capt. James M. McIntosh the commander of the island was down with the fever. Sailing master Harby, commanding the Navy Yard, had just recovered from a severe illness. The U.S. sloop Vagabond, under command of midshipman Fatio had been dispatched for the purpose of endeavouring [sic] to fall in with Com. Warrington, off Havanna or Matanzas to inform him of the great mortality prevailing at Key West, and to advise with him concerning the removal of the remainder of the U.S. forces, before they all fell victims to the fever.” (Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, “From Key West.” 8-25-1825, p. 2, col. 4.)
Florida, Pensacola
Monette: “How was it in 1825?[11] Pensacola was thronged with northern adventurers, with trading vessels, and numerous importations for the new settlements, and yellow fever was introduced and prevailed with most destructive mortality.” (Monette. Observations on the Epidemic Yellow Fever of Natchez and of the South-West. 1842, p. 121.)
Louisiana, New Orleans
July 21: “From New-Orleans — By the Mail we have received New Orleans papers to the 21st of July, inclusive. It is said that a letter was received here yesterday stating the appearance of the yellow fever at New Orleans. The date of the letter is not mentioned, and we can discover nothing in the papers before us on that subject.” (The Centinel, Gettysburg, 8-31-1825, p. 3, c. 3.)
Sep or Oct 3: “New Orleans. — Advices to the 3d instant represent that the city of New Orleans had become very sickly. The deaths averaged from four to five per day. The newspapers did not report the deaths. The most prevalent diseases were yellow fever and small pox. Nearly all the inhabitants had left the city. Balt. Amer.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “New Orleans,” 10-12-1825, p. 1, col. 3.)
Mississippi, Natchez
Monette: “Epidemic of 1825. — This epidemic began under the hill, or at the landing, among the clerks of a commission house and others near the steamboat landing. Cases began to multiply
about the 20th of August. Several persons attacked were removed by their friends into the upper city, where they finally died. On the last of August the alarm was such, that a general flight of the citizens to the country ensued. The disease prevailed nearly two weeks near the landing before it began to spread in the upper city; and the first cases in the latter were easily traced to intercourse with the landing.
“The disease continued to prevail until checked by a freeze on the first of November. The whole number of deaths in Natchez was about 150 souls. As usual, several deaths occurred late in November in persons who had left the city early, and returned after frost into their houses, which had remained closed.
“This year the disease was carried to Washington. This is a pleasant, elevated, and cleanly village, six miles east of Natchez, containing about 100 hundred houses thinly distributed over a space half as large as Natchez. It had heretofore been the retreat of the merchants, mechanics, and others who wished to continue their trade with the country. This fall Washington was crowded with people, goods, and all the movables necessary for business and house-keeping. Nearly half the mercantile establishments carried their goods along, and every day for ten days brought out new supplies from Natchez and New Orleans. No unusual sickness prevailed in Washington or in the surrounding country. During the first twenty days of September, the mercury ranged as high 90° to 93° each day, and the air was sultry and oppressive.
“During the first ten days after the arrival of the Natchez people, there were about 8 deaths from yellow fever in those who had contracted the disease before they left Natchez. About this time others who were citizens of Washington and who had not been in Natchez, began to sicken with yellow fever; and by the 15th [unclear] of September the disease was considered epidemic in Washington, when nearly all the population fled. The whole number of deaths in the Washington epidemic was about 60 souls. About ten cases and five deaths occurred among those who returned into houses which had been closed, and were not entirely disinfected by the cold weather.
“Previous to this summer, Washington was known as a healthy retreat to the people of Natchez during their epidemic visitations, where the disease had never been known to spread. No one pretended to ascribe this epidemic to filth, or the usual sources to which it is ascribed in cities. Washington is remarkable for the absence of every thing like city filth. Dr. Cartwright, however, did ascribe it to a quantity of “putrescent bacon,” which he alleges to have been carried out from Natchez. Even this would be an admission that the disease was carried from Natchez to Washington. But the fact is, there was no such “putrescent bacon” as that to which he refers. The writer was any eye-witness to the whole of this epidemic, and resided within one hundred yards of the alleged putrid bacon, and he does not hesitate to say that the Doctor was misinformed on that subject.
“I hesitate not to declare it as my belief, that there would have been no epidemic in Washington, unless the people and goods from Natchez had been crowded into it. Besides it must be remembered the merchants received large supplies of fall goods from New Orleans while they were in Washington, and among these were 8 or 10 bales of blankets to meet the annual fall demand of the planters.
“The first citizens of Washington attacked were my patients; and their infection could be traced clearly to opening and handling those bales of blankets, and other goods brought from New Orleans and Natchez. The disease was imported to Washington as surely as it was to Coonville in 1823….Dr. Cartwright ascribed the epidemic this year, to causes similar to those which he adduced in 1823; to which he added “spoiled porter,” “rotten sour-crout,” and also a boat with some corn in it sunk near the wharf.
“Dr. Merrill ascribed it to ‘”loose earth” exposed to the sun, in making and filling up a wharf, and in leveling the streets. Others ascribed it to such combination of circumstances or causes, as their fancy might suggest. These causes had no agency whatever in producing the epidemic; and we have shown already that such causes are harmless as generators of yellow fever miasm. We assert without fear of successful refutation, that whenever these circumstances have synchronized with a yellow fever epidemic, they were only incidental occurrences, and not in any manner essential to its existence. It is certain that several epidemics have appeared in Natchez since 1825, without either of the causes assigned by Dr. Cartwright or Dr. Merrill.
“It has been urged against the doctrine of importation, that in 1823 and 1825, previous to the visitation of the epidemics, there was a regular quarantine against boats from New Orleans. I admit there was a mock quarantine, but none that was effectual. Each boat from New Orleans at that time was required to round to at the quarantine ground, and permit the health officer to inspect her, when she passed on up to the landing at Natchez. It is well known, that although boats were subjected to this formality, no one was ever prohibited from discharging either freight or passengers. There never was a quarantine at Natchez, on proper principles, until the summer of 1841, and that quarantine excluded the disease from Natchez, although it was Carried on to Vicksburg.” (Monette 1842, 67-69.)
Maritime
Aug 5, Norfolk: “The United States’ sloop of war Hornet…anchored at Old Point Comfort last evening…nine days from Havana….
“We regret to have to add to the list of valuable officers who have fallen victims to the inhospitable climate of the West Indies [Caribbean], Lieutenant William Lawton, first of the Constellation, who died on the 22d of July of the yellow fever….Lieutenants Henley and Lawton were the only cases of fever that had occurred on board the Constellation, and both are believed to have originated at Key West….” (Vevay Indiana Register. “Arrival of the Hornet (Norfolk, Aug. 5).” 9-2-1825, p. 2, col. 3.)
Sources:
Alabama Genealogy Trails. Alabama Epidemic History (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925 as source). Submitted by K. Torp. 2013. Accessed 8-25-2013: http://genealogytrails.com/ala/epidemics.html
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
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
Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “From Key West,” 8-25-1825, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-gazette-and-state-register-aug-25-1825-p-2/
Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “Melancholy from the U.S. Ship Decoy.” 11-13-1825, p. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-gazette-and-state-register-nov-03-1825-p-3/
Monette, John W., MD. History of the Discovery and Settlement of The Valley of the Mississippi, by The Three Great European Powers, Spain, France, and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by The United States, until the Year 1846 (Vol. I). New York: Harper & Brothers, 1846. Google preview accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=-ngUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Monette, John W. Observations on the Epidemic Yellow Fever of Natchez and of the South-West. Louisville, KY: Prentice and Weissinger, 1842. Digitized by U.S. National Library of Medicine. Accessed 8-15-2013 at: http://archive.org/details/65030290R.nlm.nih.gov
Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “New Orleans,” 10-12-1825, p. 1, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-republican-compiler-oct-12-1825-p-1/
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
The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “From New-Orleans,” 8-31-1825, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-aug-31-1825-p-3/
The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. [Yellow Fever, Mobile, AL], 9-7-1825, p. 3, col. 1. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-sep-07-1825-p-3/
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
Vevay Indiana Register. “Arrival of the Hornet (Norfolk, Aug. 5).” 9-2-1825, p. 2, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/vevay-indiana-register-sep-02-1825-p-2/
[1] This is our guestimate. If 13 people died of yellow fever in two days in late July, with the lives of 17 other infected “despaired of,” and if 25-30 died between Aug 7-9, and if most of the 44 burials reported for Aug 1-16 were yellow fever deaths, then it seems warranted to assume something like at least 55 yellow fever deaths.
[2] Our number based on: “The Mobile Commercial Register of the 16th ult.[Aug] reports 44 interments since the 1st of August, principally from the prevailing yellow fever.
[3] “…it was not until the year 1825 that Pensacola received a dense population of unacclimated emigrants, when a most destructive epidemic yellow fever was generated, and swept off great numbers of the crowded population.”
[4] See Narrative section below. Monette notes the “yellow fever…prevailed with most destructive mortality.”
[5] From “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever Has Invaded The Seaboard Cities of the United States, etc.” Notes, in “Remarks” column that the yellow fever arrived in Pensacola from a “West Indian [Caribbean] vessel.” Cites American Public Health Association, Vol. IV; Brown, Quarantine, p. 36. (Toner.).
[6] Carrigan adds in a footnote that “For many years, the only figures available for yellow fever mortality in the city are the figures for yellow fever deaths in Charity Hospital, indicated by a plus after the number [as in 1825]. Presumably there were other deaths in New Orleans in private practice…”
[7] Cites Transactions of the American Medical Association, 1851; Drake, p. 197. (Toner.)
[8] Notes the death was at the Marine Hospital. Cites Editor, New York Journal of Medicine, 1856, p. 281 (Toner.).
[9] Cites: Dowler, New Orleans Medical Journal, 1850, p. 597. (Toner.).
[10] Vevay Indiana Register. “Arrival of the Hornet (Norfolk, Aug. 5).” 9-2-1825, p. 2, col. 3.)
[11] Preceding paragraphs dealt with yellow fever in Pensacola in 1822.