— ~2,764 Blanchard tally based on State and locality breakouts below.
Alabama ( 650) (Aug 11-Oct 20)
— 650 Mobile, Aug 11-Oct 20 Keating, 86; Monette, 118; Sternberg, 719; USMHS, 436.
— 650 “ “ Toner 1873, 16.[1]
— 450 “ “ AL Genealogy Trails. “Epidemic;” Augustin 1909, 444.
— 147 “ Aug Monette 1842, p. 118.
— 383 “ Sep Monette 1842, p. 118.
–~120 “ Oct Monette 1842, p. 118.
Florida ( >60) (~Mid-Aug-Nov 12)
— 5 Pensacola (contracted by U.S. fleet sailors prior to arrival). Monette 1842, p. 119.
— ~50 St. Augustine, mid-Aug-Nov 12. Monette 1842, p. 122.
— >5 Tampa Bay. Monette 1842, p. 122.[2]
Georgia ( >208)
— 198 Augusta Prof. Dickinson, in Monette 1842, p. 127.
— >10 Savannah Monette 1842, pp. 123-124.[3]
Louisiana (999-1,002) (Late June-Oct)[4]
–999-1,002 Blanchard tally based on locality breakouts below.
Breakout of Louisiana Yellow Fever Fatalities by Locality:
— ~20 Bayou-Sara, St. Francisville vic. Monette 1842, p. 98.
— 30 Donaldsonville. Monette 1842, p. 95.
— ~25 Franklin mid Sep-early Nov. Monette 1842, p. 113.
— ~20 New Iberia Monette 1842, p. 114.
— 800 New Orleans. Out of 3,934 total deaths from population of 73,487. Barton. 1857.[5]
— ~800 “ Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 74.[6]
— 800 “ Jones. N.O. Med. & Surg. Jour., March 1879, 699.[7]
— 800 “ Sanitary Com. of New Orleans. Report of the Sanitary Com… 1854, p.465.
–452 “ July 23 start. Keating 1879, 86; Sternberg 1908, 719; USMHS 1896, 436.
— 47 Opelousas Sep-early Nov Monette 1842, p. 115.
–12-15 Plaquemines. Monette 1842, p. 96.
— ~15 Port Hudson Monette 1842, p. 98.
— ~15 Thibodaux Monette 1842, p. 113.
— ~15 Waterloo Monette 1842, p. 98.
Maine, Portland ( 3) Monette 1842, p. 78.
Mississippi ( 433) (Sep-early Nov)
–105 Alexandria Early Sep-early Nov Monette 1842, p. 110.
— ? Biloxi Rowland. Mississippi… (Vol. 2), 1907, p. 1015.
–~20 Fort Adams. Late Sep Monette 1842, p. 99.
–~20 Grand Gulf Monette 1842, p. 107.
–235 Natchez Sep-Nov Keating 1879, 86; Monette 1842, 102; Sternberg 1908, 719.
— 69 “ Sep Monette 1842, 102.
–135 “ Oct Monette 1842, 102.
— 31 “ Nov Monette 1842, 102.
— ~3 Natchitoches, New Orleans refugees. Monette 1842, p. 111.[8]
— ? Shieldsboro Rowland. Mississippi… (Vol. 2), 1907, p. 1015.
—>50 Vicksburg Oct 10-early Nov Monette 1842, 106.
Mississippi River ( 15)
— 15 Steamboat Corsair Monette 1842, pp. 93-94.
New York ( 4)
— 4 NY Marine Hospital Keating 1879, 86; USMHS 1896, 436.
South Carolina ( 134) (June-Oct)
— 134 Charleston Sternberg 1908, 719; USMHS 1896, 436.
— 22 “ June-Oct[9] Keating 1879, 86.
Texas ( ~255) (Sep 30-Oct 11)
— 250 Galveston Sep 30-Oct 11. Keating 1879, 86; Sternberg 1908, 719; USMHS 1896, 436.
— 5? Houston Monette, 1842, p. 116.[10]
Narrative Information
Monette: “As the summer and autumn of 1839 must constitute a memorable epoch in the history of this pestilence, not only in the West Indies but also in the southern portion of the United States, we propose to give a general sketch of the season, as well as of some other circumstances which have contributed much towards its unusual prevalence in this portion of our
country. We believe that yellow fever never has prevailed epidemically, at the same time, in so many seaports and inland trading towns of the United States, as it did in the summer of 1839. Scarcely a southern port or trading town, having direct commercial intercourse with the infected ports of the West Indies, or Mexico, escaped a visitation of epidemic yellow fever, more or less severe; and almost every inland town, having direct and unrestricted commercial intercourse with the ports, after they became infected, became successively infected also.
“The first appearance of this disease in the United States, during this summer, was invariably in the maritime or commercial ports; and the first cases were invariably among the shipping in port, and especially among those which were direct from infected. West India or Mexican ports. In every instance the disease for several weeks was confined exclusively to the shipping, before it began to spread among the resident population. This fact is abundantly established by the concurrent statements of the public press in all the infected ports. In no port of the United States was a single case of yellow fever seen, even on board the vessels, until after it had been prevailing with great mortality for several weeks in the West India and Mexican ports.
“The yellow fever began to rage in the port of Havana and Vera Cruz, early in the month of May: other ports became likewise infected nearly about the same time, such as Matanzas, St. Jago and others. The disease in all these ports had become epidemic before the 1st of June. In Havana it had become epidemic on the 24th of May, and on the 28th of May several American captains and seamen had died of it in the port of Havana. During the month of June it raged with unusual fatality, and the interments at that port for that month were 488.
“It was late in August when the yellow fever began to decline; the Havana papers of August 10th state, that “the yellow fever is still very bad among the shipping.” Ten days later, they state that “the sickness among the strangers has almost subsided for want of subjects.”– “At Vera Cruz, it
continued to rage with unabated violence,” until the 16th day of October, “when there were more than 400 cases in the hospital.”!
“In Charleston S. C. yellow fever cases were known to be among the shipping from the West Indies early in June. On the 7th of June, Dr. Strobel, the port-physician, reported three cases of yellow fever on board the brig Burmah, five days from Havana. Two of them died the next day. On the 10th, other cases were reported on board other vessels; on the 11th the Briganza arrived from Havana with several yellow fever cases on board. Other vessels continued to arrive at Charleston with other cases on board until the first week in July, when it began to spread rapidly among the vessels and produced much alarm. During the whole of this time the resident population was perfectly healthy, until about the 10th of July, when the disease began to spread among the people near the wharves; and in ten days afterwards it began to prevail over other parts of the city.
“About this time a vessel from Havana with yellow fever on board arrived at the quarantine ground in New York. The vessel was not permitted to enter the port; and no disease was communicated to the residents of the city. A few days afterwards an infected vessel from Havana, arrived in Portland, Maine, after losing several of her crew on the voyage. Several deaths by yellow fever soon after occurred in that place in persons who had been on board this vessel while at the Portland wharf.
“In New Orleans vessels from Havana arrived almost daily during the season. About the last of June, several cases of yellow fever had occurred among the shipping from the West Indies. Towards the close of July cases of yellow fever among the shipping were more frequent, and by the 1st of August about 25 cases had been received into the Charity Hospital. The cases among the shipping increased rapidly in the first ten days of August, during which time the disease was gradually insinuating itself among the resident population, contiguous to the wharves and shipping. On the 12th it was admitted to be epidemic in the city. From the first of August up to this time the number of admissions into the hospital varied from 8 to 15 daily.
“Mobile, Savannah, and other ports trading with the West Indies, were successively infected in the order of their commercial importance; while not a single inland town was infected, or was known to contain a case of yellow fever, from New York to Louisiana. The whole interior country, including towns and villages, was remarkably healthy, and exempt from all the ordinary bilious diseases of the season. In no inland town did yellow fever make its appearance either in sporadic cases, or as an epidemic, until at least ten days after it had been epidemic in the nearest commercial port; and the order of its appearance in the towns on the Mississippi, was exactly in proportion to the amount of direct communication by steamboats, with New Orleans, after yellow fever was epidemic in that city. The same was true of the small towns around the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, from St. Joseph’s and Tampa. Bay to the Teche, and even to Galveston in Texas. The town of Augusta, in Georgia, in like manner became infected after the yellow fever became epidemic in Charleston and Savannah….” (Monett 1842, pp. 77-80.)
“We have already made reference to the fact that yellow fever cases were seen among the shipping in this port [New Orleans], as early as the month of June; and that cases continued to appear among the vessels during the whole of July and until the 12th of August, when it was spreading among the resident population near the wharves. On the 15th of August it was admitted to be epidemic in the city, and strangers were advised by the public authorities to leave the city. The disease spread with great violence over a large portion of the city, near the wharves. Cases multiplied rapidly. A number appeared near the canal basin, among the sailors, draymen, and laborers. Near the river wharves, where the principal shipping lay, the first victims were draymen, clerks, merchants, laborers, and others who were daily in the vicinity, or on board of infected vessels. The Charity hospital became crowded from the first of August until the close of the epidemic. The number of cases admitted into the hospital were as follows: viz., in August, 507; September, 361; October, 110; November, 87.
“The report of cases in the Charity hospital is considered a good criterion of the prevalence of the disease, and is published for the information of the citizens. The greater part of the admissions into this institution, consists of seamen, foreigners, and destitute poor, who comprise two thirds of all the cases of fever in the city during the first month of its prevalence.
“So soon as these reports corroborate the general impression of alarm, at the spread of the disease, all those who are able and willing, leave the city and seek some retreat among their friends in different towns in Louisiana and Mississippi, within 300 or 400 miles of New Orleans; some retire to the Bays of St. Louis and Biloxi, east of the city; some to the settlements on the Teche, Lafourche, in Opelousas, and in the towns along the Mississippi as far as Natchez and Vicksburg.
“The number of persons of all kinds who leave New Orleans suddenly, or within fifteen or twenty days after yellow fever is announced as epidemic, is seldom less than ten or fifteen thousand, and often not short of twenty thousand souls. Every steamboat is crowded; and every town on the river receives its proportion. Among them are great numbers of Irish and German emigrants, fresh from Europe, many of whom seek employment in the towns above….
“During the summer and autumn of 1839, many of the towns and villages on the river within 400 miles of New Orleans, and also some towns on other streams in Louisiana, were visited by yellow fever within 20 or 30 days after it became epidemic in the city. In every instance where this occurred, the first cases of the disease were invariably traced to New Orleans; and only such towns as had free intercourse with the city by steamboat, were visited by the disease. Those towns which were cut off from such intercourse by nature or circumstances, invariably escaped the epidemic, although they might have double the population of others, and might be only half the direct distance from the city. The first individual cases, in any of these towns, were either persons landed from steamboats with the disease openly developed in their systems, or persons who had recently left New Orleans with the infection dormant in their systems when they landed, but which soon after was developed in its most malignant form. The order in which the interior towns became infected, was that of the extent of their commerce and the frequency of steamboat intercourse with the city of New Orleans. Not a single town or village presented a case of yellow fever until 15 or 25 days after it had been fearfully epidemic in New Orleans. Yet all these inland towns had been exposed to the same “epidemic constitution” of the atmosphere, and even in a much higher degree…If some foreign agent or influence were not necessary, why did the epidemic visit New Orleans one month earlier than Natchez or Vicksburg?….” (Monette 1842, pp. 88-91.)
“Without multiplying examples, we will adduce the case of the steamboat Corsair, which left New Orleans in September 1839, for St. Louis, having on board at least 50 passengers of all kinds, besides her crew. Soon after her departure many of them began to sicken with yellow fever daily, and one or two died every day during her trip. Before she arrived at St. Louis, this boat had buried fifteen of her passengers and crew at different points along the river bank. Others recovered, and many were still sick when she arrived at St. Louis. Most of these persons, no doubt, contracted the disease in New Orleans; but such a number of cases was sufficient to infect the boat, especially after receiving her freight from the infected district. Had this boat continued to run in the lower trade, in all probability, before November, she would have been instrumental in spreading yellow fever in many towns on the lower Mississippi. This is not an extreme case by any means in this region; and it is beyond doubt true, that yellow fever was unknown in the towns above New Orleans previous to the introduction of steamboats.
“After New Orleans had become strongly infected, and the epidemic had been prevailing fatally for about two weeks, the disease began to make its first appearance at various points on the river above; and even on Red River, and the bayous south and east of Opelousas. The points where it first appeared in this manner, were the towns and landing-places most intimately connected with New Orleans by steamboat navigation. The following are the principal points on the Mississippi
river above New Orleans; viz.
- Donaldsonville,
- Plaquemines,
- Port-Hudson,
- Waterloo or Pointe Coupee,
- Bayou-Sara,
- Fort-Adams,
- Natchez,
- Vicksburg.
“Besides those places immediately upon the banks of the Mississippi river, there were the following towns and villages on Red River and the bayous of lower Louisiana; viz.,
- Alexandria,
- Natchitoches,
- Opelousas,
- Thibodauxville,
- New Iberia,
- Franklin,
- St. Martinsville.
“The disease as it appeared in each of these towns, was clearly traced to New Orleans, for the first cases, during a week or ten days, and until it became epidemic, after having established a new centre of infection; which then produced an extension of the disease independent of any additional importation.
“1. Donaldsonville. This town is situated on firm alluvial banks, on the west side of the Mississippi, and immediately below the efflux of the Lafourche, 85 miles above New Orleans. It is a beautiful and cleanly town, with a population of about 1000 souls. In high stages of the river, steamboats run regularly from New Orleans into the Lafourche, and to the whole settlement on that stream; but in low water, the outlet being dry, all freight and passengers for the Lafourche are landed at Donaldsonville; whence there is a short portage to the deep water in the bayou a mile or two below, where other boats receive them.
“During the summer of 1839, Donaldsonville, like all other towns on the lower Mississippi, was remarkably healthy until the first of September, when yellow fever had been epidemic in New Orleans for more than two weeks. This state of health continued uninterrupted until after ten or twelve cases of yellow fever had been introduced from New Orleans by the boats; besides a few persons who arrived from the city with the infection dormant in their systems, and soon after were attacked by fully developed yellow fever. These cases were all taken to the public hotel or to other houses in that vicinity, and near the steamboat landing. At length towards the middle of September, the local atmosphere was contaminated, or infected; and other persons, who had not been exposed to any other source of infection, contracted yellow fever and died, after having been more or less in the newly infected district. The remainder of the town continued healthy. Among the first persons attacked in Donaldsonville, after the first imported cases, were several persons who had visited, nursed, and sat up with the sick. The disease continued to spread slowly until frost, when about 30 deaths had occurred besides the first imported cases. This statement is
given upon the authority of Col. H. T. Williams, Surveyor General of Louisiana, and of Mrs. C. M. Thayer, both residents of that town. It will be remembered that Donaldsonville, during that period, was a regular depot for the trade of all the Lafourche country; and that passengers and freight were obliged to remain there from one to three days before reshipment. Not being a commercial town, it is destitute of wharves and other supposed sources of yellow-fever miasm. (Monette, 1842, pp. 93-96.)
“2. Plaquemines. This is a small straggling village along the west bank of the river, just below the outlet of the Plaquemines bayou, 34 miles above the last. It contains a population of 25 or 30 families, besides a few stores and warehouses for the Plaquemine and Opelousas trade. At low stages of the river it becomes a depot and carrying point for the trade; the outlet of the Plaquemines is dry at such times, and steamboats cannot pass through.
“This village was entirely free from any disease until after several yellow fever patients had been landed by the boats from New Orleans; besides some few persons who sickened and died on their way to Opelousas….Twelve or fifteen persons died at this place of yellow fever.
“We should have remarked before, that when any town becomes infected, or when a few cases of yellow fever make their appearance, the mass of the inhabitants immediately desert the place; and the cases which occur, as well as the deaths afterwards, are from among the remnant of population who decline leaving.” (p. 96.)
“The next town on the river above is Baton-Rouge, on the east bank, upon high rolling ground, 140 miles above New Orleans, and 23 miles above Plaquemines. The population of this town is about 8 or 900. This is not a trading town, and no extensive settlements are near to make it a shipping point….the people…refused to receive yellow-fever patients into their town…[and] entirely escaped the epidemic yellow fever….
“This non-intercourse, and the non-introduction of yellow-fever patients into Baton-Rouge in 1839, is the only satisfactory reason why this place escaped during this fatal epidemic season; when every town and landing place below, and above, for 250 miles, with uninterrupted intercourse, were desolated by the pestilence.” (pp. 96-97.)
“Port-Hudson. This is a small village containing about 30 houses and 100 souls. It is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, upon a firm clay bluff, about 35 feet above the river alluvium, and 25 miles above Baton-Rouge. It is the shipping point for an extensive back settlement, 25 or 30 miles distant. A rail-road from Jackson, La., intersects the river at this point, which also contributes to render it an important steamboat landing. During the month of September, the yellow fever was introduced among the merchants, clerks, and laborers, and about fifteen of them died. Others from the country contracted the disease.” (pp. 97-98.)
“…Waterloo. This is an important landing-place for the rich settlements on Fausse Riviere, of Pointe Coupee. It is five miles above Port-Hudson, and is situated on the west bank of the river. The commercial intercourse between this place and New Orleans was uninterrupted; and besides the usual steamboat communication, during the epidemic in the city, a number of the French inhabitants, believing they possessed a constitutional immunity against the disease, made a visit to New Orleans in the midst of the epidemic. After a few days of pleasure and dissipation in the city, they returned; and several of these were soon attacked with yellow fever and died. An infected atmosphere was generated, and several others, who were not exposed to any other source of infection, sickened and died. The whole number of deaths at this place was about 15. I derive this information from D. P. Cain, Esq.” (p. 98.)
“…Bayou-Sara. This is a very important shipping point, on the east bank of the Mississippi, about 6 miles above the last village. The East Feliciana rail-road terminates at this point. The principal town, St. Francisville, is nearly a mile from the river, on high rolling ground; while Bayou Sara is situated on the immediate bank of the river, and is properly the landing, or shipping point for the town, and an extensive settlement for 50 miles back. When yellow fever became epidemic in New Orleans, many persons came to Bayou Sara, and the vicinity, as a retreat from disease; others arrived at intervals subsequently; and the regular packets, besides the boats in the upper trade, continued their trips as usual during the epidemic, until many cases of yellow fever were introduced, as at other points. An infected district was produced near the steamboat landing, and the disease finally spread among the resident population; it was also communicated to some from the country, who had not been exposed to any other source of infection. About 20 persons died in this town and its vicinity. This place, as well as St. Francisville, was remarkably healthy until after cases of yellow fever were introduced from New Orleans.” (pp. 98-99.)
“…Fort-Adams. This town is situated on the immediate bank of the river, on the east side, at the foot of a high hill or bluff, many of the houses being crowded up the side of the hill. It is 75 miles above Bayou-Sara; it is a town of considerable trade for the back country, and is a shipping point for steamboats. The population is about 300. The yellow fever was introduced into this town in the same way that it was introduced into Bayou Sara and other towns below. It assumed an epidemic form late in September, and about 20 deaths occurred before it was checked by frost.” (p. 99.)
“…Natchez is the next in order. This city is nearly 300 miles above New Orleans, on the east side of the river. It is situated chiefly upon high ground, nearly 200 feet above the river; a portion at the immediate landing for steamboats and flatboats, is at the base of the bluff, along a narrow strip of alluvium, about 50 yards wide, and 600 yards in length. This portion of the city contains about 50 or 60 houses, including several large warehouses, stores, and hotels, with a resident population of nearly 200. It has always been the point first infected with yellow-fever, with one exception, which is easily explained. The disease always makes its first appearance among the clerks, shop-keepers, laborers and others, who reside upon the wharves or frequent the steamboats during the summer season….
“Natchez never was more healthy than during the last 30 days preceding the epidemic of 1839. Without fear of contradiction, I might say there was no city in the United States, of the same population, more healthy than Natchez was, until after the introduction of yellow-fever cases, and constant steamboat intercourse with New Orleans for nearly 30 days after yellow fever had been epidemic in that city. The whole country was alike healthy; not a case of bilious fever was known; even the negroes who toiled in the sun, on the hills of Mississippi, and in the swamps of Louisiana, were alike free from the usual diseases of the season. At such a time as this, our citizens were daily exposed to imported infection, for nearly 30 days after yellow fever had been epidemic in New Orleans. During that time, scarcely a day elapsed, without the arrival of one or more steamboats crowded with people returning to the north, besides scores of Irish and German emigrants direct from New Orleans with their bundles of filthy clothes and beds, and occasionally one or two open cases of yellow fever to be sent ashore to the hospital. More or less of these foreign emigrants were left by each ascending boat, and often with the seeds of disease dormant in their systems and ready to be developed in a few days in the midst of a healthy population; steaming infection from the close and crowded huts and cellars in which they were compelled to seek shelter. Before the 20th of September there had been twenty deaths in the hospital, chiefly from among this class, and from the sick taken off the boats. Besides these, there were several persons residing in Natchez who had imprudently visited New Orleans, and who were attacked soon after their return.
“Such was the state of things in Natchez for more than three weeks before the epidemic broke forth in its fury. Under these circumstances, and with the daily importation of large quantities of blankets and woolen goods for the planters, all from the infected district of New Orleans, could any one reasonably expect less than an epidemic yellow fever…Southern people, who are unbiased by interest, know too well the character and habits of this disease to plead ignorance on the subject. If, knowingly, they permit their better judgment to be influenced by a class of interested merchants, and suffer pestilence to be imported and spread among the helpless and innocent population, the innocent and the guilty must suffer together. But the municipal authorities must answer to God and their fellow citizens for the untimely deaths of hundreds of helpless poor, and many valuable citizens.
“After many cases of yellow fever had been introduced and others had occurred, there seemed suddenly to be two principal centres of infection in the upper part of the city. These were the City Hotel, and the Railroad Hotel, both within fifty yards of the west end of Main street. The former was the resort of American strangers generally; the latter, in like manner, was the resort of the German emigrants, of whom there were many in the city. Each of these hotels were more or less crowded with strangers, daily arriving from New Orleans.
“Yet in these houses and vicinity, an infected air was not produced until late in September, after the disease had prevailed near the steamboat landing for nearly two weeks, and several persons had died at the hotels.
“Here we would remind the reader that in 1837, the first principal focus or centre of infection in the upper city was a German tavern on the corner of State and Commerce streets, which at that time was the principal resort of the German strangers. This custom was transferred to the Railroad Hotel in 1839, when the former was discontinued. In 1839 that portion of the city near the corner of State and Commerce streets was almost exempt from the disease; while in 1837, there being no such house as the Railroad Hotel, that point was comparatively exempt from the disease.
“It was not until the 22d of September, 1839, that the disease began to spread rapidly near the steamboat landing; immediately after which a large portion of the population fled to the surrounding country for protection, and by the 28th the population of the city was reduced to 800 or 900 souls. The epidemic raged with great malignity until the middle of November, when 235 persons had died, viz: — 69 in September, 135 in October, and 31 in November. Three practicing physicians died, and three recovered after the most severe attacks. The whole number of- cases was about 500.
“The advocates of its local origin from city filth and putrescent matters, or from decaying vegetables, or miasma, were compelled to abandon that ground as untenable in the present epidemic. The facts relative to the beginning and spread of this epidemic, made hundreds of proselytes to the doctrine of imported infection, which could never have been effected by human reasoning.
“Such had been the reliance upon a cleanly condition of the city, as an infallible guarantee of health, and as security against an epidemic, that the municipal authorities, in accordance with these views, had caused the whole city to be thoroughly cleansed and spread with lime as a preventive. So effectually had this been accomplished, that the advocates of the local origin confidently predicted an exemption from an epidemic visitation, and derided the very mention of the word quarantine. The malignant epidemic which soon after broke out, convinced them that something besides city filth, and the like, could produce epidemic yellow fever.
“It may be inquired, why is Natchez so frequently visited by yellow fever, when Vicksburg and other towns above Natchez have frequently been exempt? The reason is clear and unequivocal to my mind. Natchez is about 300 miles above New Orleans, a run of 36 or 40 hours for ordinary boats. It is the first port of entry, and by far the most important commercial point between New Orleans and St. Louis. It is the only point in this whole distance where a public hospital is prepared for the reception of sick and indigent boatmen, and yellow-fever patients from the ascending boats. Scarcely a boat from New Orleans passes Natchez without making a landing, at all seasons, and especially during an incipient epidemic in New Orleans, to discharge the numerous passengers and emigrants flying from the disease, as well as to relieve themselves of the sick who may be on board, either among the cabin or deck passengers. Hence every boat ascending to St. Louis, or the Ohio, is sure to make the first principal landing at Natchez, and the packets frequently make it the termination of their upward trips. Every boat making such a landing at Natchez, has no occasion to stop again at Vicksburg, or the intermediate towns; because her principal passengers, not bound for the upper country, as well as all her sick, are discharged at Natchez….
“Hence, when the hospital at Natchez, (which is within that city) is kept open for the reception of yellow fever patients, it serves as a lure to attract infected boats to her wharves, and invite pestilence among her own citizens. This very policy often protects the towns above and below, while it exposes her own citizens to the horrors of a malignant epidemic….
“…in 1841 Natchez closed her hospital and established a quarantine as soon as yellow fever was epidemic in New Orleans. What was the consequence? The first principal landing for upward-bound boats was at Vicksburg, which continued healthy up to that time, but was visited with a most malignant epidemic within twenty days after the Natchez quarantine was enforced; while Natchez, thus protected, continued perfectly healthy during the whole time the epidemic was raging on both sides of her….” (pp. 99-104.)
“…Vicksburg. This is a port of entry on the east side of the Mississippi, about 400 miles above New Orleans. It is situated upon the side of a steep hill, or bluff upland, facing the river, and upon a strip of alluvium at the base of the bluff, about 50 yards wide, and half a mile in length. The latter is crowded with stores, warehouses, produce-stores, and numerous small shops, up to the immediate bank of the river, near the steamboat landing. The population is about 4000 souls.
“This city, during the most fatal epidemics which have desolated Natchez, has always been exempt until 1839, when only a partial epidemic, which was checked by frost, had commenced. The importance of Vicksburg, as a port and shipping point for steamboats, has been increasing for the last few years; and in 1839 the railroad leading to Jackson was put into operation. This at the time drew a great many Irish laborers to the place when the yellow fever drove them from Natchez; and since the completion of the railroad, the commercial as well as the travelling intercourse has been augmented.
“In 1839 this city continued as healthy as any city in the south until about the 10th of October. At that time the lower part of the city, at the foot of the bluff, began to be very sickly, and several deaths occurred every day, until the last of the month, when there had been as many as seven deaths per day for a part of the time. None could deny that some malignant disease was daily sweeping off its victims; but as none of the medical faculty of Vicksburg, although equal as a body to any in the Union, had ever seen yellow fever, and did not apprehend any such thing, from the cleanly state of the city, they concurred generally in calling it congestive fever. It continued its ravages until checked by frost early in November. By that time, at least 50 persons of all kinds had fallen victims to it; of these deaths about 30 occurred in the vicinity of the steamboat landing and many others near the railroad depot, among the Irish shanties….
“This disease was, most unquestionably , yellow fever. Its symptoms, general character, and issue, have been detailed to me, and places it, in my mind, beyond a doubt. Dr. Hicks, who practiced in the midst of it, towards the last of October, assured me that it was genuine yellow fever, with genuine black vomit. This peculiar characteristic of the disease cannot be mistaken by
any physician who has once seen and examined it. Since the close of the epidemic of 1841 in this city, I have conversed with several of the physicians of Vicksburg, who had become familiar with yellow fever, and they were free to admit that the fever of 1839 was genuine yellow fever. Many cases of yellow fever in the first stages assume such an insidious aspect, that our most discriminating teachers of medicine, who have not been familiar with it, would be greatly deceived in their diagnosis, and mortified in their prognosis. Even in the advanced stage, there are cases where one not familiar with it, would pronounce a patient convalescent when he was moribund.
“The first cases of this disease at Vicksburg in 1839, were brought there by steamboats; some were cases openly developed, and others were persons with the seeds of disease in their systems, but apparently in perfect health. An infected atmosphere was created near the steamboat landing, and near the railroad depot, which was gradually extending itself when it was neutralized by frost.
“It is a material circumstance in this epidemic, that the city was unusually healthy for nearly three weeks after the epidemic had been raging in Natchez, and the first cases were certainly imported. And, had they been imported early in September, the epidemic would have matured before frost, and would have swept off five times the number it did.
“How was it in 1841? Natchez established a quarantine; all the boats, with their refugee emigrants, and yellow-fever patients, or those with the seeds of disease dormant in their systems, were carried on to Vicksburg, and soon they spread yellow fever there, as they would have done, and as they had often done before, in Natchez. In twenty days, or by the 20th of September, they succeeded in producing epidemic yellow fever in Vicksburg, and it raged with great malignity until the first of November. Hence the first regular epidemic in Vicksburg occurred while Natchez, protected by a quarantine, escaped entirely.”
“The same principle was exemplified and illustrated, in the case of other towns, and especially Grand Gulf. This town in 1839 permitted free intercourse with all ascending boats which chose to land, and freely admitted the sick, and others. The consequence was that there were about 20 deaths from yellow fever, and the disease was assuming an epidemic form…just as it was arrested by frost. The appearance of these cases in Grand Gulf was simultaneous with those in Vicksburg, and occurred only after boats ceased to land at Natchez.” (pp. 107-108.)
“…Alexandria. This town is situated on the south bank of Red River, just below the rapids, and about 365 miles by the river from New Orleans, or a run of 48 hours by the steam packets. It is the head of steamboat navigation on the lower Red River, during low stages of water. The population generally amounts to about one thousand souls.
“The health of this place had never been more uninterrupted in the summer season, than it was for three weeks after yellow fever had been epidemic in New Orleans. The regular steam packets made each their regular weekly trips to and from New Orleans. When the stage of the river admitted the passage of a steamboat over the rapids, they ascended as far as Natchitoches.
“The health of the bayou settlements south and east, at the distance of a few miles, was partially interrupted by a few cases of bilious fever. Yet Alexandria continued quite healthy until after nearly a dozen cases of yellow-fever had been introduced by steamboats from New Orleans; besides a number of other persons, who arrived in the meantime, from the same port, apparently in perfect health, and who were soon afterwards attacked by the same disease.
“….Such was the state of things in Alexandria when the epidemic was making its first advances in New Orleans…it being then the head of steamboat navigation from New Orleans, and the point of disembarkation for the swarms of Texian emigrants. An unusual rise or flood in Red River, at this critical juncture, postponed the epidemic for nearly six weeks. Red River continued in flood more or less until late in August, so as to admit the passage of steamboats for that length of time, over the rapids, as far as Natchitoches and farther. That place immediately became the principal destination of the steamboat trade; and Alexandria for the time was relieved of the swarms of emigrants daily ascending to upper Red River and to Texas, as well as of large quantities of freight and goods from the infected district of New Orleans.
“So soon as the river subsided to a low stage again, and the rapids were impassable, Alexandria again became the head of steamboat navigation from New Orleans, about the last of August. It was a second time the depot for all the passengers, emigrants, and freight of every kind, shipped for the upper Red River country. At this time, early in September, the epidemic in New Orleans was beginning to sweep off its scores every day; and every steamboat which arrived at Alexandria introduced more or less…occasional cases of open yellow-fever, and many persons with the infection dormant in their systems. Cases of yellow fever immediately began to manifest themselves in that part of the town near the river, and in boarding-houses near the steamboat landings. By the 20th of September yellow fever was epidemic in the place; and it prevailed over the whole town before the first of October, although the majority of the people had fled to the country. So strongly infected was the local atmosphere of the place, that several persons from the country, who imprudently visited the town at that time, contracted the disease several days afterwards, and died in the country.
“The disease was checked by the cold weather about the first of November, after one hundred and five souls had perished. Of these only six were females. The majority of all the deaths and cases occurred among emigrants, boatmen, or transient persons, principally from New Orleans….” (pp. 108-110.)
“…Natchitoches. The cases at this place were comparatively few, and were altogether in those who had arrived from New Orleans with the infection in their systems, or were open cases of fever discharged from the boats. These occurred also before the last of August, while the river admitted steamboats over the rapids, and while the epidemic in New Orleans had not reached its greatest degree of virulence. The fall in the river, very opportunely, as the epidemic in New Orleans was approaching its most malignant grade, cut off further intercourse, and this preserved Natchitoches from a fatal epidemic. The Washington packet in her last trip left several persons sick of yellow fever at Natchitoches, who afterwards died. Natchitoches is 150 miles by the river above Alexandria, on the south-west bank of Red River, upon fine ancient alluvium, skirted by roiling pine uplands in the rear; population about 500….” (p. 110.)
“…Thibedeauxville [Thibodaux] is situated on the south side of the Lafourche, about forty miles from its efflux at Donaldsonville, and 125 miles, by steamboat route, from New Orleans. The population is about 300 souls, chiefly Creole French, and some Americans, and transient persons. In low stages of the Mississippi, steamboats cannot pass from the river into the Lafourche, on account of the shoal bottom for several miles of its upper course. At such times the small steamboats which remain in the Lafourche, run regularly from the upper to the lower settlements, a distance of about 100 miles. Donaldsonville then is the depot for the freight and passengers from New Orleans for the Lafourche, and is connected with the Lafourche line of boats by a portage of a few miles. Thibedeauxville is the central town for these settlements, and a regular landing point for steamboats.
“In this place the population enjoyed uninterrupted health in the fall of 1839 until many persons arrived from New Orleans, towards the last of August, for retirement from the epidemic. The first five or six cases of yellow fever were unquestionably in persons recently from that city; and none pretend to question the fact, that these cases were introduced from New Orleans. Cases occurred subsequently during the month of September, until the whole number was about twenty-Jive. Some of the latter could not be traced to New Orleans, but to infection or fomites introduced from that city. The disease did not prevail as an epidemic, for the greater number of cases were contracted in New Orleans. Mr. W. B. Shields, an intelligent planter in that region, assures me of those facts. The number of deaths in this town was about fifteen.” (pp. 112-113.)
“…Franklin. This town, like the last, is situated on high alluvium, on the Teche, at the head of steamboat navigation in low stages of the river. The distance from New Orleans by the steamboat route, is about 250 miles….Population 250. This town, like all the interior towns, was uncommonly healthy during the summer until after yellow fever had become epidemic in New Orleans, and many persons flying from that disease, had arrived from the city about the first of September. In addition to which, in the first week of September, a steamboat arrived from New Orleans with many persons on board, several of whom were attacked soon afterwards with yellow fever, besides two cases which developed themselves on the way, one of which died before the boat reached Franklin. This boat proved to be infected; for several persons died who had not been exposed to any other source of infection, and who were attacked with yellow fever a few days after having made a visit to this boat. The clerk of the Parish court was one of them. In less than a week after this boat arrived at the landing, several persons in that immediate vicinity took the disease and also died. The disease was considered epidemic after the 15th of September, and did not cease until checked by frost early in November. The number of deaths in the village and vicinity, was about 25; the whole number of cases about 45.” (p. 113.)
“…New Iberia. This town, like the last, is situated on the Teche, and upon high ancient alluvium, about 30 miles above Franklin, and at the head of low tide-water. The population is about 160. This village continued very healthy until about the 10th of September, when cases of yellow fever began to present them-selves in the persons of those who had recently arrived from New Orleans, by way of the Plaquemines. Such were the first cases of yellow fever in New Iberia, in 1839. I am not apprised that the disease was ever there before. Soon after the first cases of this kind, the disease began to spread among those of the place who had been exposed to no other source of infection than the steamboats, the sick, and the fomites imported in those boats. The whole number of deaths, in and near this town, was about twenty. For the facts I am indebted to the Hon. B. G. Tenney, and” other intelligent men.” (pp. 113.114.)
“….Oppelousas [Opelousas] is a small, scattered village, situated in a rolling prairie, proverbial for health, and remote from all those causes which are said to generate yellow-fever miasma. It is
remote from any navigable stream, and the nearest steamboat landing is nearly six miles distant. With this point, however, the village has direct and constant intercourse by a regular line of daily stages; and thus a direct communication is kept up from New Orleans to Oppelousas. The route between the two points is made in less than 48 hours…The intercourse is not discontinued during the whole year; and previous to the experience of 1839, it was supposed, even by those who were well convinced of the importable nature of the disease, that the interruption in the route by a land portage of six miles, was a sufficient guaranty of safety. This village has long been a resort for many of the inhabitants of New Orleans, when compelled by the epidemic to retire from the city; and in no case have 1 been able to learn that yellow fever has been ever communicated in its epidemic form to the inhabitants until the autumn of 1839. This year the health of the place was uninterrupted, until the first of September, when Gases of this disease began to manifest themselves in the persons of those who had recently arrived from New Orleans. For ten days it was confined exclusively to the people of New Orleans, and those recently returned from that city, with whom the village was thronged. Cases multiplied daily, and by the middle of September it was considered as epidemic, when most of the people deserted the place. The disease was epidemic until November, when the number of deaths had increased to forty-seven, of whom seventeen were natives of the place. An infected atmosphere was created, and first, especially in some houses where cases had occurred. Some persons from the country, in perfect health, contracted the disease and died after having made a short visit to those houses, supposed to be infected. (p. 115.)
“Nor was the dissemination of yellow fever from New Orleans, restricted to the inland towns of Louisiana and Mississippi. It was carried likewise to Texas. The principal port of Texas is Galveston, about 500 miles by the sea route from New Orleans. This route is made by the regular packet steamboats in less than 60 hours. Thus, in two days and a half, a steamboat loaded with freight and passengers from the infected port of New Orleans, will be discharging the same at the wharves of Galveston. This kind of intercourse is almost daily during the whole business season.
“From Galveston to Houston is a drive of eight hours by the stage; and the intercourse is direct and uninterrupted. The port of Galveston has little or no direct trade with any foreign port except New Orleans — it is situated upon an island of sand and of course not in a miasmatic atmosphere, according to the common doctrine. Yet it did become infected with yellow fever as an epidemic, and many lives were lost. Others died with yellow fever at Houston, who left New Orleans only 8 or 10 days before. Galveston received the seeds of the disease from New Orleans, and from New Orleans alone. I am well aware that the Galveston epidemic has been ascribed to the magic influence of marsh miasma, city filth, and impure wharves. It began about the wharves and shipping, we admit, as it does at every port….” (pp. 115-116.)
“….Mobile City. This city has an extensive commercial intercourse with the West Indies and other parts of the world. The direct intercourse between Mobile and tropical ports is no more restricted than that of New Orleans, except in point of commercial importance. Besides this it has constant intercourse by steamboats and sea vessels with New Orleans. Owing to its own direct trade with the West Indies; it becomes infected with yellow fever almost simultaneously with New Orleans, while those towns which derive their infection from either, or both, are not visited by the disease epidemically for several weeks after it has prevailed in one or both of these cities. The disease in Mobile is no less fatal than it is in New Orleans. The average mortality in both is
at least one-third of the whole number of cases; whereas in inland towns the mortality seldom falls short of one half, notwithstanding the assertions of some men to the contrary.
“The disease in 1839 made its appearance among the shipping at Mobile, simultaneously with the same disease in New Orleans. In both places, the first cases were among the shipping exclusively, or among those who had frequented certain vessels. At Mobile the disease was advancing pari passu with that in New Orleans until the 20th of August, when a south wind sprung up for several days, and the disease, for a while, appeared to be arrested. But by the third of September it began to spread with great virulence, and extended to the inhabitants of the city. It continued to spread among them for nearly six weeks, with great mortality, until the 20th of October, when it began to abate after a strong wind and change of weather. On the first of November the disease was considered extinct. The total number of deaths was about 650 — of these, 147 died in August, 383 in September, and 120 in October. On the first and second days of September there were 22 deaths; and 127 in the next seven days.” (p. 118.)
“….Let us inquire into a few other points along the northern shore of the Mexican Gulf…. We find… we find the little port of St. Joseph’s, where a lively trade had sprung up a year or two previously for the new settlements on the lower Apalachicola, with direct intercourse with New Orleans and Mobile, as well as with the West Indies, ravaged by the same pestilence which was then prevailing in those ports. A little further east and south, on the western side of the peninsula
of Florida, is Tampa Bay. This point, also, within the last two years had attracted a smart trading intercourse from the same ports, and after the Seminoles had been driven back, was thronged with settlers and adventurers. This place too became infected, and many of its inhabitants died. Other points were visited in the same manner.” (p. 122.)
“St. Augustine, on the eastern side of East Florida, had been proverbial for health during the Spanish regime, and was never visited with yellow fever until it came under the jurisdiction of the United States. But in the autumn of 1821, having become thronged with northern emigrants and unacclimated adventurers (and mainly on account of its proverbial salubrity), it was suddenly visited by a most fatal epidemic, which swept off a large proportion of all who were attacked.
“In 1839, the population of this town was quite healthy until about the middle of August, when yellow fever of a very mild character prevailed to a considerable extent. The place labored under this epidemic from the middle of August until the 12th of November. During this time, out of seven hundred cases, only about fifty died — or one in fourteen!! Most cases yielded readily to a judicious mode of treatment….” (p. 123.)
“…Charleston, S. C…. We propose briefly to examine the circumstances connected with the prevalence of yellow fever in this city in the fall of 1839, and its subsequent appearance at Augusta in the interior of Georgia. The newspapers represent Charleston as having been remarkably healthy until the first of July. A few cases of yellow fever had occurred among the shipping in port soon after the middle of June; and cases from the vessels were received into the marine hospital on the 25th and 26th of June, at which time cases were frequent among the shipping.
“The Charleston Courier, of the 24th of June, 1839, says up to that time, “the cases of yellow fever were few in number, and confined exclusively to a few vessels in our harbor, and to seamen on board those vessels;” again, “not a single case had occurred on shore.” The same paper again declares, that, up 6 to the 24th of June (1839), “among the vast number of persons now in our city, liable to yellow fever, not a landsman has been attacked by it.” The number of cases began to increase daily among the shipping, and chiefly among the crews who were unacclimated. During this time the papers of Charleston continued to repudiate the doctrine which admits the possibility of yellow fever being in any case contagious, or in any wise communicable from the sick to the healthy population; they endeavored to calm the fears of the people against all possible danger, as it possessed, in their opinion, no more communicable properties than bilious or intermittent fever. In this manner they made themselves responsible for the death of hundreds. Many, relying upon such advisers, neglected the necessary precautions; intercourse with the infected vessels was indirectly encouraged, and by this means it was soon disseminated among the contiguous population; and in a few days more it was epidemic among the people residing near the wharves adjacent the infected vessels.[11]
“On the 10th of July the Charleston Mercury urged in very strenuous terms the necessity for “captains and owners of vessels” to be prompt in procuring medical aid, in the first attack, while the mass of the citizens were, in effect, encouraged to introduce the disease into the city. The laboring classes as usual, and those who carry on the commercial transactions with the shipping, were the first victims among the inhabitants. The disease continued to spread slowly from the shipping to the population adjacent to the wharves, until the last of July, when it was admitted to be epidemic in the city
“It is not my purpose in this or any other case, to point out the particular vessel which introduced the disease, because I believe that many are concerned in its introduction; it is the work of some days or weeks, and each vessel from an infected port, has its special agency in inducing an epidemic. There were vessels in the port of Charleston, with yellow fever on board, as early as the 7th of June. The brig Burmah is the first that we can refer to; the brig Braganza was soon after there with yellow fever on board, and many others subsequently.
“All agree in the fact that for fifteen days after the disease began to excite alarm, it was confined exclusively to the shipping, and such as came from West India ports. Yet the public press, without evil design, we are sure, endeavored to bolster up the belief that it was a local disease, and a mere grade of bilious fever, produced by local atmospheric influences, although the resident population was at first exempt; while those who were least exposed to such influences, if they had existed, were the only victims. But blinded by an interested prejudice, they would not see.
“As soon as the people perceived that the pestilence was extending the sphere of its action, they immediately adopted the usual and only measure for safety, and fled to the country. The rail-road to Augusta offered the most convenient and direct conveyance, and accordingly many embraced the opportunity of retiring to that high and healthy interior town, in the State of Georgia, where yellow fever had never been known. Some took with them beds, bedding, goods, and the articles
usually taken by retreating families and merchants.
“The disease was epidemic in Charleston from the first of August until the 20th of October, when it began to decline in virulence. The number of deaths I have not been able to procure.” (pp. 124-126.)
“…Augusta, Ga. This city, within a few years, has become an important commercial depot for importations made through Charleston and Savannah for an extensive region of country in the interior of Georgia and South Carolina. It is also the point at which a great portion of the interior cotton crop of these two States is collected for those two maritime ports. As such depot it is the head of steamboat navigation on the Savannah river; and in 1839 was the terminus of the great Charleston rail-road. It is situated upon the Savannah river, 230 miles above the port of Savannah, and 120 miles by the rail-road from Charleston. The site is chiefly tertiary upland formation, in a high and healthy region, beyond the influence of marsh miasm [miasma], and all those matters to which yellow fever epidemics in maritime ports are ascribed.
“Previously to the summer of 1839, it was proverbial for its salubrity, and noted for its exemption from yellow fever during all the ravages of that disease in Charleston and Savannah. Such had been its exemption from this disease at such times, that it furnished a plausible argument against the probable importability of the disease; for if importable at all, it might have been at some time transported from Charleston or Savannah, with which constant intercourse was maintained….
[Monette goes on to quote from a letter written by professor Samuel Henry Dickinson of Charleston to a Dr. B. B. Strobel, dated January 14, 180, and published in the Charleston newspapers and republished in the New Orleans Morning Advertiser of December 1841:
The events of the last summer. Augusta remained uncommonly healthy for fifteen days after yellow fever had been epidemic in Charleston, and for nearly ten days after it had been epidemic also in Savannah. Within a few days after the general alarm and flight from Charleston, cases began to appear in Augusta, and chiefly in those who had retired from those infected points, until about the 15th of August. On the 17th and 18th of August, cases began to multiply, and on the 20th it was considered epidemic. From the 18th to the 31st of August, the deaths were only twenty-eight. From that time until the last of September the disease raged with great mortality, after which it began to abate. The number of deaths in the month of September was reported at one hundred and seventy.
The history of this epidemic will show that Augusta was exposed to a double source of infection; first, by the rail-road from Charleston, upon which the train of cars arrive in eight or ten hours; and secondly, by steamboats which reach Augusta in thirty-six hours from Savannah. The former makes daily trips, and the latter are successively arriving once or twice a week, with every variety of articles which retain the infected air in them.
The continued arrivals upon the cars, of persons with the latent seeds of yellow fever in their systems, to be soon developed in open yellow fever, besides other modes of introducing infection, tended strongly to accelerate the epidemic constitution of the city air for leading on the epidemic.
As soon as the inhabitants of Augusta were convinced that they were invaded by this unwelcome visitation, they immediately fled from the city and took refuge in the surrounding country…. (pp. 126-128.)
(Monette, John W. Observations on the Epidemic Yellow Fever of Natchez and of the South-West. Louisville, KY: Prentice and Weissinger, 1842.)
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: Published for the Author by Search & Pfaff Ltd., 1909; General Books reprint, Memphis, TN, 2010. 1909 copy digitized at: http://archive.org/stream/historyofyellowf00auguuoft#page/n4/mode/1up
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
Brown, Harvey E., Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army. Quarantine on the Southern and Gulf Coasts. Washington: December 2,1872. Transmitted by Letter from The Secretary of War, Communicating, In obedience to law, information in relation to quarantine on the Southern and Gulf Coasts (Senate Documents, 42d Congress, 3d Session, Executive Document No. 9; in: United States Congress, Senate. Index to the Senate Executive Documents for the Third Session of the Forty-Second Congress of the United States of America, 1872-´73, in one Volume. Washington: GPO, 1873.) Accessed 8-23-2013 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=zI0FAAAAQAAJ&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
Drake, Daniel, M.D., S. Hanbury Smith, M.D. and Francis G. Smith, M.D. (eds.). A Systematic Treatise, Historical, Etiological, and Practical, on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America…(Second Series). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., Publishers, 1854. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=AW0_AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Jones, Joseph, MD. “Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in New Orleans,” p. 683-715 in New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal (S. M. Bemis, W. H. Watkins and S. S. Herrick eds.). Vol. VI, New Series, 1878-ʹ9), March, 1879. Accessed 3-20-2018 at: https://ia800108.us.archive.org/30/items/19030340RX28.nlm.nih.gov/19030340RX28.pdf
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
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
Rowland, Dunbar (Director, Mississippi Department of Archives and History). Mississippi – Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (Vol. 2 of 3). Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing Association, 1907. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=EJ4yAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Sanitary Commission of New Orleans. Report of the Sanitary Commission to His Honor J. L. Lewis, Mayor of the City of New Orleans. New Orleans: By Authority of the City Council of New Orleans, 1854. Google preview accessed 3-5-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=_EQJAAAAIAAJ&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
United States Senate. “Letter from the Secretary of War, Communicating, In obedience to law, information in relation to quarantine on the Southern and Gulf coasts. December 9, 1872.–Referred to the Committee on Commerce and ordered to be printed.” Index to the Senate Executive Documents for the Third Session of the Forty-Second Congress of the United States of America. 1872-ʹ73. In one Volume. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873. Google preview accessed 3-20-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=VmVBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Usinger, Robert L. (U.S. Public Health Service). “Yellow Fever from the Viewpoint of Savannah” (Paper read before the Savannah Historical Research Association, June 30, 1948). At: http://www.georgiahistory.com/files/0000/0714/YELLOW_FEVER_FROM_THE_VIEWPOINT_OF_SAVANNAH__GHQ_1944.pdf
[1] Cites: Daniel Drake. …Diseases…Int. Valley of North Amer.… 1854, 191, and Harvey Brown, Quarantine, 1872.
[2] Our guestimate. Monette writes that “many of its inhabitants died.” Also notes that other localities were “visited.”
[3] Our stand-on number, not knowing the fatalities. Monette writes that yellow fever “became epidemic in the city.” Robert L. Usinger (U.S. Public Health Service), stated in a paper “Yellow Fever from the Viewpoint of Savannah,” read before the Savannah Historical Research Association, June 30, 1948, that “The years 1821, 1827, 1831, 1839, 1850, 1852, and 1853 each had a more or less severe epidemic…” (p. 145)
[4] Monette: “The first cases occurred among the shipping about the last of June, and others throughout the month of July, until, by August 1, about twenty-five cases had been received into Charity Hospital from this source.” P. 49.
[5] “Comparative Table [Yellow Fever and Cholera]. Estimate of the Salubrity of New Orleans, as affected by her Epidemics. 1st — of Yellow Fever.”
[6] Cites: New Orleans Medical & Surgical Journal (New Series, Vol. VI), March 1879, p. 699.
[7] The number is from a table on “Deaths from yellow fever” by year (1817-1878).
[8] Our number. Monette writes that “several persons sick of yellow fever at Natchitoches…afterwards died.”
[9] Monette writes that “The disease was epidemic in Charleston from the first of August until the 20th of October.”
[10] Our guestimate. Monette writes that yellow fever came to Houston via Galveston and “others” died there.
[11] Cites New Orleans Bulletin, August 10, 1839 as quoted from the N.Y. Express and Charleston Mercury.
