lornajarrettblanchard

Blanchard on estimated death toll range.*

— >17,000 Wikipedia. “1blackfeet
837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic.” 2-22-2021 edit, accessed 3-9-2021.
— ~14,280 Blanchard count of specific numbers provided below.
— 10,000 U.S. NLM. “1837-40: Smallpox, whooping cough strike the Great Plains.”
–Tens of Thousands. Dollar. “High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” 1997, p.15.*
~½ Arikara (ND/SD) Hodge, Adam. Vectors of Colonialism… Smallpox… 2009, 191.
— 800 Assiniboin. Dollar. “High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” 1997, 24
— 6,000 Blackfeet Crosby, Alfred. “Virgin-Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the…” 1992
— 4,000 “ Kohn. Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence… 2001.
— 700 “ Dollar. “High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” 1997, 24.
— ~2/3 “ Hodge, Adam. Vectors of Colonialism… Smallpox… 2009, 191.
— ~½ Hidatsas Hodge, Adam. Vectors of Colonialism… Smallpox… 2009, 191.
— 1,679 Mandan (ND/SD) Chappell. “History…MO Riv.,” Trans…KS His Soc 1905, 291.
–~1,255 “ Crosby, A. “Virgin-Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the…” 1992.
— 800 “ Dollar. “High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” 1997, 32.
— 300 Omaha Thornton R. American Indian Holocaust and Survival. 1990.
— 5,500 Pawnee Chappell. “History…MO Riv.,” Trans…KS His Soc 1905, 291.
—<2,500 “ Dollar. “High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” 1997, 24. -- >1 Steamer St. Peter Chappell. “History…MO Riv.,” Trans…KS His Soc 1905, 291.

* Blanchard on estimated death toll range. We do not use “tens of thousands” of deaths as explained in our note on the Dollar estimate. Instead we rely on actual numbers provided by two cited sources – 10,000 and over 17,000 – and convert these into a range.

*Dollar on “tens of thousands” of deaths. One might think the minimum number of deaths to qualify for a description of “tens of thousands” would be twenty thousand – two tens. However, if we were to guestimate 20,000 deaths this could be construed as making up a number.

Narrative Information

Chappell: “The most unfortunate trip that was ever made by a steamboat up the river [Missouri], and the most far-reaching in its results and in the sacrifice of human life, was that of the St. Peter. She was a single-engine boat, built by Pierre Chouteau and Peter Sarpy for the fur trade. She left St. Louis in the spring of 1837, bound for the mountains, loaded with supplies for the different posts. Her deck was composed of negroes, and before she arrived at S. Joseph, then call the ‘Blacksnake Hills,’ the smallpox had broken out among them, and one who had died was buried there. The contagion immediately extended to other members of the crew, and the danger of communicating the disease to the Indians, who were then numerous along the river, became apparent. Runners were sent forward to give the alarm and warn them to keep away from the banks; but notwithstanding this precaution the terrible contagion spread, and was communicated to every tribe east of the Rocky Mountains. The fatality, as the Indians knew no way to treat the disease, was appalling, and among some tribes amounted to annihilation. In the case of the Mandans, a tribe then seated near where Bismarck, N. Dak., is now located, a population of 1700 was reduced to 31. Among the Pawnees, who were then on the Platte, the death rate was so great that, according to the official report made to the government, they were reduced, within a year, from 10,000 to 4500 – one-half the tribe had died. Utter dismay pervaded all the tribes, and they fled from the pestilence in every direction, leaving the bodies of their dead to be devoured by the wolves.” (Chappell, Phil E. “A History of the Missouri River,” Trans…KS His Soc 1905, 291.)

Dollar: “On Friday, July 14, 1837, a young Mandan Indian died of smallpox at Fort Clark, a major fur trading post along the Upper Missouri River. That individual’s death signaled the early stages of one of the most virulent, destructive, and disruptive epidemics known on the American continent. Before the disease burned out, the total death rate soared well into the tens of thousands, the Mandan tribal population dropped below the genetic survival threshold, the balance of power among Indian tribes in the upper West shifted as entire sub-bands disappeared, social structures and customs altered to meet tribal survival needs, and the widespread Upper Missouri trade system was disrupted.

“In the aftermath many Indian groups whose hunter class had been too severely decimated to maintain food-obtaining capabilities increased their dependence on trade goods and government annuities. Others, more nomadic and less damaged by the disease, moved farther westward into areas where game still could be procured. This polarization contributed to the conditions that led to a quarter-century of Indian wars.” (Dollar 1997, p. 15)

“In his entry for Friday, July 14, 1837, twenty-five days after the St. Peter’s first docked at Fort Clark and seventeen days after its return, Chardon first noted smallpox in the Mandan village. On that day, “a young Mandan” died, and Chardon forebodingly noted that “several others has caught it.”

“The first lightning bolt of the storm had struck. The disease unleashed became a violence staggering to the imagination, even from the cushioning vantage point of intervening years.

“The apocalypse strode through the Indian villages, and in its path horror ran rampant. The old ones, the chiefs, the children all broke out in stinging, hideous, putrid sores….Six one day, four the next, seven more the next. The number quickly grew to eight and ten each day, then twelve, and fifteen, and finally, “… I Keep no a/c of the dead, as they die so fast it is impossible -.” A madness swirled through the villages as the primitive mind responded to what could not be comprehended. Mothers killed their children, fathers abandoned their sons, friends butchered each other–anything to escape. And everywhere were the stench of the disease and the bloated bodies of the dead.

“Before the scourge ended, one Indian tribe was wiped out and two others barely survived.” (p29) (Dollar, Clyde D. “The High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 15-38.)

Hodge: “Overall, the 1837-38 epidemic killed off one half of the northern plains native population.” (Hodge, Adam R. Vectors of Colonialism: The Smallpox Epidemic of 1780-82 and Northern Great Plains Indian Life. May 2009, p. 191.)

Kohn: “Mandan Indian Smallpox Epidemic of 1837.”
“Grave epidemic of smallpox that nearly wiped out the Mandan Indian tribe during three months in 1837. White Europeans carried the variola virus into what is now south and central North Dakota, where the Manda lived along the Heart and Knife rivers (tributaries of the upper Missouri) in close association with the Hidatsa (or Gros Ventre) and Arikara Indians, two tribes also dwelling in and near the region….

“In June 1837 the highly contagious smallpox disease was transmitted to the Mandan from infected passengers and traders aboard an American Fur Company steamboat traveling westward up the Missouri River from St. Louis. Members of the Hidatsa and Arikara tribes were also infected at the same time. Nearly all the Indians who were infected and survived the smallpox epidemic were disfigured; many victims were blinded. According to the American artist and traveler George Catlin (1796-1872), who painted these North American Indians of the Plains, his friend the Mandan chief Ma-to-toh-pa (also called ‘The Four Bears’) starved himself to death after watching his wives and children die of smallpox. However, another source claims that the Manda chief died of the disease himself on July 30, 1837, after making a speech to his people concerning his disdain over having to die with his face so ‘rotten’ (a deeply pockmarked face, characteristic of smallpox).

“At the close of the 1837 epidemic in September, the Mandan and Hidatsa groups were so reduced in number that they were forced to amalgamate at Like-A-Fishhook village. Some claim that only 27 Mandan were left; others say there were 100 to 150 survivors….” (Kohn 2001, 217)

ndstudies.gov (North Dakota Studies): “….When smallpox struck the northern Great Plains in 1837, tribes south of the Mandan villages were fairly well protected [due to vaccination efforts]. The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras and other tribes to the north and west suffered horrifying losses from the epidemic. In 1838, Superintendent of Indian Affairs William Clark requested that vaccines be taken to the Upper Missouri and $5,000 was added to the program. The vaccine provided some protection, but vaccination came too late for thousands of Indian men, women, and children.” (ndstudies.gov. North Dakota People Living on the Land. “Lesson 4: Alliances And Conflicts. Topic 1: Smallpox Epidemics (1781, 1837, 1851). Section 2: Smallpox Among Indian Tribes.”)

U.S. NLM. “1837-40: Smallpox, whooping cough strike the Great Plains.”
“A smallpox epidemic spreads through Native communities in the West, killing 10,000 in the Northern Plains alone. Tribes affected include Siksika (Blackfoot), Kanai (Blood), Chaticks Si Chaticks (Pawnee), Nakoda (Assiniboine), Numakiki (Mandan), Sahnish (Arikara), and Dakota, among many others….”

Sources

Chappell, Phil E. “A History of the Missouri River.” Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1905-1906 (Vol. IX). Topeka: State Printing Office, 1906. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=2dw7AAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Crosby, Alfred W. Jr. “Virgin-Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the Aboriginal Depopulation in America.” Chapter 2 in: Nichols, Roger L (Ed.). The American Indian: Past and Present. Verlag fur die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG, 1992, 312 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=SVcpfdAZ3rEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dollar, Clyde D. “The High Plains Smallpox Epidemic of 1837-38.” The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 15-

Hodge, Adam R. Vectors of Colonialism: The Smallpox Epidemic of 1780-82 and Northern Great Plains Indian Life (A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts). May 2009. Accessed 9-18-2012 at: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Hodge%20Adam%20R.pdf?kent1239393701

Kohn, George Childs (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence From Ancient Times to the Present (Revised Edition). NY: Checkmark Books, 2001.

ndstudies.gov. North Dakota People Living on the Land. “Lesson 4: Alliances And Conflicts. Topic 1: Smallpox Epidemics (1781, 1837, 1851). Section 2: Smallpox Among Indian Tribes.”) Accessed 3-9-2021 at: https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-ii-time-transformation-1201-1860/lesson-4-alliances-and-conflicts/topic-1-smallpox-epidemics-1781-1837-1851/section-2-smallpox-among-indian-tribes

Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. University of Oklahoma Press, 1990, 292 pages. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=9iQYSQ9y60MC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

United States National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services. Native Voices. Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness. “1837-40: Smallpox, whooping cough strike the Great Plains.” Bethesda, MD. NLM. Accessed 3-9-2021 at: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/292.html

— 15 Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, GA. “Loss of the Steam Packet Dolphin…” 12-22-1836, 2.
— 15 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 218.
— 15 Singer, S. D. Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing (2nd Ed.), 1998, p. 172.

Narrative Information

Lytle and Holdcamper: “Dolphin…133 [tons]…exploded…12 19 1836…St. Johns Bar, Fla. …15 [lives lost].” (Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. 1952, p. 218.)

Singer: “Dolphin – Two-masted steam schooner, 133 tons, built in 1835 at New York, 115’ x 16’ x 7’, Captain Rudolph. On Dec 19, 1836, her boiler exploded off the St. Johns Bar, killing 15 people. The rest of the passengers were rescued by the vessel Santee. The Dolphin was one of the first pioneer steamers in Florida….” (Singer 1998, p. 172; cites FL Historical Quarterly, 23 Dec 1836.)

Newspaper

Dec 20 report: “From Our Correspondents.”
“Office of the Savannah Georgian, December 20. – 12 o’clock, M.”
“Loss of the Steam Packet Dolphin – and Loss of Lives.”

“We deeply regret to learn by Capt. Brooks, of the Steamboat Santee, arrived this morning, from Volusia, that on Saturday last, 19th inst. about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the Steam Packet Dolphin, Capt. Rudolph, off St. Johns Bar, stopt to take a Pilot on board, and in the act of starting the engine, the boiler burst, and unfortunately killed fifteen persons. The Steamboat Santee being within three miles immediately proceeded to the wreck, and saved the following [notes 16 persons; we omit]:

“The following are the names of the killed – Col. Brooks; Lieut. Alexander Mackey, U.S.A.; Miss Brown, daughter of Col. Brown; Barney Luce, mate; Beaury and Eldree, engineers, Kemory, pilot, two deck hands; three stewards; and three blacks….The above are the only particulars we have been able to ascertain.” (Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, GA. “Loss of the Steam Packet Dolphin…” 12-22-1836, p. 2, col. 5.)

Sources

Augusta Daily Constitutionalist, GA. “Loss of the Steam Packet Dolphin – And Loss of Lives.” 12-22-1836, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 2-17-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/augusta-daily-constitutionalist-dec-22-1836-p-2/

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=7

Singer, Steven D. Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing (2nd Ed.). Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, Inc., 1998. Partially digitized by Google. Accessed2-16-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=6j6kjZQReqkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false

–32 Howland. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States. 1843, p. 89.
–28 passengers (20 male and 8 female).
— 4 crew. [31 deaths were due to drowning and one elderly female was a fire victim.]
–32 New England Historical Society, “The Wreck of the Circus Ship, Royal Tar.” (Webpage.)
–32 Snow. Marine Mysteries and Dramatic Disasters of New England. 1976, p. 166.

Narrative Information

Howland: “The Royal Tar. The fine steamer, Royal Tar, 400 tons burthen, commanded by Capt. Reed, and which had been plying for some months, between St. John, N.B. [New Brunswick], and Portland, Me., took fire on her passage to Portland, at 2 o’clock, P.M., on the 25th of October, 1836, in Penobscot Bay, within two miles of the Fox Islands, and was destroyed. The fire originated under deck, and had obtained such ascendency before it was discovered, that the fire engine, which was also under deck, could not be got out on account of the intense heat, which also prevented the men below from working the steam engine sufficiently long to run her ashore.

“The Royal Tar left St. John, N.B., on the 21st, with from 90 to 100 persons on board, including the crew. On deck, were an elephant, two camels, several horses, and a number of animals in cages, composing a traveling caravan. On the 25th, when crossing Penobscot Bay, and about two miles off the entrance of Fox Island Thoroughfare, it was found that the water was out of the boilers, and as the wind was blowing a heavy gale from the north-west, the boat was anchored for the purpose of filling the boilers. In about half an hour after, she was discovered to be on fire, aft; the engineer, with fifteen others, immediately jumped into the largest boat, and made for the nearest land to the leeward, which they safely reached in about four hours. Capt. Reed took the only remaining boat, and took a position at a distance to the windward. Three gentlemen passengers, good swimmers, swam towards the boat, and were taken up. The cable was slipped, and sail made on the boat, with the hope of reaching the shore; but the flames spread so rapidly, that her mainsail was destroyed in a few minutes, and her tiller ropes burnt away. She then came broadside to the wind, and was drifting directly to sea. A signal of distress had been made, and it was fortunately discovered by the U.S. revenue cutter, stationed at Castine, then four or five miles to windward, which bore down to her relief. Capt. Reed put on board her the persons in his boat, and commenced taking off those on board the steamer. At this time she was on fire nearly from stem to stern. A small place forward, which had not taken fire, was crowded with the survivors, as well as the bowsprit, bobstay, &c. Those on the quarter deck were driven over by the flames, and such as survived, were hanging to the davit tackles, and to the chains and ropes attached to the rudder. Many were suspended on ropes secured on deck, but, as the flames reached their frail dependence, they were precipitated into the sea, and perished. [Even good swimmers could be overcome by hypothermia in cold October Maine waters.]

“The cutter, unfortunately, had no boat sufficiently large to render assistance in taking off the sufferers; and as Lieut. Dyer did not deem it prudent to approach very near the wreck, on account of his vessel being an armed one, fearing the fire might communicate to his powder, the work of rescue was slow. Capt. Reed, however, firmly and resolutely persevered with his boat, though it was with some difficulty that he could obtain an efficient boat’s crew to approach the wreck, they fearing that the elephant would come overboard and destroy the boat. The last boat left the wreck a little before sunset, with one solitary frantic female, the last on board, whose sister and child had both perished before her eyes.

“The prompt and praiseworthy decision of Capt. Reed in securing the boat, was the only means by which the life of a single individual remaining on board the boat, could have been saved.

“The elephant, camels, and horses, jumped overboard, and all the animals in cages, were burnt. No baggage was saved. Many of the trunks and portmanteaus were thrown overboard, in the hope that they might be picked up. The cutter landed the survivors about 8 o’clock, P.M., at Isle au Haut, where they received the most hospitable treatment from the inhabitants.

“Additional Particulars. The whole number of passengers on board the Royal Tar was 85, of whom 28 were lost – 20 males and 8 females. Four persons attached to the boat were also lost, making 32 in all. Four of the persons attached to the caravan were among those lost. But one person was burnt, and 31 were drowned. The person burnt was an aged Irish woman, who was not seen on deck at all. Capt. Waite, of Portland, held on to a rope until it burnt off. He then swam to the rudder, got his arm into the chain, and for an hour and a half thus sustained himself and a lady and a gentleman – holding the former by her hand, while the latter held on to his leg.

“From $50,000 to $100,000 in money was lost. One gentleman had $10,000 in money and drafts – all lost. The whole loss is estimated at nearly $200,000.

“The animals on board were an elephant, six horses, two dromedaries, two lionesses, one leopard, one Bengal tiger, one gnu, a pair of pelicans, and a number of their creatures belonging to the caravan, besides Burgess’s collection of serpents and birds, Dexter’s locomotive museum, with its six horses and valuable contents, and all the musical instruments belonging to the band. The unfortunate caravan men were paid off at St. John, and were bringing home the proceeds of their summer’s expedition is specie, — all of which they lost, and were left penniless.

“Six horses, belonging to the caravan, were backed overboard; three of them instinctively swam towards the nearest land; the other three swam around the boat until they sank exhausted. A large elephant, belonging to the menagerie, having retreated to a part of the boat which the fire had not reached, mounted his fore feet upon the rail, in which position he remained till about 4 o’clock, apparently calculating, with the characteristic sagacity of the animal, the prospects of escape, when it became too hot for him, and he leaped overboard, carrying with him, as he slid down the vessel’s side, several of the passengers who were still clinging there. His immense weight probably carried him to the bottom ere he rose, as he re-appeared after some time, at considerable distance. This animal also instinctively swam towards the nearest land; but as the boat was by this time drifted four or five miles out to sea, he must have perished. The rest of the menagerie, consisting of lions, tigers, &c., were allowed to become a prey to the flames, as on account of their ferocity, it was deemed dangerous to loose them.

“Annexed is a list of the passengers and crew lost:

“Passengers lost. –

Edward C. Curtis, Stamford, Conn.;
John Siller, Boston;
John Ryan, Newcastle, N.B.;
William (boy), Halifax;
William Prince, Merimachie, N.B.;
Mary Dorrough;
Sarah Smith;
Mary Smith and child;
Peggy Cochran;
Mary Caton;
Charles Curtain;
Mary Curtain and child;
Mary Hogan;
Nicholas Phremba;
Thomas Meheny;
Dennis O’Brien;
Mary Hickley;
Fanny O’Brien;
Old lady;
Child;
John Hogan, and Eliza Hogan.

“Crew lost. —

John Day, seaman;
Charles Ford;
Mary Bunn, stewardess….

“The following incidents are related on the authority of a passenger: The Royal Tar had been four days out, having experienced contrary winds. The chief engineer had been up all night, and was in his berth, and the engine was under the direction of N. Marshall, the second engineer, who, at the time of the disaster, had entrusted the care to a fireman, who was acting as his assistant. The son of the pilot discovered that the lowest cock refused to yield water, which indicated a deficiency. The lad told his father, who notified Marshall, but the latter disregarded the information, and gave both pilot and boy to understand that he knew his own business best. In a few minutes the empty boiler became red hot, and ignited a couple of wedges placed on it to aid in supporting the elephant. The moment Capt. Reed looked down the grating, her perceived that the utter destruction of the steamer was inevitable, an gave orders to slip the anchor, hoist distress signals, and let down the boats. He took charge of the first, and lay along side a few minutes, and ten took on board as many passengers as she could carry. Sixteen others jumped in pell mell into the long boat, hanging to the cranks, and cut the ropes and let her go. At this moment the revenue cutter rounded Fox Island. The hands on board of Capt. Reed’s small boat, when the cutter was first descried, refused to pull for her, as it was against the wind. He, however, peremptorily commanded their obedience, exclaiming – ‘I was captain of the big boat, and I will be captain of the small one; and if any one refuses to run for the cutter, I’ll throw him overboard.’ The schooner soon perceived the condition of the steamer, and bore down towards her with a fair wind, but dared not to approach very near as she had powder on board. The captain of the cutter was not on board, and, for a time, Capt. Reed seized her helm. Capt. Reed then returned to the steamer, in his boat, and took another freight. The pilot of the cutter was despatched with her gig, but though he passed under her stern, within thirty feet, and saw the perishing creatures hanging to the ropes, and calling on him to come near enough to take them off, he was so much terrified that he returned without a single soul. We have conversed with Mr. Fuller, who was thus situated. Some clung to the ropes thrown over the stern, two hours. Mr. H. H. Fuller’s strength failing him, he took a turn of the rope round his neck; it was necessary to cut the rope to clear him from the burning wreck. No less than four persons fastened upon Mr. Fuller, who relieved the pressure on his neck, by getting a twist of the rope around one of his legs, and a female made fast to his other leg. This was the second time that the British consul at Portland, Mr. Sherwood, had been burnt out of a steamboat near the same place, having been on board the steam brig New York, which was burnt thirteen or fourteen years since on her passage from Eastport to Portland.

“Capt. Reed, in his letter to the agent of the company, thus remarked, ‘I have no blame to attach to anybody as regards the fire. Had our engine been on deck, we could have put the fire out easily, It is a great oversight, having a fire engine to work below.’” (Howland. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States. 1843, pp. 87-93.)

Snow: “….When the steamer began her voyage that Friday morning [Oct 21], the weather had been fine in every respect, but before the sun set a high westerly wind started to blow. The wind con¬tinued several days and forced the Royal Tar to seek shelter in Eastport Harbor, Maine, where she remained until the following Tuesday afternoon. Shortly after she left Eastport, rising winds again forced her to seek shelter, this time behind Fox Island. While the vessel was anchored about two miles [end of p. 163] off Fox Island Thoroughfare, the order was given to fill the ship’s boilers.

Sources

Howland, Southworth Allen. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States (Revised and Improved). Worcester: Warren Lazell. 1843.

New England Historical Society, “The Wreck of the Circus Ship, Royal Tar.” Accessed 10-14-2021 at: https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/george-berkeley-world-famous-philosopher-moves-ri-1729/

Snow, Edward Rowe. Marine Mysteries and Dramatic Disasters of New England. NY: Dodd, Mead, 1976.

–17-25 US Patent Office. Report of…Commissioner…on…steam boiler explosions. 1848, p. 62.
— 20 Simonds. “Disasters…Shipping.” The American Date Book. 1902, p. 97.
— 17 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 289.
— 17 Debow’s Review. “Steamboat Explosions in The West.” September, 1866, p. 308.
— 17 Fisher/McCord. “Steamboat Explosions…Fifty-Five Years.” In Scharf 1883, p. 1108.
— 17 Gould. “Losses by Explosions in Fifty Years.” Fifty Years on…Mississippi. 1889, p.437.
— 17 Lloyd. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 73.
— 17 Republican Compiler, Gettysburg. “Dreadful Accident and Loss of Lives.” 7-5-1836.
— 17 Springer. “Principal marine disasters since 1831.” US House. “Safety of Life…” 1935, p. 245.

Narrative Information

Lloyd: “The Rob Roy was on her route from New Orleans to Louisville, and was under way, at 8 o’clock P. M, June 9th, 1886, near the town of Columbia, Arkansas, when…The engine was stopped for the purpose of oiling some part of the machinery; and although this necessary operation did not occupy more than two minutes, the accumulation of steam was sufficient to cause an explosion. As soon as the accident occurred, preparations were made to run the boat ashore, which was happily reached within a few minutes. By this judicious measure many lives were undoubtedly saved. None were lost by drowning, and the only victims and sufferers were those who were killed or wounded at the moment of the explosion. The clerk of the boat, a few days after the accident, furnished…[an] account of the killed and wounded, which he certified to be cor¬rect, adding, that some of those reported among the wounded had since died, and others were not expected to recover….. Total of killed, 17.” (Lloyd. “Explosion of the Steamboat Rob Roy on the Mississippi, June 9th, 1836.” 1856, p. 73.)

United States Patent Office: “Rob Roy, bound from New Orleans to Louisville, burst her boilers on the 9th of June, 1836, near Columbia, Mississippi river. The engineer on watch, states that the water was above the upper cocks in each side of the boilers, which is evident from the manner in which the flue collapsed, being from the side, and not from top to bottom, as is the case when caused by want of water. The engine had been stopped to oil the wrist, and ship bilge-pumps. Seventeen lost, eight killed, and thirty-four wounded.” (U.S. Patent Office. Report of the Commissioner of Patents, to the Senate of the [U.S.], on the subject of steam boiler explosions. 12-30-1848, p. 62.)

Newspaper

July 5: “From the Louisville City Gazette.”
“Dreadful Accident and Loss of Lives.”

“Below we give a letter from the clerk of the Rob Roy, detailing the consequences of the late disaster it met with on the 9th inst. a few miles above Columbia:

“Steam-Boat Rob Roy,
“Columbia, Ark., June 10, 1836.

“Gentlemen — I regret that duty requires from us an expose of facts most appalling to human feelings. The steamboat Rob Roy, F. Findren, master, left New Orleans on Sunday the 5th inst. at 11 o’clock, bound for Louisville, and preceeded on her voyage, performing well, touching at different points when business required, until Thursday evening, the 9th inst. at 9 o’clock, at a point four miles above this place, (Columbia.) One of the flues in the larboard boiler collapsed, tearing from the boiler head at both ends, the steam and water, rushing out, carried everything before it, fore and aft. To give a description of the suffering and destruction would be impossible.

“Annexed, you will find a list of names, and the condition of the wounded and dead.
The engineer on watch, Mr. Thomas Brown, says the water was above the upper cocks in each of the side boilers, which is evident from the manner the flue collapsed, being from the side, and not from top to bottom, as is the case when caused by want of water. The engine had been stopped to oil the wrist and hip bilge pump. The time from taking off and letting on steam, was not more than two minutes. The boat was ran ashore as soon as practicable, and every possible exertion was used by the passengers, physicians of Columbia and boat’s crew to relieve the sufferers. At three o’clock, the North America, Capt. Breden, came along side, and towed us to this place. The sufferers are all as comfortable as circumstances can render — in good house, five doctors in attendance. The number now lost and dead is 17. How many more will die we cannot say.

“Boat’s Crew.
Levi Jackson, carpenter, of Jeffersonville, dead.
Jno. Shane, cabin boy, of Louisville, dead.
Jno. Lowden, deck hand, of Beaver, Pa., slightly scalded.
Felix Davis, fireman, colored, of Jeffersonville, dead.
Chas Lowd, of Boston, slightly scalded.
J. Fletcher, of Virginia, slightly scalded.
Geo. Williams, colored, of Cincinnati, missing presumed dead.

“Deck Passengers.
Henry Snodgras, of Park Co., La., badly scalded.
Levi Hambliln, of Dearborn Co., La., badly scalded.
Jno. O’Brien, of Ireland, dead.
Wm. Lynch, of Cincinnati, dead.
P.W. Banta, of Madison La., dead. [Madison Parish?]
Michael Reagan, of Ireland, dead.
M. Henry, of Louisville, slightly scalded.
John Cavanaugh, or Ireland, dead.
Wm. Spears, of Pittsburg, badly scalded.
E. Ford, of Boston, slightly scalded.
Richard Fulton, of Indiana, slightly scalded.
Mr. Reagan, of Scott Co., Mo., badly scalded.
R. A Braden, of Lawrence Co., Tenn., badly scalded.
Mrs. Braden & 2 children, of Lawrence, Co., Tenn., dead.
Wm. McCreary, of Scott Co., Mo., slightly scalded.
Tilden Hagg, of Randolph, badly scalded.
Saml. Vincent, of Highland Creek, lost and presumed dead.
Four names not known, lost and presumed dead.

“The Robinson is along-side and a thousand things to do. We will be ready to go ahead on one wheel, or with three boilers by the time the Splendid comes along, and she will likely assist us to the mouth of the Ohio; from there we will try to dig along. We are very deep, nothing injured except the boilers of the boat, freight not injured.

“In great haste.
“B. W. Martin, Clerk, Rob Roy.”
(Republican Compiler, Gettysburg. “Dreadful Accident and Loss of Lives.” 7-5-1836.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Debow’s Review. “Steamboat Explosions in The West.” Sept., 1866. Accessed 2-28-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=WWk6AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Fisher, Captain S.L., and Captain James McCord. “Steamboat Explosions for Fifty-Five Years.” In Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County, From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men. In Two Volumes, Illustrated. Volume II (Chapter XXVII. Navigation on the Mississippi River). Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883. Digitized by Northern Illinois University, NU Libraries Digitization Projects at: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.4487:4.lincoln

Gould, E. W. Fifty Years on the Mississippi; or, Gould’s History of River Navigation. St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1889, 750 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2008 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=udyywXOVBvsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati, Ohio: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2-28-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JlYqAAAAYAAJ

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg. “Dreadful Accident and Loss of Lives.” 7-5-1836. Transcribed by Stu Beitler for gendisasters.com. Accessed 2-28-2021 at: http://www.gendisasters.com/arkansas/16146/columbia-ar-steamboat-rob-roy-disaster-june-1836?page=0,0

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

Springer, Adele I. “Principal marine disasters since 1831.” United States Congress, House of Representatives. Hearings Before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, United States Congress (74th Congress, 1st Session). “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1935. Accessed 8-9-2020 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Safety_of_Life_and_Property_at_Sea/l9xH_9sUuVAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq

United States Patent Office. Report of the Commissioner of Patents, to the Senate of the United States, on the subject of steam boiler explosions. (30th Congress, 2d Session Executive Document No. 18). 12-30-1848. Accessed 2-21-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=chpLAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

–13-30 Blanchard*

–25-30 Lossing. Harper’s Encyclopedia of U. S. History…458 AD…1902. 1902, 454.
— 29 Fisher/McCord. “Steamboat Explosions…Fifty-Five Years.” In Scharf 1883, 1108.
— 20 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 158. [3-13-1836]
— 20 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 679. [3-13-1836]
— 20 U.S. House of Reps. Hearings… “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” 1935, p. 245,
— 13 Lloyd. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, p. 74.
— 13 Sparks. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge…1840, Vol. 11, p. 119.
— 11 Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. [Ben Franklin explosion.] March 29, 1836, p3.**
— ? Gould. Gould’s History of River Navigation, 1889, p.446. “Many…perished.”***
— ? Way. Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994. 1934, p. 47. “…great life loss.”

*Blanchard. While we show a range of 13-30, based on the sources below, with the exception of the Gettysburg newspaper account, if we were to use a single number we would utilize the 1935 Congressional Hearings on “Safety of Life and Property at Sea,” notation of twenty deaths.

**Gettysburg Republican Compiler: Notes a report of eleven immediate deaths, while fourteen others were “badly scalded.” We presume that one or more succumbed later.

***Lloyd: Notes that “the loss of life…[was] at that time was unexampled…[and] the destruction produced by this accident was very extensive.”

Narrative Information

Lloyd: “The steamboat Ben Franklin, on the day of this awful occurrence [Title notes March 13], was backing out from her wharf at Mobile, in order to make her regular trip to Montgomery. Scarcely had she disengaged herself from the wharf, when the explosion took place, pro¬ducing a concussion which seemed to shake the whole city to its foun¬dations. The entire population of Mobile, alarmed by the terrific detonation, was drawn to the spot to witness a spectacle which must have harrowed every soul with astonishment and horror. This fine boat, which had on that very morning floated so gallantly on the bosom of the lake, was now a shattered wreck, while numbers of her passengers and crew were lying on the decks, either motionless and mutilated corpses, or agonized sufferers panting and struggling in the grasp of death. Many others had been hurled overboard at the mo¬ment of the explosion, and such were the numbers of drowning people who called for assistance, that the crowd of sympathizing spectators were distracted and irresolute, not knowing where or how to begin the work of rescue. Many—how many, it is impossible to say—perished in the turbid waters before any human succor could reach them.

“Apart from the loss of life, which at that time was unexampled, the destruction produced by this accident was very extensive. The boiler- deck, the boilers, the chimneys, and other parts of the machinery, besides much of the lading, were blown overboard and scattered into fragments over the wharf and the surface of the river. Mr. Isaac Williams, a passenger, was blown at least one hundred feet high in the air, and his dead body fell into the water, about one hundred and fifty yards from the boat.

“The cause of the accident is believed to have been a deficiency of water in the boiler. The boat was injured to that degree that repairs were out of the question, and she was never afterwards brought into service.

“The usual uncertainty attends the estimated number of lives lost by this calamity. Many of those who perished, had just entered the boat, and had not registered their names ; and, among the mangled corpses, not a few retained scarcely any vestige of the human form, so that the identification of particular persons was impossible. We have, after much research, obtained the following list of the sufferers, which we believe to be the most complete account ever published. [a list of 13 killed is provided.]” (Lloyd. “Terrific Explosion of the Steamboat Ben Franklin, at Mobile, Alabama, March 13, 1836.” Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. 1856, 77.)

Way’s Packet Directory: Ben Franklin, wooden sidewheel packet, built at Cincinnati, OH in 1834; 98 tons. “Owned by the U.S. Mail Line Co….Considered very fast, and her record upstream time Louisville-Cincinnati was 14 hours 12 minutes. In the fall of 1835 was sold to a Capt. Slade and others at Mobile after having made 200 round trips in the L&C trade. She exploded boilers at Mobile on March 13, 1836 with great life lost.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, p. 47.)

Newspaper

March 29: “The boiler of the steamer Benjamin Franklin exploded at Mobile, on the 12th inst. With a force that shook the city; by which accident eleven persons were killed outright, and fourteen badly scalded. It appears to have proceeded from the usual cause of all such disasters – the omission to let off steam while the machinery was not in motion.” (Republican Compiler (Gettysburg PA). March 29, 1836, p. 3.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Fisher, Captain S.L., and Captain James McCord. “Steamboat Explosions for Fifty-Five Years.” In Scharf, J. Thomas. History of Saint Louis City and County, From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men. In Two Volumes, Illustrated. Volume II (Chapter XXVII. Navigation on the Mississippi River). Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883. Digitized by Northern Illinois University, NU Libraries Digitization Projects at: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.4487:4.lincoln

Gould, E. W. Fifty Years on the Mississippi; or, Gould’s History of River Navigation. St. Louis: Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1889, 750 pages. Digitized by Google. Accessed 2008 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=udyywXOVBvsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lloyd, James T. Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters. Cincinnati, Ohio: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JlYqAAAAYAAJ

Lossing, Benson John (Editor). Harper’s Encyclopedia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1902. NY: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1902. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=fnwQAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. [Steamboat Benjamin Franklin Explosion]. 3-29-1836, 3. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=2868075

Sparks, Jared and George Partridge Sanger, Compilers. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1831. Boston: Gray and Bowen, Nov 11, 1830. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=OKs0AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions:LCCN05001604&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

U.S. House of Representatives. Hearings Before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, United States Congress (74th Congress, 1st Session). “Safety of Life and Property at Sea.” Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1935. Accessed 8-9-2020 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Safety_of_Life_and_Property_at_Sea/l9xH_9sUuVAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=belle%20zane

Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised Edition). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1994-1999.

—      50% of native population. US Treasury Dept. Seal and Salmon Fisheries (V. IV), 1898, 231

–13,105  Boyd. The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence. 1999, p. 227. (See Boyd in narrative below.)

–11,550  Nov 1835-Spring 1838. Gibson 1982-83, p. 71.[1]

–<3,000  1837-1838. US Dept. of Treasury. Seal and Salmon Fisheries (Vol. IV), 1898, p. 224.[2]

—  1,707  Blanchard tally from locality breakouts below.[3]

—     400  Sitka natives (1836). (Gottehrer 2000, p. 84.)

—   <400  Tlingits in one village near Sitka, winter of 1835-1836. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—     400  Tlingits in village of Sitka, three months late 1836 to early 1837. (Treasury, p. 344)

—     161  Tlingits (mostly) in Sitka, most in Dec 1835 and Jan 1836. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  “…almost half…the residents of…Tlingit settlement at Sitka…perished.” (Gibson, 68)

—         1  Russian, Sitka, winter of 1835-1836. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  1836. Khutsnov strait Tlingits “were devastated.” (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. 25% of Sitka Tlingits. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. 25% of Stikine Tlingits. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. >25% natives at Chilkat villages. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. >25% natives at Kaigani villages. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. >25% natives at Keku villages. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. >25% natives at Tongass villages. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  Dec 1836-May 1837. >25% natives at “other” villages. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—         ?  1836 esp., ~⅓ Tsimshians along the southern Alaska coast. (Gibson 1982-83, p68.)

—         ?  1836 especially. >⅓Haidas along the southern Alaska coast. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 68.)

—     265  Mid-July-mid-Oct, 1837. Kodiak Island.[4] (Gibson 1982-83, p. 70.)

—     736  Kodiak Island. (US Treasury Dept. Seal and Salmon Fisheries (V. IV), 1898, p. 344.)

—       27  Natives on Alaska Peninsula.[5] (Gibson 1982-83, p. 70; Treasury Dept. 1898, p. 344.[6])

—       24  Natives on Kenai Peninsula.[7] Apparently in early 1838. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 70.)

—         ?  Hinchinbrook Island,[8] early 1838. (Gibson 1982-83, p. 70.)

—       83  Unalaska District and other Fox Islands, 1838.[9] (Gibson 1982-83, pp. 70-71.)

—     130  Unalaska. (US Treasury Dept. Seal and Salmon Fisheries (V. IV), 1898, p. 344.)

—   >200  Trading posts on Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound, Bristol Bay. (Treasury, 345-46.)

 

Narrative Information

 

Boyd: At this point we may summarize the data on mortality from the 1836 smallpox epidemic in the north [AK]. The adjusted figures, from Hudson’s Bay population estimates and censuses, and coordinate ethnohistorical data are given in the following table.

Pre-epidemic   Post-epidemic Numerical            Percentage

Population       Population            Loss                     Loss

Tlingit                          9,880               7,255               2,625                          27

Nisǥa’a                        2,423                1,625                  808                           33

Tsimshian                    4,239               2,826               1,413                          33

Haida[10]                     9,490              6,327               3,163                          33

Haisla                               825                 409                  416                            50

North Heiltsuk[11]         875                  579                 296                           34

Nuxalk                         1,940               1,056[12]            884                           46

 

Total                          29,672             20,067               9,605[13]                        32 [p. 227]

 

[Chugach, Tanaina, Koniag, Aleut AK coastal natives: ~3,500]

[Blanchard Grand Total from Boyd:                          13,105]

 Gibson: “The impact on the Indians of the Northwest Coast in the last half of the 1830s was… drastic. The Tlingits seem to have been the initial victims, very likely contracting the disease from an American or British trading vessel (their usual customers) somewhere in the ‘straits,’ the labyrinth of channels separating the islands of the Alexander Archipelago, in the fall of 1835.[14]…. [p. 66]

“…the disease was brought to Sitka at the end of November 1835 by Tlingits from the mainland panhandle; it ended at the colonial capital and among the Tlingits in the spring of 1838.[15] During this interval it spread as far south as Principe Channel and as far north as Norton Sound, including the Aleutian Islands, Kodiak Island, the Alexander Archipelago and the Queen Charlotte Islands.[16]…. [p. 67]

“During the winter the daily number of sick at the capital ranged from seventy to eighty. Russians were only mildly affected; they became ill for a short time only, and but one died. Tlingits and Kodiaks suffered severely and créoles to a lesser extent. Up to 400 Tlingits died in one village near Sitka and almost half of the residents of the Tlingit settlement at Sitka itself perished. Not all of the Indians were stricken equally, however. The Stikine Tlingits were but slightly affected, whereas villages in the ‘straits’ like Khutsnov were devastated. In March 1836

the epidemic weakened (as the Indians dispersed to their spring fishing and hunting grounds) and in mid-April it ceased, at least among company employees. There had been 161 deaths at Sitka, mostly in December and January and presumably virtually all natives.[17]

“….Predictably, in late December smallpox flared anew and lasted until mid-May 1837. This time the fatality rate among the Stikine and Sitka Tlingits was 25 percent, and no less at Kaigani, Tongass, Chilkat, Keku and other Indian villages. Again the disease ebbed in the summer and surged in the fall… [p. 68]

“Through trading, warring, politicking and socializing, smallpox spread ‘with fearful rapidity’ from the Tlingits southward to the Tsimshians[18] and Haidas.[19] It reached the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Simpson [Canada’s Northwest Territory] (est. 1831) at the mouth of Portland Inlet at the end of September 1836. By the middle of October the incidence of the disease was ‘rather alarming.’ A “great number” of lower Skeena River Tsimshians were dying at the beginning of November, and a month later the lower Nass River Tsimshians were stricken. Fort Simpson’s Chief Trader John Work reported that ‘it spread rapidly and committed dreadful ravages among the Natives during the fall and winter and did not abate till the spring.’ Smallpox disappeared in August 1837 after having, according to the Nass Tsimshians, ‘extended as far to the interior as they usually go to trade.’….The fatality rate among the Tsimshians was nearly one-third, and among the Tsimshians was nearly one-third, and among the Haidas it may have been even higher.[20] …. [p. 69]

“…smallpox [spread] to Kodiak…mid-July 1837…on the Alaska Peninsula (…twenty-seven natives died)….smallpox spread suddenly and swiftly throughout the Kodiak District. It was still raging in the fall. From mid-July to mid-October 265 natives died, and by the end of the year the toll reached 738….By the spring of 1838 the epidemic had faded…[but] took twenty-four lives that spring [on the Kenai Peninsula] and Hinchinbrook Island.[21]

“…smallpox [then spread] to the Unalaska District…. [p. 70] In the summer of 1838… [a Russian doctor] was sent to Unalaska to stem the disease, which had already killed some Aleuts, principally in the western part of the district. He spent four months there, all but one of them in travel by kayak among the two-dozen Aleut villages scattered throughout the Fox Islands. He vaccinated 1,086 of the district’s 1,400 inhabitants. Thanks to his diligence, the epidemic remained ‘mild.’ There were only…eighty-three [deaths] from smallpox…[notes that only five died after vaccination]…. [pp. 70-71.]

“The epidemic claimed very few Euro American lives but the native toll was high….the form of the 1835-1838 disease was severe….the Tlingits, Tsimshians and Haidas…probably numbered up to 30,000 at the outset of the epidemic…the Kodiaks and Aleuts…totaled fewer than 5,000. Directly and indirectly about one-third of the Indians died of smallpox, and in some places that fatality rate reached 75 percent and some groups were even exterminated.[22] The Tlingits may have been hardest hit. Their population plummeted from 10,000 in 1835 to 6,000 in 1840 — a mortality of 40 percent.[23] They never fully recovered from this blow….

“Because they refused vaccination, the Kodiak Eskimos suffered as much as the Indians. Of Kodiak Island’s 2,200 natives, 736 died — a mortality of one-third.[24]….” [pp. 71-72] (Gibson, James R. “Smallpox on the Northwest Coast, 1835-1838.” BC Studies, No. 56, Winter 1982-83, pp. 61-81.)

Gottehrer: “1836. Smallpox appeared at Sitka where 400 Natives died. The smallpox spread to other villages and reportedly wiped out many settlements in the Yakutat-Dry Bay area. The epidemic died out in 1840. Because the Kodiak Island Native settlements had also been decimated by the epidemic, in 1844 the Russian-American Company consolidated the 65 inhabited places into seven settlements.” (Gottehrer 2000, p. 84.)

US Dept. of the Treasury: “….the smallpox epidemic…appeared in the Russian colonies in 1837.[25] During the first two years the loss was nearly 3,000, and the population gradually decreased from 11,022 in 1837, reaching its lowest point, 7,224 in 1845. During the second year of the epidemic the mortality was greatest, over 2,000; but it must be remembered that these figures relate only to those natives under the immediate control of the company and accessible to medical treatment and vaccination. If the mortality in these favored sections was 20 per cent, it is safe to assume that in the remote regions of the north, in the densely people districts of the Yukon, Kuskokvim, and Bristol Bay, it must have been fully 50 per cent, if not more. This assumption is borne out fully by the evidence of native tradition, and ruins of depopulated and abandoned villages still in existence. The abandoned village sites in the Yukon and Kuskokvim valleys far outnumber the settlements now inhabited, and whole populous villages were converted into cemeteries by the burial of the dead in their own dwellings. Such funeral towns are still frequently met with in the whole coast region of Alaska west of Mount St. Elias. Among the Thlinket tribes, who practice cremation, the losses must have been equally great, but with them no traces of the universal calamity of nearly half a century ago remain, except in the blind and pockmarked persons of the few aged of both sexes.” (US Dept. of Treasury. Seal and Salmon Fisheries…(V. IV). Special Agent Petroff report. 1898, pp. 224-225.)

US Dept. of the Treasury: “In addition to the troubles for which the natives themselves are responsible, dreadful consequences arose from the introduction of smallpox, through Russian intercourse, first in 1838 and 1839.[26] This disease swept like wildfire up from its initial point at the confines of the southern limits of the Alexander Archipelago over the whole length of the Aleutian chain, Cooks Inlet, Bristol Bay, and Kuskokvim, fading out in the north, until entirely checked by the Arctic cold. It actually carried in its grim grasp one half of the whole population of Alaska to an abrupt and violent death. In certain places it swept out the entire population, being exceedingly virulent among the Thlinket of the Alexander Archipelago….” (US Dept. of Treasury. Seal and Salmon Fisheries…, 1898, p. 231.[27])

US Dept. of the Treasury: “One of the most remarkable events that occurred under Kuprianof’s administration of the Russian possessions[28] was the appearance of a smallpox epidemic extending from 1836 to 1840, inclusive. The disease first made its appearance in Sitka, November, 1836,[29] and though at the time the company had a resident physician, Dr. Blaschke, at that place, all efforts to stay its ravages were in vain. Old and middle-aged people suffered most, attacks in their cases proving nearly always fatal, but among children the mortality was less. The creoles,[30] owing, perhaps, to their more clearly mode of life, suffered in a minor degree, but the Kolosh,[31] living in filth and misery, were swept away by whole families, and inside of three months 400 deaths occurred in the native village of Sitka alone. Only one Russian was attacked during that time, and he recovered. In March, 1837, the disease began to die out. Among the Alexander Archipelago the mortality was also very great. As soon as navigation opened a station surgeon, Valsky, with three experienced assistants, was dispatched to the district of Kodiak with order to vaccinate the people, but the precaution came too late, the disease having been evidently carried to Kodiak on the same ship which brought the medical assistants. On the island of Kodiak 736 persons died. On the peninsula of Aliaska[32] one of the assistant surgeons vaccinated 243 persons, and in that vicinity only 27 succumbed to the disease.

“Dr. Blaschke was dispatched to Unalaska, where he vaccinated 1,086 natives, and here only 130 died. In the vicinity of the trading posts on Cooks Inlet, Prince William Sound, and Bristol Bay the natives refused to submit to vaccination, the consequence being that 550 persons were attacked by the disease, of whom over 200 died. The last cases of smallpox in any portion of the Russian colonies were reported in 1840.” (US Dept. of Treasury. Seal and Salmon Fisheries…, Chapter IV — “Historical Sketch of Alaska.” 1898, pp. 344-345.)

Sources

Boyd, Robert Thomas. The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999, 403 pages.  Partially digitized by Google. Accessed 8-28-2017 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=jnWMCaFcuM4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Gibson, James R. “Smallpox on the Northwest Coast, 1835-1838.” BC Studies (The British Columbian Quarterly), No. 56, Winter 1982-83, pp. 61-81. Accessed 8-26-2017 at: http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/viewFile/1140/1184

Gottehrer, Dean M.  The Associated Press Stylebook for Alaska (Revised and 2^nd edition). Fairbanks, Alaska: Epicenter Press, 2000. Partially digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=O53zwdFYTGEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Indians.org. “A history and description of the Tlingit Indians of Alaska.” ©2017. Accessed 8-27-2017 at: http://www.indians.org/articles/tlingit-indians.html

United States Department of the Treasury (David Starr Jordan). Seal and Salmon Fisheries and General Resources of Alaska (Vol. IV of 4). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1898. Google digitized. Accessed 8-27-2017 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=kg44AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[1] This is our interpretation of Gibson based on his statement that the Tlingits, Tsimshians and Haidas “probably numbered up to 30,000 at the outset of the epidemic, and…the Kodiaks and Aleuts…totaled fewer than 5,000 [and that “directly and indirectly about one-third of the Indians died of smallpox.” We added 30,000 and 5,000 and then took 35% to derive 11,550.

[2] See “Narrative Information” section below for Treasury explanation as to why this is a significant underestimation.

[3] Of course our number only reflects the numbers provided by Gibson for specific places at specific times. For many groups he does not provide a number but notes that from 25% to 33% died.

[4] Off south-central Alaska coast to the east of Alaska Peninsula.

[5] The southern Alaska Peninsula that extends southwest from mainland Alaska to beginning of Aleutian Islands.

[6] The Treasury Dept., though notes that “only 27 succumbed” on “the peninsula of Aliaska.”

[7] Just South of Anchorage, extending southwest into the Gulf of Alaska, with Cook Inlet to the west.

[8] Off southern coast of Alaska to the east of the Kenai Peninsula and Montague Island.

[9] We are assuming that the “Unalaska District” is principally Unalaska Island, which is in the Aleutian Islands train.

[10] Boyd note: “Evidence for inclusion of Haida is limited. The HBC’s figure of one-third mortality from the Fort Simpson area has been extended to the Queen Charlottes.”

[11] Boyd note: “Includes the Sabassas Tsimshian Kitasoo and the Heiltsuk Haihais and Istitoch.”

[12] Boyd note: “Tolmie’s 1856 estimate has been increased to allow for 10% measles mortality in 1848.”

[13] Boyd note: “Including statistics for the remainder of the peoples of Alaska’s Pacific coast (Chugach, Tanaina, Honiag, and Aleut) from Fedorova 1973: 276-77 adds nearly 3,500 more deaths.”

[14] Gibson: “See T. Aidan Cockburn, ‘Infectious Diseases in Ancient Populations,’ Current Anthropology 12 (1971): 45-62; Geoffrey Marks and William K. Beatty, Epidemics (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976); William H. McNeill, Plagues and Peoples (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1976); Howard N. Simpson, ‘The Impact of Disease on American History,’ The New England Journal of Medicine 250 (1954) : 679-87.”

[15] Cites: United States National Archives [USNA], File Microcopies of Records in the National Archives: No. 11, ‘Record of the Russian-American Company 1802-1867: Correspondence of Governors General,’ roll 38, pp. 73v., 80v., roll 40, pp. 222-222v., 248v., 267.”

[16] Cites: Manitoba, Provincial Archives, Hudson’s Bay Company Archives [HBCA], B.223/c1, p. 113v; Leda Chase Milan, “Ethnohistory of Disease and Medical Care among the Aleuts,” Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 16 (1974) : 20.

[17] Gibson: “USNA, roll 37, p. 422v., roll 38, pp. 74, 81, 103v-104, roll 40, pp. 265v-267v., roll 41, pp. 194v.-195.”

[18] Natives of Pacific Northwest Coast, mostly in coastal British Columbia, but up into southern Alaska as well.

[19] Natives of Pacific Northwest Coast, near coast of southeastern Alaska and northwest British Columbia.

[20] Gibson cites: “BCPA, Work to Ermatinger, Feb. 15, 1837; HBCA, B.201/a/3, pp. 75, 76v., 80, 101, B.223/c/1, pp. 113-113v.; E. E. Rich, ed., The Letters of John McLoughlin, from Fort Vancouver to the Governor and Committee, First Series, 1825-38 (London: Hudson’s Bay Record Society, 1941), p. 271.”

[21] Cites: “Tikhmenev, History, 1 : 199; USNA, roll 39, pp. 235v.-236, 450v., roll 40, pp. 222v., 248v.-250v., roll 41, 186v.”

[22] Cites: Thomas E. Jessett, ed., Reports and Letters of Herbert Beaver 1836-1838 (Portland: Champoeg Press, 1959), p. 88; Rich, Letters, p. 271; USNA, roll 43, pp. 333-333v. Bancroft’s figure of from 50 to 60 percent is too high (Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Alaska 1730-1885 {Darien, Conn.: Hafner Publishing Co., 1970}, p. 560).”

[23] Cites: “I. Veniaminov, Zapiski ob ostravakh Unalashkinskavo otdela [Notes on the Islands of the Unalaska District] (St. Petersburg: Rossiisko-Amerikanskaya kompaniya, 1840), 3: 29.”

[24] Cites: “{Sturdza}, Pamyatnik, p. 223; Tikhmenev, History, 1 : 198.”

[25] We choose to follow well-documented Gibson who reports first outbreaks in Nov 1835.

[26] Again, we choose to follow Gibson. There is no doubt that 1836 was a very fatal year.

[27] This is from the Report in the Tenth Census. Report on the Population, Industries, and Resources of Alaska. By Special Agent Ivan Petroff, in Treasury Dept. Seal and Salmon Fisheries…

[28] Ivan Antonovich Kuprianof, Governor of Russian America 1835-1840. (Essig, Edward Oliver. “The Russian Settlement at Ross.” In Fort Ross: California Outpost of Russian Alaska, 1812-1841 (Richard A Pierce, ed.). Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Limestone Press, 1991, p. 101.)

[29] Gibson has it as Nov 1835.

[30] Offspring of Russian and native parents.

[31] Another name for The Tlingit. (Indians.org. “A history and description of the Tlingit Indians of Alaska.” 2017.)

[32] Alaska Peninsula? Alyeska is today a ski resort southeast of Anchorage and northwest of Portage and Whittier. Given its elevation, and the fact that it is not a peninsula, it seems that what is meant is the Alaska Peninsula which runs southeast from mainland and ends where Aleutian Islands begin.

–309-315  Blanchard range based on State and local breakouts below.

—       314  Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever…  1879, p. 86.

 

Louisiana                   (284-289)

—  289  New Orleans   Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever… 1879, p. 86.

–>284           “            Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 92.[1]

—  284           “             Sternberg 1908, p719; U.S. Marine Hosp. Svc.  An. Rpt…1895. 1896, 436.

 

South Carolina          (    25-26)

–26  Charleston          Porter. “On…Climate…Salubrity of Fort Moultrie…” 1855; cites Simons.

–25  Charleston          Keating 1879, 86; U.S. Marine Hosp. Svc.  An. Rpt…1895. 1896, 436.

 

Sources

 

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 preview accessed 3-16-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Porter, John B., M.D., Surgeon, U.S.A. “On the Climate and Salubrity of Fort Moultrie and Sullivan’s Island, Charleston Harbour, S.C., with Incidental Remarks on the Yellow Fever of the City of Charleston.” P. 92 of pp. 86-101 in American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Isaac Hays, M.D. (ed.), Vol. 29, Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea, 1855. Google digitized. Accessed 12-29-2013: http://books.google.com/books?id=AFY9AQAAMAAJ&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 preview accessed 3-18-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=3ezqX415M5wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

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

 

[1] Carrigan writes in a footnote: “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 is the case in 1835]. Presumably there were other deaths in New Orleans in private practice…”

–38-40  Blanchard tally based on sources below.[1]

—     60  (“reported killed or severely scalded…” Hunter. Steamboats on the Western Rivers. 435.

—     60  (“scalded, most of them fatally…” Kotar/Gessler. Cholera: A Worldwide History, 137.

—   <56  Killed/seriously injured. Young. Standard History of Memphis, Tennessee. 1912, 375.[2]

—     40  Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg. “Horrible Steam-Boat Explosion!” 6-1-1835, p. 6.

–38-40  Coggins, A.R. Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal. 2011, p. 258.

—     38  Keating, John M. History of the City of Memphis Tennessee. 1888, p. 200.

— 10  Drownings

—   8  Scalding (initially)

— 20  Scalding (afterwards)

–26-38  Indiana Journal, Indianapolis, IN. “Awful Steam Boat Accident.” 5-29-1835, p. 2.

 

Narrative Information

 

Coggins: “May 25, 1835.  Riverboat accident – As the riverboat Majestic was pulling out of the port of Memphis, a large number of passengers moved to the starboard side to view an object of interest on the riverbank, causing the boat to list considerably. As the passengers dispersed, the boat righted itself, and the larboard boiler (i.e., the one on the left side of the vessel) collapsed and exploded. The explosion resulted in a fire that killed thirty-eight to forty people and injured about fifty-six.” (p. 258)

 

Hunter: “On the explosion of the Majestic in 1835 sixty were reported killed or severely scalded, ‘all German emigrants’.”

 

Keating: “The third casualty,[3] and one of the saddest, was occasioned by the explosion of the boilers of the steamboat Majestic, on the 15^th of May, 1835. There was a large number of Swiss emigrants on board, many of whom were destined never to reach their destination. The boat was just leaving the Memphis landing for St. Louis when the accident occurred, by which ten persons drowned, who had jumped into the river to escape the steam, which killed eight and scalded forty others, twenty of whom afterwards died.”

 

Kotar: “Cholera appeared in Memphis, Tennessee (population 2,000), in early May 1835, forcing the Gazette to publish only a half sheet on the 14^th, as three of their journeymen were sick….Four days later [18^th?], however, attention turned to the explosion of the Majestic. Bound for St. Louis from New Orleans, the steamboat put in at Memphis. But owing to the fact so many passengers flocked to one side of the steamboat, it dangerously listed, producing a transfer of water from the starboard to the larboard boiler. Sixty persons were scalded, most of them fatally, although in this case deck passengers were believed to have entirely escaped. As an afterthought, one report indicated ‘thirty-four deaths by Cholera had already occurred in that ill-fated city…and four transpired on the day of the accident’.”

 

Newspapers

 

May 28 report, Republican and Banner: “From the Louisville Journal. The steamboat Majestic was blown up, three or four days ago, near Memphis.[4] The effects were terrible. As many as sixty persons were either drowned or badly scalded. The wounded, at our last accounts, were hourly dying. The Majestic was passing between New Orleans and St. Louis.

 

“Since the above was in type, we have received farther information, which states the number killed, drowned, and died since the explosion from scalds, at about thirty.” (Republican and Banner, Madison, IN. “From the Louisville Journal.” 5-28-1835, p. 3.)

 

May 29 report, Indiana Journal: “The steam boat Majestic collapsed the flue of her boiler on the 15th instant, at Memphis. Forty persons were scalded, eight of whom have since died, and from ten to fifteen not expected to live. From eight to fifteen drowned. The mate was badly scalded, and the engineer slightly wounded. No cabin passengers were injured. This information is obtained from passengers off a boat bound upwards; gentlemen whose personal appearance is a passport to their assertions.” (Indiana Journal, Indianapolis, IN. “Awful Steam Boat Accident.” 5-29-1835, p. 2.)

 

June 1 report, Adams Sentinel: “Forty persons killed and missing! On the 18^th ult. [previous month], the steam-boat Majestic, while stopping at Memphis, Tenn. On her way from New-Orleans to St. Louis, burst her boiler, by which disaster forty persons were either killed or missing. We have no particulars. Another account says ‘sixty persons were scalded, a large portion of them mortally, and nearly all of them dangerously’.” (Adams Sentinel, Gettysburg. “Horrible Steam-Boat Explosion!” 6-1-1835, p. 6.)

 

Sources

 

Adams Sentinel and General Advertiser, Gettysburg, PA. “Horrible Steam-Boat Explosion!” 6-1-1835, p6. Accessed 2-18-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=199375260

 

Coggins, Allen R. Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal in the Volunteer State. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2011. Google preview accessed 2-18-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=SfK6aBuqohQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Hunter, Louis C., with the Assistance of Beatrice Jones Hunter. Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History. NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Originally published in 1949 by Harvard University Press.

 

Indiana Journal, Indianapolis, IN. “Awful Steam Boat Accident.” 5-29-1835, p. 2. Accessed 2-18-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=198022660

 

Keating, John M. History of the City of Memphis Tennessee with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., 1888. Accessed 2-18-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=nGVAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

 

Kotar, S. L., and J. E. Gessler. Cholera: A Worldwide History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc. 2014. Google preview accessed 2-18-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=I3bzAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Republican and Banner, Madison, IN. “From the Louisville Journal.” 5-28-1835, p. 3. Accessed 2-18-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/ThumbImage.ashx?i=196864645

 

Young, Judge John Preston. Standard History of Memphis, Tennessee From a Study of the Original Sources. Knoxville, Tennessee: H. W. Crew & Co., 1912. Google rpreview accessed 7-15-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=5PkpAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] There is a fair amount of discrepancy in the accounts herein – not the least of which has to do with the date of occurrence as well as how many people died from what cause. Keating, writing a history of Memphis, surely had archival material at his disposal and he notes May 15 as the date of the incident. As one can see in reading the accounts herein, other dates put forward are May 18 and May 25. Unable to solve the mystery, we choose May 15. One source has 38 dead, one 38-40, one 40. The other sources are less clear on fatalities. We choose 38-40 range.

[2] “…on May 15, 1835, the Majestic blew up at the Memphis landing, in which accident fifty-six passengers were killed or seriously injured.”

[3] Keating had just noted the Helen McGregor boiler explosion and the burning of the Brandywine.

[4] We do not know, though, the date of the Louisville Journal note on the Majestic.