lornajarrettblanchard

–20-30  Gallup. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in…Vermont. 1815, p. 48; citing Prof. N. Smith.

 

Narrative Information

 

Prof. N. Smith: “In the summer of 1800, dysentery appeared in the east part of Hanover, and in several adjacent towns, and carried off many children and some adults, to the number of between seventy and eighty. In the former year, when Hanover was visited with the dysentery, it was confined to the College-plain,[1] so called, and between twenty and thirty died of it. In the last mentioned season it did not attack any on the College-plain. The same year it prevailed in several towns in Vermont.” (Letter of Prof. N. Smith to Dr. Gallup in Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont, p. 48.)

 

Source

 

Gallup, Joseph A., M.D. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont; From its First Settlement to the year 1815, with a Consideration of their Causes, Phenomena, and Treatment. Boston: T. B. Wait & Sons, 1815. Accessed 2-7-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-2555005R-bk

 

[1] Presume this would relate to Dartmouth College.

–200 Alaska Shipwrecks. A Comprehensive Accounting of Alaska Shipwrecks…Losses of Life…
–200 AK Bur. Ocean Energy Mgmt., Reg., Enforce. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses.

Narrative Information

AK BOEM: “1799…Native bidarkas…sixty boats…Lost in storm…Hinchinbrook Entrance … 200 lost.” (Alaska Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses.)

Alaska Shipwrecks: “BIDARKAS (60) (1799) One of the worst disasters in Alaskan waters occurred in 1799 when sixty bidarkas were caught in a sudden storm off of Cape Hinchinbrook and 200 men were lost.

“Mapping and Location: South Central Alaska 60 20 N 146 50 W

“Source: Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore (1992).”

Sources

Alaska Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses. Accessed 7-18-2011 at: http://www.alaska.boemre.gov/ref/ships/

Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. A Comprehensive Accounting of Alaska Shipwrecks and Losses of Life in Alaskan Waters. Accessed 10-31-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-b/

—       >200  Blanchard figure.[1]

–Hundreds. Flexner and Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History. 2008, p. 104.

 

—         >25  Maritime component.[2]

 

Narrative Information

 

Flexner and Flexner: “1798: New England Blizzard. High winds and driving snow lasting from November 17 to 21 buried houses in New England under great snowdrifts. Hundreds of people died.” (Flexner and Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History. 2008, p. 104.)

 

Ludlum: “After a rainy November 19^th, ‘at night it began to snow and continued through the 20^th, a violent gale, snow fell on the earth when not frozen, a foot deep,’ Noah Webster related in his diary at New Haven. His thermometer went down to +12° on the morning of the 22d, also an extreme figure for the commencement of the last week in November.[3]

 

“Farther north along the coast the storm raged even more savagely. At Salem a mixture of rain and snow, then sleet and snow fell from the 19^th to the 21^st, piling up a total of 10 inches.[4] But inland and northward it was all snow. Many town histories of southeastern New Hampshire and southern Maine described this storm as exceptional. Joseph Philbrook of Weare, New Hampshire, entered in his diary: ‘Nov. 19, 1798–snow fell for three days, in the whole about three feet deep, a tremendous storm.’[5] At York, Maine, Jeremiah Weare, Jr. mentioned a five-day snowfall from the 17^th to 21^st: ‘the snow is near 3 feet deep on a level.’[6] This snow was destined to remain all winter….

 

“The November storm also struck hard at sea, taking a human toll that would not be equaled for 100 years until the tragedies attending another November blow, the Portland Storm of 1898.[7] Many vessels were wrecked on the shores of Cape Cod as cemetery tombstones will testify. At least seven vessels went to pieces on that sandy promontory with the loss of all aboard, and the bodies of 25 sailors later were taken from bilged ships and buried ashore.”[8] (Ludlum. “The Long Winter of 1798-99,” pp. 74-75 in Early American Winters, 1604-1820.)

 

National Weather Service: “Nov 21, 1798. A four day storm was in progress in the north-eastern US. The storm dropped a foot of snow on New York City and New Haven, and as much
as three feet in Maine and New Hampshire. The snowstorm ushered in a long and severe winter, in some places the ground remained covered with snow until the following May.” (NWS. Weather trivia for November (webpage). Accessed 10-22-2017.)

 

Sources

 

Flexner, Doris and Stuart Berg Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem – From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007. New York: Harper Collins, 2008.

 

Ludlum, David M. Early American Winters 1604-1820. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1966.

 

National Weather Service, NOAA. Weather trivia for November (webpage). Accessed 10-22-2017 at: https://www.weather.gov/ddc/novtrivia

[1] We do not know how many hundreds; thus we assume that, if accurate, there must have been at least 200 deaths.

[2] Ludlum notes 25 bodies pulled from wrecked ships at Cape Cod alone, while also noting that “at least seven vessels went to pieces” there. It seems probable that other vessels were lost elsewhere.

[3] Cites Noah Webster, Notes, 1, p. 488.

[4] Cites: Edward A. Holyoke. A meteorological journal for the year 1786 to the year 1829, inclusive. Enoch Hale, ed. Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Science. (Boston), ns. 1, (1833), 107.

[5] Cites: Diary of Joseph Philbrook. William Little, History of Weare, Lowell, Mass., S. W. Huse & Co., 1888, 370.

[6] Cites: Diary of Jeremiah Weare, Jr. C. E. Banks. History of York, Maine, 181.

[7] We show a range of 450-500 deaths for the Nov 26-27 Portland Gale, including loss of the SS Portland.

[8] Cites: Edward R. Snow. A pilgrim returns to Cape Cod. Boston, The Yankee Publishing Co., 1946, 122; Salem Gaz., 30 Nov 1798.

–139-141  Blanchard tally of locality breakouts.[1]

Breakout by locality, where noted.

–10-12  Bethel, Windsor County. Sep-Oct. Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont, p. 46.

—   ~30  Norwich, Windsor County. Late summer and autumn. Gallup. Vermont Epidemics, p. 45

—     17  Pomfret, Windsor Co., Sep-Oct. Gallup. Vermont Epidemic Diseases, p.45, citing Ware.

—     50  Salem and Sandgate area, late July start. Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont, p. 46.[2]

—     32  Shays’ Settlement, Egg Mountain, July-Sep. Butz. Shays’ Settlement in Vermont, 150.[3]

—       ?  Other places. Late July beginning. Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont, p. 46.[4]

 

Narrative Information

 

Butz: “Another gravesite, known as the Shays’ Settlement Cemetery,[5] is…rumored to be on Egg Mountain. This site is mentioned in a history of the town of Sandgate[6] written by Hugh Graham ….It is referenced as being the place where the settlers were buried who died due to the ‘Black Death’ that may have caused the settlement to be abandoned. There may have been three epidemics that ravaged the settlement. The first took place sometime in 1787, possibly when the Regulators[7] were just arriving on Egg Mountain. The second hit in July, August and September 1798, as evidenced by church records in Sandgate that record thirty-two deaths, thirty of which were children who lived at the settlement. Although the locals called it the black death or black sickness, it was most likely either typhus or dysentery. An outbreak of dysentery had a severe effect of the town of Sandgate in 1798.”[8] (Butz. Shays’ Settlement in Vermont: A Story of Revolt and Archaeology, p. 150.)

 

Gallup: “1798, The most prevailing diseases of this year were typhus fever, and dysentery. They were both severe in some places and neighbourhoods, whilst others were more exempt….

 

“There was something of a drought in the months of July, August, and September, which are the principal dysenteric months. But dysentery as often prevails without drought. By letter from Dr. Ware, of Pomfret, ‘seventeen adults died of dysentery in September and October…

 

“During the latter part of summer and autumn, of this year, if my information is correct, the dysentery proved very fatal at Norwich, on the banks of Ompompanoosuc river; about thirty died….

 

“The dysentery, this season, began in Sandgate and Salem, the latter part of July. It was very mortal in that region this year, as well as in other places. About fifty died in those places. Dysentery was very severe this year, in September and October in Bethel, especially in a particular neighbourhood. I believe ten or twelve died in this neighbourhood after a short term of sickness. About eighty had it in the town.” (Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont. 1815 pp. 45-46.)

 

Sources

 

Butz. Shays’ Settlement in Vermont: A Story of Revolt and Archaeology. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2017. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=QTEvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Gallup, Joseph A., M.D. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont; From its First Settlement to the year 1815, with a Consideration of their Causes, Phenomena, and Treatment. Boston: T. B. Wait & Sons, 1815. Accessed 2-7-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-2555005R-bk

 

 

 

[1] We show, in the description headline, at least or more than (>) in that Gallup notes dysentery was “very mortal” in Sandgate, Salem, and in “other places” not noted. We thus assume some mortality elsewhere.

[2] Gallup writes that dysentery was “very mortal in that region [Sandgate and Salem] this year, as well as in other places. About fifty died in those places.” This statement is ambiguous. Our interpretation is that the number fifty does not refer to the “other places” mentioned. It could be read as fifty deaths in Sandgate and in Salem combined. The “in that region” statement throws us off in that today’s Salem is not in the region of Sandgate. Perhaps there was another Salem at the time near Sandgate. In any event we choose to read this as stating that there were fifty deaths in “Sandgate and Salem the latter part of July.”

[3] Butz writes: “The second [epidemic] hit in July, August and September 1798 [1^st was in 1787], as evidenced by church records in Sandgate that recorded thirty-two deaths, thirty of which were children who lived at the settlement. Although the locals called it the black death or black sickness, it was most likely either typhus or dysentery. An outbreak of dysentery had a severe effect on the town of Sandgate in 1798.” [Blanchard: there were deaths in Shays’ Settlement which we know about because they were noted in church records in Sandgate, over the next mountain ridge. There were also deaths in Sandgate, noted by both Gallup and Butz.]

[4] We do not know from Gallup what these “other places” were or the mortality, but we assume there was some.

[5] The Shays’ Settlement Project website (archaeological study) notes: Shay’s Settlement was “a fortified 18^th century settlement located in the mountains near the New York/Vermont border. The settlement was founded by Captain Daniel Shays and his fellow refugees after they fled from Massachusetts following the uprising he lead in 1787.”

[6] Egg Mountain is part of a ridge extending down to the southwest into New York. To get to Sandgate one would need to go down the mountain to the southeast, through the valley floor and stream and then up, over, and down another mountain ridge to get to Sandgate near the stream at the bottom of this ridge.

[7] A name the rebels gave to themselves.

[8] It seems clear that “Black Death” (probably dysentery), was experienced in both the Shays’ Settlement, and in the town of Sandgate, a mountain ridge away in a valley.

1798 — Yellow Fever Epidemic, esp. East Coast port cities, esp. Philly and NYC –~10,000

–10,000 Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14
— 6,623 Blanchard tally based on numbers below.

Connecticut ( 81)
— 81 New London Aug 25-Oct 28 Arnebeck 1999; Augustin 1909, 451; Keating 1879, 80.
— 81 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.

Delaware ( 255)
— 255 Wilmington Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.
— 250 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.

Maryland ( 200)
— 200 Baltimore Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.

Massachusetts ( 145)
— 200 Boston U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.
— 145 “ Childs 1886, 61.

New Hampshire ( 100)
— 100 Portsmouth Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.
— 100 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.

New Jersey ( 6)
— 6 Port Elizabeth Keating 1879, 80.

New York (2,086)
–2,086 NYC. Barrett 1863; Childs 1886, 61; Heaton 1946, 74; Putnam 1851, 605 ;
Simonds 1902, 83; Wikipedia.
–2,080 “ Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80; US MHS, 1896, 431.

Pennsylvania (3,695)
— 50 Chester Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.
— 50 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.
–3,645 Philadelphia Augustin 1909, 51; Childs 1886, 61; Simonds 1902, 83.
–3,645 “ Willsey, Lewis. “Philadelphia,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 626
–3,500 “ Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80; US MHS, 1896, 431.
–3,056 “ Barrett 1863.

Narrative Information
New-York:

Heaton: “In the early summer of 1798, yellow fever again appeared in New York and raged with such violence as to be known as the great epidemic. The usual panic seized the people who at that time were preparing for an anticipated war with France. They soon faced an enemy more terrible than any foreign nation. “Upon the approach of this awful disorder,” wrote James Hardie, “the bustle we are making for self-defense was suddenly suspended; the warlike looks, which our citizens had assumed, changed into those of dismay; the fortifications in a great measure neglected; the military associations discontinued.”

“The inhabitants are flying in every direction wrote William Dunlap in his diary. Those doing business in the neighborhood of the East River removed their offices to Broadway which was deemed more healthy; the Custom House in Mill Street and the insurance office in Water Street were established for the time in the Tontine Tavern on Broadway. A carpenter on Warren Street was kept busy day and night making cheap coffins of plain pine boards. He would send two boys out with a light hand wagon on which three or four coffins were carried, to sell them in the streets. Stopping at the street corners the boys would cry, “Coffins! Coffins of all sizes!” Still most people could not afford the four dollars asked for a coffin. Every night the dead cart carried corpses to be thrown into the pits of Potter’s Field, which was then located on the site of the present Washington Square.

“Bellevue was reopened on June 12th, with Dr. Isaac S. Douglass in charge. The health officer, Dr. Richard Bayley, asked Dr. Alexander Anderson to find additional medical assistance. Dr. Anderson himself accepted the position at a salary of three pounds -a day. On August 31, he was rowed to Bellevue where he found twenty patients. Four died in the course of the day and fourteen more were admitted. On the eighth of September, Anderson’s brother died of the plague and on the tenth his father was stricken. Anderson turned over his work at Bellevue to Dr. Douglass and hastened to look after his father. On the twelfth, his father died and the next day Anderson was horrified to find his wife ghastly and emaciated, sick with yellow fever. Now within a few days his wife, mother and daughter died. The grief stricken Anderson spent several months as physician to the poor and looking after his sick friends, almost all of whom he lost. Terribly depressed he gave up the practice of medicine forever.

“At Bellevue, Dr. Douglass himself contracted the disease which he attributed to having visited friends in New York, in that part of the city where yellow fever was raging. He reported that there were no cases of infection among the sixteen nurses and other attendants at the hospital.

“Nevertheless, Bellevue was considered by people at large as the house of death. Convalescent patients were crowded in with the sick and dying. The Common Council, therefore, ordered the erection of two new buildings, each sixty by twenty feet, one of which was two stories in height. These structures were completed in eight days. Because of dread of the disease only the most hardened characters could be induced to enter Bellevue as attendants or nurses, but strenuous efforts were made to obtain nurses of good character and finally the “former improper persons” were dismissed and the hospital “began to be viewed by many of the afflicted as a place where they stood a greater chance of recovery than anywhere else.”

“On September 3rd, an attempt was made to allay the growing alarm. The few cases of diseases which had occurred were considered due to effluvia from the sewer or from spoiled provisions which had not been shipped due to the French preying on our commerce with the West Indies. “There was no very unusual mortality for the season.” On September 6th, it was noted with approval that the authorities at Albany agreed that the epidemic was due to local causes and engendered among themselves: “no sentiment about importation. The gentlemen of the medical profession have indeed done themselves an honor on this occasion.” The Common Council appointed a standing committee on September 10, for the duration of the crisis to aid the health commissioner and authorized to take measures for the relief of the sick and indigent, to direct as many physicians as necessary to attend the indigent sick, and to make the necessary arrangement with respect to the admission of the sick at Bellevue Hospital. On September 24th, the city watchman were doubled, because so many people had fled the city. Sextons were criticized for not digging graves deeper and porters for passing too close to the houses when carrying the dead through the street.

During the great epidemic, 2,086 people died of the yellow fever in New York City. From September 25 to December 23, donations of food, clothing and medicine poured in from the Hudson Valley, Jersey and Connecticut for the victims of yellow fever. More than five hundred families were supplied with food from these contributions.” (Heaton. “Yellow Fever in New York City.” BMLA, Apr 1946, 34/2, pp. 73-74.)

NYT: “Probably there was never more suffering in this city [NYC] than in the yellow fever of 1798. From 29th July to 29th November, 2,086 died, and at that time the city contained about 55,000 inhabitants.

“Its very first victim was an old merchant, named Melancton Smith, who was taken sick in his store in Front Street, near Coenties Slip. His death was followed by several of his neighbors being taken ill… Almost at the same time it broke out in Cliff street and Burling Slip, Ryder street, and Eden alley, at Golden Hill street (since John.)

“It raged greatly in Eden alley and Ryder street, where not a family escaped it: and it terminated fatally to one or more members except in two houses….

“At that time there was a prospect of a foreign war, and everybody was engaged in making preparation. Companies were being formed, batteries were being erected, subscriptions were being raised for the purpose of building vessels of war to protect our commerce, when the yellow fever broke out.

“At once all the war views were suspended. Speedy death was the only prospect. Parents were deprived of their children, husbands of their wives, wives made widows in a few hours, and from happy independence made beggars. Infants cried for dead parents. Whole families were cut off. Half of the houses were empty, and the frightened occupants fled to the country….” (Barrett 1863)

“The Summer of 1798 was known for many years afterward as ‘the dreadful yellow fever year.’ The plague was so virulent well-to-do not only made their exodus, but the neighboring farmers, the principal source of food supply, refused to come to town, and so famine threatened. There was, however, an energetic and brave relief committee, and it made the following appeal through the newspapers, which proved of much avail:

We entreat our fellow-citizens of the surrounding country not to withhold from the markets the usual supplies of poultry and small meats, as well as other articles so essentially necessary to both sick and well in this distressed season.

“Two thousand and eighty-six lives were taken by this visitation and at this time the population of the city was not more than 40,000. Business was almost entirely suspended; the schools and churches were closed. Washington Square, which had been purchased by the Corporation in 1796 as a pauper burial place, became also the hasty grave for many of the rich and the distinguished.

“After the epidemic had lessened, a great public meeting was held to inquire into the causes of the pestilence. It was generally agreed that the water supply of the town was insufficient, and for the most part impure. It consisted mainly of brackish wells – the one source of which every one boasted being the famous ‘tea pump,’ drawing on a deep and seemingly inexhaustible spring at the corner of Chatham and Roosevelt Streets. In accordance with the sense of this meeting, the Bronx River was surveyed, but the Corporation finally refused to vote the $1,000,000 required to utilize its stream.

“The home of the disease this year was along the East River front, it having started at Coenties Slip.” (New York Times, “Epidemics in New-York,” February 16, 1896)

Elsewhere: From October 7, 1888 New York Times article on the Yellow Fever: “In this country the most terrible visitation of the last century was in 1798, when the mortality from yellow fever in Philadelphia was 3,500, in New York 2,080, in Baltimore 200, in Wilmington, Del., 225, in Portsmouth, N.H., 100, in New London, Conn., 81, and in Chester, Penn., 50. In this year also, on the island of San Domingo, out of 25,000 troops the incredible number of 21,199 fell before the dread destroyer.”

Sources

Arnebeck, Bob. A Short History of Yellow Fever in the US. 1-30-2008 update. Accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/history.html

Arnebeck, Bob. Destroying Angel: Benjamin Rush, Yellow Fever and the Birth of Modern Medicine. Web-published, 1999. At: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/table.html

Arnebeck, Bob. “Yellow Fever in New York City, 1791-1799.” A paper presented at the 26th Conference on New York State History, June 9-11,2005, Syracuse, NY. Accessed 10-9-2013 at: http://bobarnebeck.com/yfinnyc.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

Barrett, Walter. The Old Merchants of New York City. “Yellow Fever of 1798.” 1863. Accessed at: http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Newspaper/Disasters/YellowFever.html

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Harper’s Book of Facts. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ

Heaton, Claude Edwin, MD. “Yellow Fever in New York City.” Bulletin Medical Library Association, April 1946, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 67-78. Accessed 11-23-2010 at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC194570/

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

New York Times. “Epidemics in New York.” 2-16-1896, p. 1. Accessed 4-1-2018 at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C01EEDF123EE333A25755C1A9649C94679ED7CF

Putnam, G. P. (Ed.). The World’s Progress: A Dictionary of Dates. NY: G. P. Putnam, 1851. Digitized by Google: http://books.google.com/books?id=qz9HAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

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

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

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

–11 Fraser. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. 2006, pp. 33-34.
–11 The Gazette, Philadelphia. “Gazette Marine List. Port of Philadelphia.” 12-7-1797, p. 3.

Narrative Information

Fraser: “A month later [after the General Nichols went down on September 8] another storm came out of the West Indies, turned northwest, and tracked along the Florida and Georgia coasts. The storm enveloped Captain Christopher Lee and the schooner Flying Fish off Florida. Lee ordered close-reefed sails. Several days later in shipping lanes off Georgia, latitude 31⁰ north, longitude 69⁰ west, the schooner encountered a more severe storm. It upset the Flying Fist so quickly that seven of the seventeen crewmen and passengers drowned before they were able to get out of the schooner’s cabin. The survivors somehow climbed onto the upturned hull. At daylight some swam beneath the vessel to the submerged masthead, cut away the rigging and mainmast, and the schooner righted. But the sailing craft had shipped so much water that it was nearly awash in the sea. Spars were lashed across the forecastle in an attempt to steer the wreck. Within a week one of the passengers aboard, and shortly afterward a heavy sea washed off two oth4r passengers and a crewmember. Now only Captain Lee, the mate, three sailors and the cook remained aboard the slowly sinking hulk. After nearly two weeks adrift, Captain Carsten Meyers of the Deraurhafft, out of Hamburg, Germany, sighted the wreckage of the Flying Fish. As mariners are obliged to do, Captain Meyers came about to see if anyone was alive. He found six men clinging to life and what was left of the Flying Fish. Meyers rescued them and Savannahians soon knew of this disaster. Again Savannah was lucky. The hurricane remained just off the Georgia coast.

Sandrik and Landsea:
“Year: 1797
“Date (s): 15-16 October
“Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida – hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters – hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters – hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters – hurricane
“Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
“Remarks: Marx (1944) states, ‘A number of American vessels were cast
away on the east coast of Florida during a hurricane on October 15
or 16. Some were also lost in the Bahamas.’ According to a letter
from the East Florida Papers, Bundle 165, dated 17 October 1797,
a frigate bound for Hamburg was grounded north of the St.
Augustine Bar.

Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida, Upper Georgia and Lower Georgia waters.”

Newspaper

Dec 8, Philadelphia Gazette: “The sch. Flying Fish, Lee, from hence to Germany, left the Capes Oct. 20th, under convoy of the Hind of 20 guns. Three days after, in a gale of wind, lost the convoy – 18th at 2 A.M. Lat. 31, long. 69, was upset in a squall: out of 17 persons onboard, 7 were drowned in the Cabin, the remainder got on the bottom. Next morning the vessel righted, but the hatches under water – 31st one of the passengers died on the wreck – 7th Nov. one sailor and two passengers were washed off – 9th Nov. The brig Derdaurhaufft, Meyers, from Hamburgh [sic] for Charleston, fell in with the wreck, and took off the captain, mate, and 3 hands and the cook the only persons saved.” (Gazette of the United States and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser. “Gazette Marine List. Port of Philadelphia.” 12-7-1797, p. 3.)

Source

Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2006. Google preview accessed 8-16-2017: https://books.google.com/books?id=4iDbukwvWL0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Lowcountry+Hurricanes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj60M2Tgd3VAhXH54MKHfaeC_QQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Lowcountry%20Hurricanes&f=false

Gazette of the United States and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser (The Gazette) “Gazette Marine List. Port of Philadelphia.” 12-7-1797, p. 3. Accessed 12-9-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-gazette-of-united-states-and-philadelphia-daily-advertiser-dec-08-1797-p-3/

Sandrik, Al (National Weather Service) and Christopher W. Landsea (NOAA Hurricane Research Division). Chronological Listing of Tropical Cyclones affecting North Florida and Coastal Georgia 1565-1899. Jacksonville and Miami, FL: NOAA, May 2003 update. Accessed 12-9-2022 at: https://www.weather.gov/media/jax/pdf/Tropical_Cyclones_affecting_North_Florida_and_Coastal_Georgia_1565-1899.pdf

–134 Fraser. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. 2006, p.33.
–122 slaves “men, women, and children…chained…below decks…” went down with ship.
— 12 Yawl with Cpt. Morrison, six whites, and five blacks never seen again.
–132 Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, GA. “Savannah, Sept. 15.” 9-15-1797, p.3.
–122 slave “cargo” going down with the ship.
— 10 Yawl with Cpt. Morrison, Mr. Morris, five whites and three blacks.

Narrative Information

Fraser: “The summer of 1797 was a busy one for topical storms. One in particular was of interest to Savannah merchants trading in slaves. On September 8 the armed New Providence ship General Nichols, bound for the port of Savannah with a cargo of more than 150 slaves, encountered a ‘heavy gale’ off the upper Florida and lower Georgia coasts. Because of the violence and suddenness of the storm, Captain Michael Morrison was unable to save the ship. The General Nichols ‘foundered’ almost immediately.

“The crew barely had time to launch ‘the long boat and yawl’ but not time enough to save the slaves. The ship ‘went down with 122’ men, women, and children, who remained chained together below decks. Five whites and thirty-five ‘negroes’ jumped into the longboat. Captain Morrison, six whites, and five blacks scrambled aboard the yawl. In the turbulent sea, the yawl ‘parted company…immediately with the long boat.’ Those aboard the longboat survived in the storm-swept ocean for twenty-four hours without food or drink before picked up by the schooner Exuma, which sailed into the Savannah River with the survivors on September 12. Apparently the occupants of the yawl never reached land. ”

Johnson: “….Furthermore, in September 1797 the British armed ship General Nichols of Granada with twenty-four gun mounting evidently developed mechanical problems…” (p. 165, Google Snippet view.) [We do not know if this is a coincidence or a reference to the storm-sunk ship.]

Newspaper

Sep 15, Columbian Museum: “Savannah, Sept. 15.

“On the 12th inst. [current month] arrived at Cockspur, the Schooner Exuma, Capt. Daniel Callaghan, from New Providence. The 9th inst. in lat. 29, 39, long. 79, 42, picked up the long boat of the armed Ship General Nichols, Capt. Michael Morrison, belonging to Grenada. The General Nichols, left New-Providence on the 2d inst. with Negroes, supposed for this port, and in a heavy gale of wind, on the 8th, foundered. The long boat and yawl, had hardly time to get from her, when she went down with 122 of the cargo. In the long boat were saved 5 whites and 35 negroes, and when they got along side the Exuma, had nothing to eat or drink. The yawl (having sails), with the Captain, Mr. Peter Morris, supercargo, five other whites and three negroes, parted company with the other boat, immediately after leaving the ship, and has not yet been heard of. It is hoped from the favorable weather a few days past, that they may have made some port to the southward.” (Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, Savannah, GA. “Savannah, Sept. 15.” 9-15-1797, p. 3.)

Source

Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, Savannah, GA. “Savannah, Sept. 15.” 9-15-1797, p. 3. Accessed 12-8-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/savannah-columbian-museum-and-savannah-advertiser-sep-15-1797-p-3/

Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2006. Google preview accessed 8-16-2017: https://books.google.com/books?id=4iDbukwvWL0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Lowcountry+Hurricanes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj60M2Tgd3VAhXH54MKHfaeC_QQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Lowcountry%20Hurricanes&f=false

Johnson, Whittington Bernard. Negro Laboring Classes in Early America, 1750-1820. University of Georgia press, 1970. Accessed 12-8-2022 at: https://www.google.com/search?q=ship+%22general+nichols%22+1797&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiajJjotuv7AhW0NlkFHWLfDaA4ChD8BSgBegQIARAL&biw=1123&bih=772&dpr=0.98

–~163  Blanchard tally based on State and locality breakouts below.

 

Massachusetts            (~139) 

–~100  Nantucket Island (2000 cases). Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic… 1799, p. 327.

—      8  Sutton. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. p. 430-31.

–1  Elenor Hicks, age 4, Oct 15. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  John Hicks, age 6, Oct 21. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Mary Hicks, age 21, Oct 31. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Polly Hicks, Sep. (buried in same grave as sister Sally, also dysentery death), p. 430.

–1  Sally Hicks, Sep. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Sarah Hicks, age 25, Nov 1. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Child of Samuel Hicks, age 2. Sep. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 431.

–1  Child of Samuel Hicks, age 4. Sep. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 431.

—    30  Westport (of 79 cases). Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic…Diseases. 1799, p. 327.

—      1  Weymouth. Oct 18. Daughter of Laban Pratt. Vital Records of Weymouth, MA, II. p. 323.

 

New Hampshire         (   24)

–24  Hanover. Dollar/Witters. “That Bourne From Whence…” Dartmouth Med., Fall 2014, 36-41.

 

Narrative Information

 

Caulfield: “During 1797 Hanover, New Hampshire, had its first attack, and many Rhode Island towns were stricken.”[1]

 

Dollar: “At the turn of the 19^th century, Hanover, like much of the world, was vulnerable to devastating outbreaks of dysentery. Nathan Smith, the founder of the medical school, and others at Dartmouth were among those who tried to understand.” [p. 36]

 

“In the fall of 1796, not long after proposing the creation of a medical school at Dartmouth, Nathan Smith left the small town of Hanover, N.H., and set sail for the British Isles. In Edinburgh, a center of medical education at the time, Smith intended to increase his medical knowledge… Smith happened to be absent from Hanover in the summer of 1797, when an outbreak of dysentery swept through the town. ‘The dysentery prevailed in this parish & was fatal to 24 persons in 12 weeks,’ noted William Dewey in his records of deaths in Hanover that summer. ‘Twice within 3 weeks we carried into our Meetinghouse & from there to the Graveyard three deceased individuals at the same time…’ [p. 37]

 

“In the 18th- and 19th-century U.S., dysentery was common among civilian populations… including the outbreak in Hanover in the summer of 1797. Some of the leading families in Hanover were affected by the epidemic, with the greatest impact falling on their young children, many of whom are buried in the Dartmouth College cemetery. The infant son of Jedediah Baldwin, one of New England’s most prominent clockmakers and silversmiths, died on the same

day as a 21-year-old Dartmouth College student named John Merrill. These are two of the three alluded to in William Dewey’s account of multiple burials. The infant son of Benjamin Gilbert, a local attorney, died on September 1. Josiah Green, whose Main Street dry goods and grocery stores was patronized by many, including Nathan Smith, lost two children: Ira, age 11, and Josiah Jr., age 2. Abel Holden, a friend and fellow Masonic Lodge member of Eleazar Wheelock, lost two children on August 28. Eighteen-month-old Samuel Curtis, the son of town selectman Colonel David Curtis, died on September 11.

 

“No Hanover family was more affected than that of Isaac and Amelia Leavitt Bissell. Isaac was the son of Israel Bissell, a patriot post rider who, according to legend, may have ridden from Watertown, Mass., to Connecticut on April 19, 1775—the day of Paul Revere’s famous ride—to

bring news of the British attack. The Bissells had 13 children between 1777 and 1796. Four of them died within two weeks of each other in the 1797 epidemic, and all were buried in the Dartmouth cemetery…. [p. 38]

 

“We have been able to partially reconstruct a map of Hanover in 1797 and have found that the Bissell, Gilbert, and Baldwin families all lived within one block of each other on the current Main and Lebanon Streets. Jedidiah Baldwin’s silversmith store was next to the Gilbert residence. All of these were located close to the only water well in Hanover at the time, which was on the site of the present Reed Hall. Josiah Green’s grocery and dry goods store was also located on Main Street, though we could not determine its exact location. It seems reasonable to speculate that a common source of contamination of this well or perhaps of shared sanitary facilities might have been the source of this 1797 epidemic….” [pp. 38-39] (Dollar and Witters. “That Bourne From Whence No Traveller Returns.” Dartmouth Medicine, Fall 2014, pp. 36-41.)

 

Webster: “In this year [1797] also prevailed at Westport in the same state,[2] and on Nantucket island, a very malignant epidemic dysentery. At Westport died 30 patients of 79 who were seized. On Nantucket the disease was less mortal; about 100 died out of 2000 patients. On examination, it was found that under the house of the family first seized, there were some barrels of putrid filth, and other nauseous matter….” (Webster, Noah. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases… 1799, p. 317.)

 

Sources

 

Caulfield, Ernest. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, April 1942, pp. 4-65. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/865

 

Dollar, Emily, and Lee A. Witters, MD. “That Bourne From Whence No Traveller Returns.” Dartmouth Medicine, Fall 2014, pp. 36-41. Accessed 2-9-2018 at: http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/fall14/pdf/dysentery.pdf

 

Vital Records of Sutton, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Worcester, MA: Franklin P. Rice, 1907. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=nX50wTdXBaEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Vital Records of Weymouth Massachusetts to the Year 1850, Vol. II — Marriages and Deaths. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=0M-IErK57a4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Webster, Noah. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases; with the Principal Phenomena of the Physical World which Precede and Accompany Them, and Observations Deduced From the Facts Stated (Vol. 1 of 2). Hartford, CT: Hudson & Goodwin, 1799. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=uen8dansteEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] In footnote 202, cites: Medical Repository, I, 241 Webster, Pestilential Diseases, I, 327.

[2] Had last mentioned Rhode Island, but Westport is, today at least, down the coast in Massachusetts.

— 2,502 Blanchard tally based on numbers below.

Missouri ( 57)
— 57 New Design Keating 1879, 79.

New York (1,100)
— 1,000-1,100 NYC Arnebeck 1999, Chapter 13.

Pennsylvania (1,300)
— 1,300 Philadelphia Augustin 1909, 51; Keating 1879, 79 ; Sternberg 1908, 719.
— 1,300 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, 431.
— 1,292 “ Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 82.
— 1,292 “ Willsey and Lewis. Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, p. 626.

Rhode Island ( 45)
— 45 Providence Keating 1879, 79.
— 45 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431

South Carolina ( ?)
–? Charleston Ramsay’s History of South Carolina…1670 to the Year 1808. 335.

Sources

Arnebeck, Bob. “Yellow Fever in New York City, 1791-1799.” A paper presented at the 26th Conference on New York State History, June 9-11,2005, Syracuse, NY. Accessed 10-9-2013 at: http://bobarnebeck.com/yfinnyc.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

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

Ramsay, David (M.D.). Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, From its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808. Published by W. J. Duffie, Newberry, SC, printed in Charleston by Walker, Evans & Co., 1858. Digitized by archive.org and accessed 9-11-2016 at: https://archive.org/stream/ramsayshistorys00ramsgoog#page/n4/mode/2up

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

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

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

–836-986  Blanchard tally from State and local breakouts below.

 

Summary of State Breakouts Below

 

Connecticut                Chatham/Middle Haddam               (         11)        August start

Louisiana                   New Orleans                                      (250-400)        Late Aug-early Nov

Massachusetts            Newburyport                                     (       >44)        Aug start

New York                   New York City                                  (         70)         (Summer)

North Carolina          Wilmington                                        (       150)         Aug-Nov

Ohio                            Gallipolis                                            (       >11)        Aug-Sep

South Carolina          Charleston                                         (     ~300)

 

Breakout of Fatalities by State and Locality

 

Connecticut                (       11)

—  9  Chatham, Middlesex Co., Aug start. Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, p. 79.[1]

–11  Middle Haddam, Middlesex County. Potter. Yellow Fever in Middle Haddam, 1796. 1980.

Named individuals from Potter 1980, pp. 11 and 18 (all after the brig Polly arrived).[2]

–1  Mayhew Tupper, 18, “original victim” employed scrubbing boat from West Indies.[3]

–1  John Ranney, 21, who was “employed in scrubbing the boat.” Potter 1980, p. 11.

–1  Newel Hurd, 16, who also was employed to scrub the boat. Potter 1980, p. 18.

–1  Sarah Exton, who washed clothes of sailors from ship. Potter 1980, p. 11.

–1  Elizabeth Cook, ~50, washed sailors clothes (same house as Exton). Potter, 11 & 18.

–1  Lucinda Norton, 27, seamstress, same house as Exton & Cook. Potter 1980, 11 & 18.

–1  Elizabeth Cary, 26, daughter of Elizabeth Cook. Potter 1980, p. 11 and 18.

–1  Rebecah Cary, younger daughter of Elizabeth Cook. Potter 1980, p. 11 and 18.

–3  Local clerk and two boys from Portland who “explored the infected craft one night.”[4]

–?  Haddam, Middlesex Co. La Roche. Yellow Fever, Considered in its Historical… 1855, 223.[5]

 

Ohio, Gallipolis          (      >11)        

—>11 Blanchard minimal number based on Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever… 1854, p. 8.[6]

—        A fever (not necessarily yellow), Aug. Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, 306.[7]

            —>3  The French…began to suffer first, and died so rapidly…consternation seized…”

—>1  Soldiers sometimes died on 3^rd day of illness. Keating. History of YF. 1879, 306.

—>1     “                “                      5^th              “          Keating. History of YF. 1879, 306.

—>2     “          generally                7^th              “          Keating. History of YF. 1879, 306.

—>2     “          generally                9^h               “          Keating. History of YF. 1879, 306.

—>2     “          generally                11^th            “          Keating. History of YF. 1879, 306.

 

Massachusetts            (      >44)

—  ?  Boston, Aug start. Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever…. 1854, p. 9. Keating 1879, p. 79.

—  ?  Newburyport, Essex Co., on coast. Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853. 1854, p9.[8]

–44  Newburyport & vic. Plummer. The Awful Malignant Fever at Newburyport in…1796. p. 1.

 

LA, New Orleans       (250-400)        (Late Aug-early Nov)

–350-400  Carrigan. Saffron Scourge: A History of Yellow Fever in Louisiana, 1796-1905. p. 33.

—     >250  Records of the City Council of New Orleans, Book 4079, Doc. 259, 10-21-1796.[9]

 

NY, New York City   (       70)           (Summer)

–70  NYC, Summer. Griscom. “Report on Yellow Fever.” NY Journal of Medicine, 1856, p.369.

 

NC, Wilmington        (     150)           (Aug-Nov) (Includes small number of dysentery deaths.)

—      ?  Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, p. 79.[10]

–~150  De Rosset. “An Account…Pestilential Fever…” in Medical Repository, p. 145.[11]

 

PA, Philadelphia        (         ?)

–?  Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, p. 79. Simply notes that it was reported there.

 

RI, Bristol                  (          ?)

–?  Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, p. 79.

 

SC, Charleston          (    ~300)

–~300  McCandless. Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. 2011, p.107.[12]

—      ?  Ramsay. Ramsay’s History of South Carolina. 1858, p. 47.[13]

 

VA, Norfolk               (          ?)

–?  Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, p. 79.

 

Narrative Information — General

 

Dowler: “In the year 1796, yellow fever appeared in Newburyport, Boston, New York, Charleston, Wilmington, West Indies, New Granada.” (Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853. 1854, p. 9.)

 

Keating: “1796.–It [yellow fever] appeared for the first time in Chatham, Middlesex Co., Conn., commencing in August, and resulting in a mortality of 9. New Orleans also suffered that year, Dowler says, for the first time. Newburyport, Mass., was also visited this year for the first time; and Boston, Mass., commencing in August; also New York, and Gallipolis, Ohio, on the Ohio River, where half the garrison and many of the French settlers died in ten days. It also appeared in Philadelphia, Bristol, R.I., Charleston, S.C., Norfolk, Va., Wilmington, N.C., and St. Nicholas in the Island of San Domingo, where the mortality is set down as 1 in 2; also the Island of Guadaloupe, where, out of a population estimated at 20,000, there was a mortality of 13,807, being a proportion to population of 1 in 1.47. In the same island (in 1796), out of 367 artillerymen there was a death-list of 129, being a proportion to population of 1 in 2.8. It also prevailed in New Grenada that year.” (Keating. A History of the Yellow Fever. 1879, p. 79.)

 

Charleston, SC

 

McCandless: “Until 1799, Charleston’s doctors did not call the epidemics of that decade yellow fever. The minutes of the Medical Society of South Carolina record epidemics of putrid bilious or malignant fevers every year between 1792 and 1799, except 1793 and 1798. In 1799, the society conceded that the disease might be yellow fever after all, and the following year they confirmed it. Some citizens, however, called it yellow fever almost from the start….In August 1796, the society again assured citizens that no dangerous contagious disease was present in the city. Within a few weeks, with hundreds dying, doctors were complaining that the daily beating of drums and the nightly noise made by lacks was causing ‘extreme inconvenience and distress to the sick.’[14]

[pp. 81-82]

 

“By the early 1800s, yellow fever was becoming accepted as a regular part of the Charleston scene. Doctors began to refer to it as the ‘endemial’ or ‘endemical’ fever, a disease generated locally when atmospheric conditions were right. Dr. John Shecut called yellow fever ‘the proper endemic of the city of Charleston.’ People sometimes referred to it possessively as ‘Charleston’s yellow fever.’

 

“Indeed, for many Charlestonians, the new view of yellow fever had a comforting side. The settled population seemed to be virtually immune to it. In the epidemic of 1794, Martha Laurens Ramsay recorded that ‘the reigning disorder is said to be confined to strangers and those who live irregularly.’[15] In 1796, an upcountry resident wrote that Charleston had recently suffered terribly from an epidemic fever, in which most of the victims were strangers. He had heard that nearly off of nineteen newcomers who had arrived by ship from London in August had died.[16]

 

(McCandless. Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. 2011, p. 107.)

 

Gallipolis, OH

 

Dowler: “The town of Gallipolis, on the Ohio river, thirty-nine degrees North Latitude, settled in 1791 by immigrants from Paris, on an elevated diluvial formation then in the midst of a vast wilderness just beginning to be settled, was, in 1796, severely visited with yellow fever, attended with black vomit. The late Professor Potter, of the University of Maryland, struck with this remarkable isolated epidemic, (which he used to dilate upon in his lectures) took the necessary steps to investigate it the very next year after its occurrence, when Major Prior of the army an eye-witness, arrived in Baltimore from Gallipolis, and gave the professor a statement in writing, by which it appeared that half of the garrison and many of the French settlers died in ten days from this malady. This strange event in the desert excited great surprise at the time. The army report, by the surgeon-general, (p. 9) ‘refers to the journal of a voyage down the Ohio, in 1796, by Mr. A. Ellicott. This judicious observer was a witness at Gallipolis to the disease which raged violently, the fatal cases being generally attended with black vomit. ‘The fever could not,’ he says, ‘have been taken there from the Atlantic States, as my boat was the first that descended the river in the spring. Neither could it have been taken from New Orleans, as there is no communication up the river at that season of the year.’” (Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853. 1854, p. 8.)

 

Minor: “In a paper, regarding the ” Epidemiology of Ohio,” published in 1877, the writer [Minor], having had no personal experience with the disease, but basing his opinions on those enunciated by the celebrated Daniel Drake, expressed himself as follows

 

“In the fall of 1796, yellow fever is said to have appeared at Gallipolis, on the Ohio River. In the second volume of Drake’s Disease of the Interior Valley of North America, page 285, in a note relative to this epidemic, the essay of Dr. Miller, of New York, is quoted, who gives, as authority, an extract of a private letter received from Andrew Ellicott, anon-professional observer. Volume Second, of Drake’s work, was edited after the death of its illustrious author, by; Dr. Hanbury Smith. It is a matter of regret that this statement in regard to yellow fever has been quoted far and wide on the authority of Dr. Drake. If reference be made to Drake’s first volume, page 291, it will be seen that he denies, in positive terms, the occurrence of an epidemic of yellow fever at Gallipolis, claiming that the outbreak was one of malignant remittent fever. Dr. Peachy Harrison and Dr. Hildreth, the two earliest medical writers in Ohio, state that epidemic remittent fever was commonly called yellow fever by the majority of settlers. The Indianapolis epidemic of malignant remittent fever, that occurred in 1821, was regarded by many persons as yellow fever. It is to be hoped that future writers on the subject will not quote Drake as authority for the statement that the disease has prevailed as an epidemic in Ohio. Yellow fever has never appeared in this State in an epidemic form; occasionally, at rare intervals of time, sporadic cases of the disease have been noticed. These cases, in all instances, contracted the malady in Southern cities, at infected points; and in no case has yellow fever been known to propagate itself in Ohio. Within the last five years several sporadic cases have been noticed in this city (Cincinnati).”

 

“In the face of recent developments[17] the writer is obliged to change the opinion held prior to 1878. The epidemic outbreak at Gallipolis, during September of the present year, is most certainly proof positive that the disease, under certain favorable conditions, may become epidemic in this State. Grave doubt is also thrown on the statement of Drake, that the Gallipolis outbreak of 1796 was not one of yellow fever. ‘History repeats itself;’ and, in the future, many writers will be disposed to think that the form of disease, manifested at Gallipolis in 1796, was identical with that which appeared in 1878. The views of the writer have been materially modified as before stated, within the short space of one year. Some little personal experience with the disease during the summer just past has caused this radical change of opinion.” (pp. 1-2.)

 

Middle Haddam, Connecticut

 

Potter: “The details of the Middle Haddam epidemic were reported by Doctor Thomas Miner in 1823, in the aftermath of an outbreak in Middletown. His interests in analyzing the event ere to determine the exact cause of the disease and to exonerate the medical profession in Middlesex county. Gathering the facts from Ralph Smith and Nathaniel Doan, two participants in the care of the afflicted, he sketched the following account.

 

“A ship arriving from the West Indies[18] had lost a crew member to the disease on her passage homeward. The victim’s clothes were kept, though the body evidently was thrown overboard. The villagers employed in scrubbing the boat, John Ranney and Newel Hurd ere the first to contract the disease. Sarah Exton and Elizabeth Cook who washed the sailors clothes, and Lucinda Norton, a seamstress, also contracted the disease and died. They were all members of the same household. Elizabeth Cook’s children, Elizabeth and Rebecah Cary, were also mortally stricken. It is not clear whether they lived with their mother. A local clerk and two boys from Portland who explored the infected craft one night, also died of Yellow Fever. After the deaths of Sarah Exton, Ranney and Hurd; writes Miner:

 

Doctor Bradford, an old physician resident in the place and doctord [sic] Hollister and Thacher, two young men who were candidates for business, departed precipitately, and did not return until all traces of the disease had disappeared; and so many others followed their example, that only five had firmness of mind and humanity sufficient to take care of the sick and bury the dead.[19]

 

“….the situation was that a plague affecting eleven people resulted in the evacuation of a majority of the two hundred residents of Knowles Landing.”[20] (Potter. Yellow Fever in Middle Haddam, 1796. 1980, p. 11-13.)

 

New Orleans, Louisiana

 

Carrigan: “Although the earliest history of the disease in Louisiana, as everywhere else, is virtually impossible to unravel and reconstruct with absolute certainty, one may accept the New Orleans epidemic of 1796 as the first definitely recorded yellow fever outbreak in that city. Yet the apparent immunity of many Creoles exhibited in that epidemic indicates that the malady had been present to some degree in the area during previous years.[21]…. [p. 25]

 

“According to Intendant Juan Ventura Morales, the epidemic broke out in late August.[22]….Throughout September, October, and early November his daily letters [Joseph Pontalba][23] were filled with commentary on the raging pestilence. From the very beginning Pontalba observed that the fever singled out the unacclimated, the newcomers — especially Americans and Englishmen — in preference to the Creole and long-resident population…. [pp. 25-26]

 

“The epidemic of 1796 was without question a severe one. However, exact mortality figures are not available; no bureau of vital statistics, no board of health, no systematic measures existed at that time for keeping such records. Prevailing from late August until early November, the Saffron Scourge levied a fairly heavy tribute on the Crescent City. In the second week of September Pontalba reported eight or nine victims per day….For a time the death toll amounted to fifteen or seventeen deaths per day. In the last week of September the Baron reported that after an apparent decline the malady had continued to rage, claiming the lives of nine or ten Englishmen in a single day. By mid-October the main force of the epidemic was spent, but as late as November 6 the fever still caused ‘some ravage.’ The following day, November 7, Pontalba wrote that ‘we are now predicting the near end of the epidemic,’ and after that date he made no further mention of the pestilence in his letters. The arrival of cold weather obviously curtailed the activities of the yellow fever mosquito.

 

“On October 31 the Intendant stated that the parish registry listed nearly 200 deaths from all causes since the outbreak of the epidemic. This figure did not include those who died outside the town limits or ‘the protestants who perished (and they were numerous).’[24] Since the fever preferred strangers to Creoles, the number of Protestant victims probably outnumbered the Catholics by a considerable margin. According to the Attorney-general in a report dated October 21, the ‘cruel epidemic’ had ‘led to the grave more than 250 persons.’[25]

 

“The population of New Orleans in 1796 probably was about 6,000[26]….Raging from late August until early November, the epidemic covered a period of at least ten weeks, during which there must have been several deaths each day….one might conjecture at least two to five fatalities per day…On that basis, a total of 350 to 400 yellow fever deaths for the entire period is probably a fair estimate.” [pp. 30-33] (Carrigan, Jo Ann. The Saffron Scourge. 1961.)

 

New York City

 

Griscom: “In 1796, but few deaths from yellow fever occurred in New York. They were principally in the neighborhood of White Hall, where a new dock was being built. This dock was built sixty feet into the river, with a front of 458 feet, and having an average depth of nine feet. It was estimated to require 24,000 cart loads to fill this dock, 8,000 of which, being above the ordinary height of the tides, was exposed to the action of the summer sun….At the foot of Broad Street, a common sewer discharged its contents, which were exposed to the sun at low water. ‘It will surprise no one to learn that seventy persons lost their lives by inhaling the poison evolved from such a seething mass of corruption.” (Griscom. “Report on Yellow Fever” New York Journal of Medicine. Nov 1856, pp. 371.)

 

Wilmington, NC

 

De Rosset: “….The spring and early part of the summer of that year had been remarkably wet, scarce a day having passed for several weeks without rain. About the middle of the summer the weather became dry, and unusually warm. In July the dysentery appeared, and soon became very general, proving fatal in many instances. Toward the close of August, when the first cases of the bilious fever occurred to me, the dysentery began to decline; and scarcely one new case of it occurred after the fever became more prevalent….No age, sex, or colour was exempt from its attack. On or about the 20^th of September…more persons were taken ill than on any two other days during the sickness.

 

“The symptoms which ushered in this disease were chilliness and rigor, alternating with a sense of heat; pains in the head, back, loins, and extremities; faintness and vertigo; difficult respiration, with a tightness across the chest; oppression at the praecordia; a pain in the hypochondria and region of the stomach, which scarcely admitted the slightest pressure; anxiety and depression of spirits: early in the disease the neck and face were flushed; heat and redness of the eyes: after a few days continuance, the eyes and skin became yellow, observable first upon the upper part of the breast; the pulse, in most instances quick and full, though not hard, becoming in two or three days small and weak. In several cases, the pulse, in a couple of days from the attack, became perfectly regular, both with respect to strength and frequency, and differed nothing that could discover from its healthy standard, while the other symptoms continued as before, or were aggravated; so that the danger of the patient was not indicated by the state of the circulation. These cases terminated fatally. Nausea and retchings to vomit were almost inseparable from this fever; sometimes nothing was discharged by these efforts, but generally a yellow bile, changing by degrees to a greasy-looking green water, which was, however, often thrown up without any conatus, but by a kind of gulping, or involuntary eructation: ultimately the true black vomit, as described by writers on the yellow fever, came on….

 

“P.S. The number of deaths, including those from the dysentery, amounted in that year, from the beginning of August to the beginning of November, to about one hundred and fifty persons of all descriptions. The 25^th and 26^th days of September were more fatal than any others. On one of those days as many as fourteen funerals were counted — a very large number for a small place not containing more than one hundred and twenty, or one hundred and thirty families.”

(De Rosset. “An Account of the Pestilential Fever which prevailed at Wilmington, North-Carolina, in 1796: In a Letter to Dr. Miller. Article II in: The Medical Repository, Vol. II, Third Edition, 1805, pp. 143-145.)

 

Sources

 

Anderson, Dr. John F. Anderson. “Yellow Fever and Malaria in Early Connecticut,” The History of Public Health Entomology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 1904-2009. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin (1030), 2010, 70 pages. Accessed 3-17-2018 at: http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/bulletins/b1030.pdf

 

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

 

De Rosset, A. J. MD. “An Account of the Pestilential Fever which prevailed at Wilmington, North-Carolina, in 1796: In a Letter to Dr. Miller. Article II (pp. 143-145), in: The Medical Repository (Samuel L. Mitchell, Edward Miller, and Elihu H. Smith, editors), Vol. II, Third Edition: New York: T. & J. Swords, Printers to the Faculty of Physic of Columbia College, 1805. Google preview accessed 3-17-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=dA5LAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Dowler, Bennet, MD. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853, with Topographical, Chronological, and Historical Sketches of The Epidemics of New Orleans Since Their Origin in 1796, Illustrative of the Quarantine Question. New Orleans: The Office of the Picayune, 1854, 76 pages. Accessed 3-16-2018 at: https://ia600300.us.archive.org/18/items/65020990R.nlm.nih.gov/65020990R.pdf

 

Griscom, John H., MD “Report on Yellow Fever” (Paper read by Dr. Griscom, Chairman, Section on Public Health and Legal Medicine), New York Journal of Medicine (Abstract of the Proceedings of the Medical Societies of New York). Nov 1856, pp. 369-378. Accessed 3-18-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=GXAdAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

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

 

La Roche, Rene, M.D. Yellow Fever, Considered in its Historical, Pathological, Etiological, and Therapeutical Relations, Including A Sketch of the Disease as it has Occurred in Philadelphia from 1699-1854… (Vol. 2 of 2). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1855. Google preview accessed 3-17-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=YTrUAOOJXCAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

McCandless, Peter. Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Google digital preview accessed 12-29-2013 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NMrqxrLAHUgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=scdah&f=false

 

Minor, Thomas C. MD. On Yellow Fever in Ohio as it appeared During the Summer of 1878. Cincinnati: The Cincinnati Lancet Press Print, 1878, 138 pages. Accessed 3-16-2018 at: https://ia802505.us.archive.org/31/items/65030280R.nlm.nih.gov/65030280R.pdf

 

Plummer, Jonathan. The Awful Malignant Fever at Newburyport, in the Year 1796. An Elegiac Epistle to the Mourners, on the Death of Forty Four Persons, who died of a Malignant Fever in Newburyport and the adjacent towns, in the Summer and Autumn of the Year 1796 — Together with a short account of that alarming disorder. Newburyport, MA: Printed and sold by the author, 1796. Accessed 3-17-2018 at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N23432.0001.001?view=toc

 

Potter, Lucy. Yellow Fever in Middle Haddam, 1796. Wesleyan University, WesScholar, 1-1-1980. Accessed 3-17-2018 at: https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1089&context=middletownpapers

 

Ramsay, David (M.D.). Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, From its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808. Published by W. J. Duffie, Newberry, SC, printed in Charleston by Walker, Evans & Co., 1858. Digitized by archive.org and accessed 9-11-2016 at: https://archive.org/stream/ramsayshistorys00ramsgoog#page/n4/mode/2up

 

 

 

[1] Chatham and Middle Haddam are different districts within the town of East Hampton in Middlesex County, CT. However, it seems probable to us that those who noted yellow fever in Middlesex County, were referring to just one location, differing only in whether 9 died or 11 (which we accept, given the detailed breakout in Potter).

[2] We get the name of the ship from Dr. John F. Anderson. “Yellow Fever and Malaria in Early Connecticut,” The History of Public Health Entomology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 1904-2009. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin (1030), 2010, 70 pages.

[3] Potter 1980, p. 18.

[4] Potter 1980, p. 11.

[5] La Roche simply includes Haddam in a short list of localities which “suffered” yellow fever.

[6] See “Narrative Information” below wherein Dowler cites Major Prior of the U.S. Army, who was at Gallipolis, to the effect that “half the garrison and many of the French settlers died in ten days from this malady.” We do not know the size of the garrison contingent or how many of the “many” French settlers died. In order to include in our compilation of large-loss-of-life events we make assumption that at least ten lives were lost, and from the wording of this account, think that the death toll could have been much higher.

[7] Keating writes: “…a fever…attacked the army of the United States, at Gallipolis {1796}. The source of the malady was clearly traced to a large pond near the cantonment. When the disease was most severe, it assumed the continued form, and was accompanied with yellowness of the skin; when proper means were taken to destroy the pond, the fever immediately lost its continued form, and became first remittent, then intermittent, and ultimately disappeared. ‘The fever,’ says this intelligent officer, ‘was, I think, justly charged to a large pond near the cantonment…..In August, the weather was extremely hot, and uncommonly dry; the water had evaporated considerably, leaving a great quantity of muddy water, with a thick, slimy mixture of putrefying vegetables, which emitted a stench almost intolerable. The inhabitants of the village, principally French, and very poor, as well as filthy in their mode of living, began to suffer first, and died so rapidly, that a general consternation seized the whole settlement. The garrison continued healthy for some days, and we began to console ourselves with th hope that we should escape altogether; we were, however, soon undeceived, and the reason of our exemption heretofore was soon discovered. The wind had blown the air arising from the pond from the camp; but as soon as it shifted to the reverse point, the soldiers began to sicken; in five days, half the garrison were on the sick list, and in ten, half of them were dead. They were generally seized with a chill, followed by headache, pains in the back and limbs, red eyes, constant sickness at stomach, or vomiting, and generally, just before death, with a vomiting of matter like coffee-grounds. They were often yellow before, but almost always after death. The sick died generally on the seventh, ninth, and eleventh days, though sometimes on the fifth, and on the third….”

[8] Notes that “yellow fever appeared in Newburyport” but does not note a death toll.

[9] In Carrigan 1961, p. 32.

[10] Simply notes it “appeared in Wilmington, N.C.”

[11] De Rosset writes that “The number of deaths, including those from the dysentery, amounted …from the beginning of August to the beginning of November, to about one hundred and fifty persons of all descriptions….a very large number for a small place not containing more than one hundred and twenty, or one hundred and thirty families.” In that we do not have a number for the dysentery deaths, which, from a reading of his account seem to have been much less than from the bilious/yellow fever, we choose to note 150 deaths from both causes.

[12] See Narrative Information section on Charleston. McCandless cites Ramsay to the effect that there were hundreds of deaths and McCandless notes his believe that “the fatalities must have numbered several hundred” because Ramsay noted that between two and three hundred people died in 1799, representing a lower death toll than in 1796.

[13] Ramsay does not note the fatalities for 1796. He writes: “In the year 1792 a new era of the yellow fever commenced. It raged in Charlestown in that year, and in 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1804, and 1807.” It notes the death toll for a few years wherein the toll was over 96. Then notes “In the years 1796 and 1799 it raged with its greatest violence, but has since considerably abated both in frequency and violence.” (pp. 47-48.)

[14] McCandless footnote 61: “No one seems to have recorded the mortality for most of the epidemics of the 1790s, but in 1800, Ramsay stated that yellow fever had ‘raged with its greatest violence’ in 1796 and 1797. If so, the fatalities must have numbered several hundred in each year, because he listed the number of deaths in 1799 as between two and three hundred, and claimed that the mortality was lower than in previous years. MSM, Sept. 28, 1793, July 26-27, Oct. 25, 1794, Aug. 10, Sept. 1, 1796….David Ramsay, A Review of the Improvements, Progress, and State of Medicine in the XVIIIth Century (Charleston, 1800), 39; George Carter, An Essay on Fevers (Charleston, 17966), 22; Thomas Simons, “Observations on the Yellow Fever, as it occurs in Charleston,” Carolina Journal of Medicine, Science, and Agriculture I (1835), 2.”

[15] Cites: David Ramsay. Memoirs of the Life of Martha Laurens Ramsay. Boston: 1812, pp. 132-133.

[16] Cites, in footnote 4: “S.A.” to Henry Rugeley, Oct. 20, 1796, Rugeley Family Papers, X 311/155, Bedfordshire Record Office, Bedford, England.

[17] Yellow Fever in Ohio in 1878.

[18] Middle Haddam is in East Hampton township which shares a border to the Connecticut River to the west.

[19] Potter, in footnote 12, cites: Thomas Miner. Essays on Fevers, pp. 361-362.

[20] At the time Knowles Lading was a Middle Haddam port.

[21] Having the disease once gives one some protection from suffering its full effects again, unless very malignant.

[22] Carrigan, in footnote 1, cites: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, III, p. 375.

[23] Carrigan, in footnotes 2 and 3, cites: Joseph C. Pontalba to wife, September 6, 11, 24, 30, Nov 3, 1796, in “Letters of Baron Joseph X. Pontalba to his Wife, 1796” (W.P.A. trans. Typescript, Louisiana State University Library, Baton Rouge), pp. 274, 284, 312, 323, 393.

[24] Carrigan, in footnote 13, cites: Gayarré, History of Louisiana, III, p. 375.

[25] Carrigan, in fn. 14, cites: Records of the City Council of New Orleans, Book 4079, Document 259, 10-21-1796.

[26] Cites Dowler. Tableau of the Yellow Fever of 1853, p. 9.