19th Century

–332  Blanchard compilation based on State and locality breakouts below.

 

Georgia                      (  10)

—  10  Fort Oglethorpe            Augustin. History of Yellow Fever, 1909, p. 464.

 

Louisiana                   (150)

—  150  New Orleans.              N.O. Pub. Lib. Yellow Fever Deaths in New Orleans, 1817-1905.

—>130            “                        Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 92.[1]

—  130            “                        Keating 1879, p. 85; Sternberg 1908, 719; US MHS 1896, p. 435.

 

Mississippi                  (  90)    Harden, et al. Mosquito News. March 1967, p. 60.[2]

 

South Carolina          (  26)

—  26  Charleston                    Keating 1879, 85; US Marine-Hospital Service. 1896, 435.

 

Tennessee                   (  56)

—  56  Memphis                       Annual Report… National Board of Health, 1879.  1879, p. 252.

 

Narrative Information

 

Nat. Board of Health, on Memphis: “Yellow fever.—First epidemic in 1828; distributed pretty generally throughout the village, at that time occupying the bluff near the Mississippi, and mainly north of Market street; over 150 cases in a population of about 700; mortality, 56 recorded deaths.”  (Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1879.  1879, p. 252.)

 

Sources

 

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

 

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

 

Harden, F. W., H. R. Hepburn and B. J. Ethridge. “A History of Mosquitoes and Mosquito-Borne Diseases in Mississippi 1699-1965, Mosquito News, Vol. 27, No. 1, March 1967, pp. 60-66. Accessed 5-8-2018 at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/content/part/JAMCA/MN_V27_N1_P060-066.pdf

 

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

 

National Board of Health, United States. Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1879.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1879. Google preview accessed 4-15-2018 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=0SsgAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana Division. Yellow Fever Deaths in New Orleans, 1817-1905. Accessed 3-7-2010 at: http://nutrias.org/facts/feverdeaths.htm

 

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 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 in case of 1828]. Presumably there were other deaths in New Orleans in private practice…”

[2] From: Table 1. — The major yellow fever epidemics for the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

–195  Blanchard tally of State and locality breakouts below.

–177  US Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Report…for the Fiscal Year 1895. 1896, p. 435.

 

Alabama                     ( ~3)

–~3  Mobile                            Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 10-27-1824, p. 2, col. 2.[1]

 

Florida                        (   8)

–8  Pensacola. Daily National Intelligencer, Wash., DC. “Sickness at Pensacola.” 9-24-1827, 3.

 

Georgia                      (  >4)

— >4  Savannah.                      Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 10-27-1824, p. 2, col. 2.

 

Louisiana                   (112)

–109  New Orleans.               Carrigan 1961, 92;[2] Keating 1979, 85; NO Public Library; Sternberg 1908, 719; USMHS. Annual Rpt. FY 1885. 1896, 435.

—  >3  Opelousas.                    Logansport Telegraph, IN. 12-2-1827, p. 2, col. 5.[3]

 

Mississippi                  (    ?)

–?  Natchez.                            Rowland. Mississippi…in Cyclopedic Form (V. 2). 1907, p. 1015.[4]

 

New York                   (    4)

— 4 NY Marine Hospital         US MHS 1896, 435.

 

South Carolina          (  64)

–64  Charleston                      Keating 1879, 85: Sternberg 1908, 719; US MHS 1896, 435.

–59          “                              The Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. 11-14-1827, p. 3, col. 3.[5]

 

Narrative Information

 

July 7, Charleston: “One case of yellow fever was reported by the board of health of Charleston S.C. on the 7^th ult — with this one exception large cities have so far this year been reported healthy.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 8-18-1827, p. 2, col. 1.)

 

July 22, New Orleans: “A letter from New Orleans, dated the 22d ult. states that several cases of the yellow fever had appeared, and that the persons had been removed to the hospital.” (Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. 8-16-1827, p. 3, col. 6.)

 

Aug 18, New Orleans: “The yellow fever rages immoderately, and threatens once more to lay waste this ill-favored city.” (Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, DC. “Extract of a letter, dated New Orleans, August 18.” 9-19-1827, p. 3.)

 

Aug 19, Charleston: “During the week ending on the 19^th instant, there were eight deaths in Charleston by yellow fever.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 9-1-1827, p. 3, col. 4.)

 

Aug 21, New Orleans: “The New Orleans Advertiser of the 21^st ult. says: — ‘About forty persons have been buried in this city within the last seven days; a mortality which is nearly double the general average among this population.’ In the bill or mortality for the week ending on the 18^th ult. we observe eight deaths by yellow fever.” (Torch-Light, Hagerstown, MD. “Health of New Orleans,” 9-20-1827, p. 2, col. 2.)

 

Sep 3, Pensacola: “From the Pensacola Gazette Extra, of the 3d instant, received yesterday, we are sorry to learn that a fever prevailed there, several cases of which had been pronounced by the Physicians to be the yellow fever. That there are numerous cases of fever in that city is certain; but the cases which have terminated fatally are said to have been few. Out of a hundred that have been attacked with fever, it is said that only eight have died. Their names are not given.” (Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, DC. “Sickness at Pensacola.” 9-24-1827, p. 3, col. 3.)

 

Sep 7, New Orleans: “The New Orleans Argus, of the 7^th ultimo, states, that the yellow fever had nearly disappeared from that city; that it had been unusually mild during its prevalence, and that strangers may, with safety, return to th city.” (Daily National Intelligencer, DC. 10-3-1827, p. 3, col. 3.)

 

Sep 8, New Orleans: “There were 8 deaths by yellow fever at New Orleans, during the week ending on the 8^th ult.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 10-6-1827, p. 3, col. 1.)

 

Sep 30 report, New Orleans: “The Yellow Fever now rages at N. Orleans. The number of deaths is about 30 per day.” (Logansport Canal Telegraph, IN. 9-30-1827, p. 1, col. 6.) [We do not know the date of the original reporting.]

 

Oct 9, Savannah and Mobile: “During the week ending on the 9^th inst. there were four deaths by yellow fever at Savannah. The Mobile board of health, under the date of 26^th ult, announces the existence of several in that town. (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 10-27-1824, p. 2, c. 2.)

 

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

 

Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, DC. “Extract of a letter, dated New Orleans, August 18.” 9-19-1827, p. 3. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-national-intelligencer-sep-19-1827-p-3/

 

Daily National Intelligencer, Washington, DC. “Sickness at Pensacola.” 9-24-1827, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-national-intelligencer-sep-24-1827-p-3/

 

Daily National Intelligencer, DC. [Yellow Fever, New Orleans], 10-3-1827, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-national-intelligencer-oct-03-1827-p-3/

 

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

Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. [Yellow Fever, New Orleans], 8-16-1827, p. 3, col. 6. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-gazette-aug-23-1827-p-3/

 

Logansport Canal Telegraph, IN. [Yellow Fever, New Orleans], 9-30-1827, p. 1, col. 6. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/logansport-canal-telegraph-sep-30-1827-p-1/

 

Logansport Telegraph, IN. [Yellow Fever, Opelousas], 12-2-1827, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/logansport-telegraph-dec-02-1827-p-2/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis. [Yellow Fever, Charleston, SC], 8-18-1827, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-aug-18-1827-p-2/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis. [Yellow Fever, Charleston, SC], 9-1-1827, p. 3, col. 4. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-sep-01-1827-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis. [Yellow Fever, New Orleans], 10-6-1827, p. 3, col. 1. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-oct-06-1827-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis. [Yellow Fever, Savannah], 10-27-1824, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-oct-27-1827-p-2/

 

New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana Division. “Yellow Fever Deaths in New Orleans, 1817-1905. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: http://nutrias.org/facts/feverdeaths.htm

 

Rowland, Dunbar (Director, Mississippi Department of Archives and History). Mississippi – Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (Vol. 2 of 3). Atlanta: Southern Historical Publishing Association, 1907. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=EJ4yAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

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

 

The Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. [Yellow Fever, Charleston], 11-14-1827, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-sentinel-nov-14-1827-p-3/

 

The Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. [Yellow Fever, Charleston and New Orleans], 8-22-1827, p. 3, col. 1. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-sentinel-aug-22-1827-p-3/

 

Torch-Light, Hagerstown, MD. “Health of New Orleans,” 9-20-1827, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 4-15-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hagers-town-torch-light-and-public-advertiser-sep-20-1827-p-2/

 

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] “The Mobile board of health, under the date of 26^th ult [Sep], announces the existence of several [yellow fever deaths] in that town.

[2] Carrigan in footnote, writes “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 for 1827]. Presumably there were other deaths in New Orleans in private practice…”

[3] “A letter to the editor of the New Orleans Bulletin states that the yellow fever had broken out at Opelousas, and had proved very fatal, ‘the great bulk of its worthy citizens having fallen victims.’” (For purposes of inclusion we translate “very fatal” into at least three deaths.

[4] “In 1827 it [yellow fever] again appeared at Natchez; no record of the mortality.”

[5] “In the city of Charleston, there were Deaths by Yellow Fever…in 1827, 59.”

Canada
— <300 Lambert. Redcoat Sailor: The Story of Sir Howard Douglas. 1956. --280-300 New Brunswick Canada Natural Resources. Great Miramichi Fire. Accessed 6-8-2020. --100-200 Bird. These Are the Maritimes. 1959. -- 160 CNN.com. “Wildfires Throughout History.” 6-30-2007 update. -- >160 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 360.
— 160 National Interagency Fire Center. “Historically Significant Wildland Fires.”
— 160 Smalley, James C. (Ed.). Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire. 2005, p. 19.
— <160 Wright. The Miramichi… 1944. Maine -- 0 Geller. 832,000 Acres: Maine’s 1825 Fire & Its Piscataquis Logging Aftermath. 2020, p. 19. Narrative Information CNN: “….After a summer of sparse rain, sporadic wildfires in Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick reached disastrous levels in October 1825. Strong winds spurred the conflagration, which burned through forests and settlements in Maine and along the Miramichi River in Canada. Among the worst wildfires in North American history, the Miramichi fire burned 3 million acres, killed 160 people and left 15,000 homeless. “An eyewitness account, preserved by the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, described the scene: "A loud roaring was heard in the woods, and from the burnt substances still continuing to thicken the atmosphere, it was so dark that the flames could not be distinguished, though they were more than one mile from the town."” (CNN. “Wildfires Throughout History,” 6-30-2007 update.) Cornell: “Maine and New Brunswick, October 1825: Drought conditions helped to turn a small fire accidentally set by lumbermen into a conflagration that spread over 3 million acres. The fire destroyed many small towns and settlements in northern Maine and southern New Brunswick and killed at least 160 people.” (Cornell. The Great International Disaster Book (3rd ed.). 1982, p. 360.) Geller: “….832,000 acres burned, a staggering expanse of land. Within a few hours beginning in the early evening on October 7, 1825 a raging forest fire was on its way to engulfing much of the Piscataquis River watershed. The fire, which for a time was known as Maine’s Miramichi fire, eventually burned 1,300 square miles.3 The conflagration started in the townships where the southerly flow of the Piscataquis River bends to continue east to the Penobscot River. For two weeks or more the fire burned and smoldered.” (p. 17) “The fire started when a sudden violent gale, reported by writers as blowing from the north and northwest, fanned small and numerous land-clearing fires in Guilford township, and probably in other near-by townships, into a single inferno. Fire-rich material, decaying stumps in cleared fields, stubble left from the fall harvest, dried grass, wooden fences, and tinder-dry woodlots, covered the countryside. Water was low to non-existent in some places and many peoples’ wells were dry. “Initially the settlers organized to fight the fire, but they quickly realized they could not control it. The high winds drove the fire and sent burning debris through the air. The wind-blown firebrands dropped into the forest crowns of settlers’ woodlots. Burning limbs dropped to and ignited the forest floor. The fire seemed to be burning everywhere. Folks retreated to their own farms and clusters of homes, filled anything they could with water, took down wooden fences, ploughed up the earth, and set backfires. Some settlers took long poles and made them into swabs, which they dunked in water and then rubbed their roofs to keep them wet and put out the flying firebrands. Other people soaked woolen bedding and laid it on their roofs. “Miraculously, no reports included loss of human life.” (pp. 18-19) (Geller, Bill. 832,000 Acres: Maine’s 1825 Fire & Its Piscataquis Logging Aftermath. Farmington, ME: Mountain Explorations Publishing Company, 2020.) Smalley: “Miramichi Fire. Land developers of that era clearcut and burned the vast forests of the Atlantic seaboard, taking only the best timber and leaving the rest lying on the ground. This practice resulted in a number of very destructive forest fires. In 1825 in Maine and Canada, the Miramichi Fire burned over 3 million acres (800,000 acres in Maine) and killed 160 people. This destructive wildfire occurred as a result of many small settler and logging fires all burning at the same time.” (Smalley. Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire. 2005, p. 19.) Sources: Bird, Will R. These Are the Maritimes. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1959. Excerpt pp. 272-273, 1825 Miramichi Fire, accessed at: http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/charlotte_taylor/Folder1/Miramichi_Fire_of_1825.htm CNN. “Wildfires Throughout History,” 6-30-2007 update. Accessed at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/30/historic.wildfires/index.html Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982. Geller, Bill. 832,000 Acres: Maine’s 1825 Fire & Its Piscataquis Logging Aftermath. Farmington, ME: Mountain Explorations Publishing Company, 2020. Accessed 6-8-2020 at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1315&context=mainehistory Lambert, R. S. Redcoat Sailor: The Story of Sir Howard Douglas. London: MacMillan and Co, 1956. “Excerpt from pages 127-146 on Miramichi Fire of 1825.” Accessed 6-8-2020 at: http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/charlotte_taylor/Folder1/Miramichi_Fire_of_1825.htm National Interagency Fire Center. “Historically Significant Wildland Fires.” Accessed 6-8-2020 at: https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireInfo_stats_histSigFires.html New Brunswick Canada Natural Resources. Great Miramichi Fire (webpage). “The largest fire ever in eastern North America.” Accessed 6-8-2020 at: https://web.archive.org/web/20101013094259/http://www.gnb.ca/0079/miramichi_fire-e.asp Smalley, James C. (Ed.). Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2005. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=2913l73SEAUC&dq=Wildfire+1910&source=gbs_navlinks_s Wright, Esther Clark. The Miramichi: A Study of the New Brunswick River and the People Who Settled Along It. New Brunswick: Tribune Press, 1944.

–428  Blanchard tally based on State and Maritime breakouts below.

 

Alabama                     (>55)

—   >55  Mobile. Blanchard estimate.[1]

—   ~40        “      Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Sickness at Mobile.” 9-21-1825, p. 3.[2]

–Many       “      AL Genealogy Trails. AL Epidemic History  (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925).

Reporting by date:

—      13      “      Late July (two days).  Torch Light, Hagerstown, MD. 11-29-1825, p. 2, col. 2.

–25-30       “      Aug 6-8. The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. 9-7-1825, p. 3.

 

Florida                        (  89)

–~40  Key West                     Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “From Key West,” 8-25-1825, p. 2.

—  49  Pensacola                     Keating 1879, 85.

—    ?         “                             Monette. History of the Discovery and Settlement… p. 103.[3]

—    ?         “                             Monette. Observations…Epidemic Yellow Fever…. 1842, p. 121.[4]

—    ?         “                             U.S. Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Report…FY 1895, p. 435.[5]

 

Georgia                      (    7)   

—  7  Augusta                         Augustin.  History of Yellow Fever, 1909, 462.

 

Louisiana                   (  59)

–59  New Orleans                   Carrigan. The Saffron Scourge. 1961, p. 92.[6]

–49          “                              U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc.  Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, 435.[7]

 

Mississippi                  (~210)  (~mid-Aug-Nov 1)

— 150  Natchez                       Keating 1879, p. 85; Monette 1842, p. 67; Sternberg 1908, p. 719.

— ~60  Washington                 Monette 1842, pp. 67-68.

—   52         “                           Keating 1879, p. 85.

 

New York                   (    1)

— 1  NY Marine Hospital        Keating 1879, 85; U.S. Marine Hosp. Svc.  An. Rpt… 1896, 435.[8]

 

South Carolina          (    2)                                                              

— 2  Charleston                       Keating 1879, 85; U.S. Marine Hosp. Svc.  An. Rpt… 1896, 435.[9]

 

Maritime                    (     5)

–4  US ship Decoy. Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “Melancholy from…Decoy.” 11-13-1825, p3.

–1  The Constitution. Lt. William Lawton, July 22 (believed to have contracted at Key West).[10]

 

Narrative Information

 

Alabama, Mobile

 

Torp, AL Genealogy Trails: “1825. Severe epidemic at Mobile. The board of health concealed the true conditions, and although the disease made its appearance as early as July, no official report was given out until September 2, when only one case was announced. It was not until September 11 that official admission of epidemic conditions was made. Many deaths reported.”  (Alabama Genealogy Trails. “Yellow Fever.” Alabama Epidemic History  (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925 as source). Submitted by K. Torp. 2013.)

 

Newspapers

 

July 26, prior to: “Baton Rouge, (Lou.) Aug. 6….Accounts from Mobile, state that the Yellow Fever rages there with exterminating fury. Almost all the inhabitants have deserted the place. Previous to Sunday the 26th ultimo [July], thirteen persons had died in two days and the lives of seventeen were despaired of, on that day.” (Torch Light and Public Advertiser, Hagerstown, MD.

 

Aug 7-8: “The Mobile Register of the 9^th ult. estimates the deaths in that city of yellow fever, at 25 to 30, within the preceding three days. The city is almost depopulated. The public offices have been removed into the country; and a guard has been established to keep watch, day and night, for the preservation of the property of absent citizens.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Sickness at Mobile.” 9-21-1825, p. 3, col. 1.)

 

Late Oct report: “Several cases of malignant fever have again made their appearance in Mobile, in consequence, of the return of warm weather about the last week in October.” (Torch Light and Public Advertiser, Hagerstown, MD. 11-29-1825, p. 2, col. 2.)

 

Florida, Key West

 

Maryland Gazette: “A gentleman who came passenger in the schr. Thorn, arrived at Charleston from Key West, states that the yellow fever was prevailing at that place to an alarming extent. When Com. Warrington left there (five or six weeks before) there were at the island about 30 marines, and from 30 to 40 sailors. On this number, when the informant departed, but three men of the marines were enabled to perform duty, two thirds of them being dead, and the remainder lying very ill. Lieut. Com. Tupper was left in a dying state –The fever was also very fatal among the sailors — the hospital being crowded with the sick, and but five or six enabled to do duty — Capt. James M. McIntosh the commander of the island was down with the fever. Sailing master Harby, commanding the Navy Yard, had just recovered from a severe illness. The U.S. sloop Vagabond, under command of midshipman Fatio had been dispatched for the purpose of endeavouring [sic] to fall in with Com. Warrington, off Havanna or Matanzas to inform him of the great mortality prevailing at Key West, and to advise with him concerning the removal of the remainder of the U.S. forces, before they all fell victims to the fever.” (Maryland Gazette, Annapolis, “From Key West.” 8-25-1825, p. 2, col. 4.)

 

Florida, Pensacola

 

Monette: “How was it in 1825?[11] Pensacola was thronged with northern adventurers, with trading vessels, and numerous importations for the new settlements, and yellow fever was introduced and prevailed with most destructive mortality.” (Monette. Observations on the Epidemic Yellow Fever of Natchez and of the South-West. 1842, p. 121.)

 

Louisiana, New Orleans

 

July 21: “From New-Orleans — By the Mail we have received New Orleans papers to the 21^st of July, inclusive. It is said that a letter was received here yesterday stating the appearance of the yellow fever at New Orleans. The date of the letter is not mentioned, and we can discover nothing in the papers before us on that subject.” (The Centinel, Gettysburg, 8-31-1825, p. 3, c. 3.)

 

Sep or Oct 3: “New Orleans. — Advices to the 3d instant represent that the city of New Orleans had become very sickly. The deaths averaged from four to five per day. The newspapers did not report the deaths. The most prevalent diseases were yellow fever and small pox. Nearly all the inhabitants had left the city. Balt. Amer.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “New Orleans,” 10-12-1825, p. 1, col. 3.)

 

Mississippi, Natchez

 

Monette:  “Epidemic of 1825. — This epidemic began under the hill, or at the landing, among the clerks of a commission house and others near the steamboat landing. Cases began to multiply

about the 20th of August. Several persons attacked were removed by their friends into the upper city, where they finally died. On the last of August the alarm was such, that a general flight of the citizens to the country ensued. The disease prevailed nearly two weeks near the landing before it began to spread in the upper city; and the first cases in the latter were easily traced to intercourse with the landing.

 

“The disease continued to prevail until checked by a freeze on the first of November. The whole number of deaths in Natchez was about 150 souls. As usual, several deaths occurred late in November in persons who had left the city early, and returned after frost into their houses, which had remained closed.

 

“This year the disease was carried to Washington. This is a pleasant, elevated, and cleanly village, six miles east of Natchez, containing about 100 hundred houses thinly distributed over a space half as large as Natchez. It had heretofore been the retreat of the merchants, mechanics, and others who wished to continue their trade with the country. This fall Washington was crowded with people, goods, and all the movables necessary for business and house-keeping. Nearly half the mercantile establishments carried their goods along, and every day for ten days brought out new supplies from Natchez and New Orleans. No unusual sickness prevailed in Washington or in the surrounding country. During the first twenty days of September, the mercury ranged as high 90° to 93° each day, and the air was sultry and oppressive.

 

“During the first ten days after the arrival of the Natchez people, there were about 8 deaths from yellow fever in those who had contracted the disease before they left Natchez. About this time others who were citizens of Washington and who had not been in Natchez, began to sicken with yellow fever; and by the 15th [unclear] of September the disease was considered epidemic in Washington, when nearly all the population fled. The whole number of deaths in the Washington epidemic was about 60 souls. About ten cases and five deaths occurred among those who returned into houses which had been closed, and were not entirely disinfected by the cold weather.

 

“Previous to this summer, Washington was known as a healthy retreat to the people of Natchez during their epidemic visitations, where the disease had never been known to spread. No one pretended to ascribe this epidemic to filth, or the usual sources to which it is ascribed in cities. Washington is remarkable for the absence of every thing like city filth.  Dr. Cartwright, however, did ascribe it to a quantity of “putrescent bacon,” which he alleges to have been carried out from Natchez. Even this would be an admission that the disease was carried from Natchez to Washington. But the fact is, there was no such “putrescent bacon” as that to which he refers. The writer was any eye-witness to the whole of this epidemic, and resided within one hundred yards of the alleged putrid bacon, and he does not hesitate to say that the Doctor was misinformed on that subject.

 

“I hesitate not to declare it as my belief, that there would have been no epidemic in Washington, unless the people and goods from Natchez had been crowded into it. Besides it must be remembered the merchants received large supplies of fall goods from New Orleans while they were in Washington, and among these were 8 or 10 bales of blankets to meet the annual fall demand of the planters.

 

“The first citizens of Washington attacked were my patients; and their infection could be traced clearly to opening and handling those bales of blankets, and other goods brought from New Orleans and Natchez. The disease was imported to Washington as surely as it was to Coonville in 1823….Dr. Cartwright ascribed the epidemic this year, to causes similar to those which he adduced in 1823; to which he added “spoiled porter,” “rotten sour-crout,” and also a boat with some corn in it sunk near the wharf.

 

“Dr. Merrill ascribed it to ‘”loose earth” exposed to the sun, in making and filling up a wharf, and in leveling the streets. Others ascribed it to such combination of circumstances or causes, as their fancy might suggest. These causes had no agency whatever in producing the epidemic; and we have shown already that such causes are harmless as generators of yellow fever miasm. We assert without fear of successful refutation, that whenever these circumstances have synchronized with a yellow fever epidemic, they were only incidental occurrences, and not in any manner essential to its existence. It is certain that several epidemics have appeared in Natchez since 1825, without either of the causes assigned by Dr. Cartwright or Dr. Merrill.

 

“It has been urged against the doctrine of importation, that in 1823 and 1825, previous to the visitation of the epidemics, there was a regular quarantine against boats from New Orleans. I admit there was a mock quarantine, but none that was effectual. Each boat from New Orleans at that time was required to round to at the quarantine ground, and permit the health officer to inspect her, when she passed on up to the landing at Natchez. It is well known, that although boats were subjected to this formality, no one was ever prohibited from discharging either freight or passengers. There never was a quarantine at Natchez, on proper principles, until the summer of 1841, and that quarantine excluded the disease from Natchez, although it was Carried on to Vicksburg.”  (Monette 1842, 67-69.)

 

Maritime

 

Aug 5, Norfolk: “The United States’ sloop of war Hornet…anchored at Old Point Comfort last evening…nine days from Havana….

 

“We regret to have to add to the list of valuable officers who have fallen victims to the inhospitable climate of the West Indies [Caribbean], Lieutenant William Lawton, first of the Constellation, who died on the 22d of July of the yellow fever….Lieutenants Henley and Lawton were the only cases of fever that had occurred on board the Constellation, and both are believed to have originated at Key West….” (Vevay Indiana Register. “Arrival of the Hornet (Norfolk, Aug. 5).” 9-2-1825, p. 2, col. 3.)

 

Sources:

 

Alabama Genealogy Trails. Alabama Epidemic History  (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925 as source). Submitted by K. Torp. 2013. Accessed 8-25-2013: http://genealogytrails.com/ala/epidemics.html

 

Augustin, George.  History of Yellow Fever.  New Orleans:  1909; General Books reprint, Memphis, TN, 2010.

 

Carrigan, Jo Ann. The Saffron Scourge: A History of Yellow Fever in Louisiana, 1796-1905 (Doctoral Dissertation). Louisiana State University, LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses, 1961. Accessed 3-11-2018 at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1665&context=gradschool_disstheses

 

Keating, J. M.  A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN:  Howard Association, 1879. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “From Key West,” 8-25-1825, p. 2, col. 4. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-gazette-and-state-register-aug-25-1825-p-2/

 

Maryland Gazette, Annapolis. “Melancholy from the U.S. Ship Decoy.” 11-13-1825, p. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-gazette-and-state-register-nov-03-1825-p-3/

 

Monette, John W., MD. History of the Discovery and Settlement of The Valley of the Mississippi, by The Three Great European Powers, Spain, France, and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by The United States, until the Year 1846 (Vol. I). New York: Harper & Brothers, 1846. Google preview accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=-ngUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Monette, John W. Observations on the Epidemic Yellow Fever of Natchez and of the South-West. Louisville, KY: Prentice and Weissinger, 1842. Digitized by U.S. National Library of Medicine. Accessed 8-15-2013 at: http://archive.org/details/65030290R.nlm.nih.gov

 

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “New Orleans,” 10-12-1825, p. 1, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-republican-compiler-oct-12-1825-p-1/

 

Sternberg, George M. (US Public Health Service, US Marine Hospital Service).  “Yellow Fever:  History and Geographic Distribution.”  Pages 715-722 in Stedman, Thomas L., M.D. (Ed.) Appendix to the Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences.  NY: William Wood & Co., 1908.  Google digitized:  http://books.google.com/books?id=3ezqX415M5wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “From New-Orleans,” 8-31-1825, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-aug-31-1825-p-3/

 

The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. [Yellow Fever, Mobile, AL], 9-7-1825, p. 3, col. 1. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-sep-07-1825-p-3/

 

United States Marine Hospital Service, Treasury Department.  Annual Report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1895 (Document No. 1811).  Washington:  GPO, 1896.  Digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Vevay Indiana Register. “Arrival of the Hornet (Norfolk, Aug. 5).” 9-2-1825, p. 2, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/vevay-indiana-register-sep-02-1825-p-2/

 

 

 

 

[1] This is our guestimate. If 13 people died of yellow fever in two days in late July, with the lives of 17 other infected “despaired of,” and if 25-30 died between Aug 7-9, and if most of the 44 burials reported for Aug 1-16 were yellow fever deaths, then it seems warranted to assume something like at least 55 yellow fever deaths.

[2] Our number based on: “The Mobile Commercial Register of the 16^th ult.[Aug] reports 44 interments since the 1^st of August, principally from the prevailing yellow fever.

[3] “…it was not until the year 1825 that Pensacola received a dense population of unacclimated emigrants, when a most destructive epidemic yellow fever was generated, and swept off great numbers of the crowded population.”

[4] See Narrative section below. Monette notes the “yellow fever…prevailed with most destructive mortality.”

[5] From “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever Has Invaded The Seaboard Cities of the United States, etc.” Notes, in “Remarks” column that the yellow fever arrived in Pensacola from a “West Indian [Caribbean] vessel.” Cites American Public Health Association, Vol. IV; Brown, Quarantine, p. 36. (Toner.).

[6] Carrigan adds in a footnote that “For many years, the only figures available for yellow fever mortality in the city are the figures for yellow fever deaths in Charity Hospital, indicated by a plus after the number [as in 1825]. Presumably there were other deaths in New Orleans in private practice…”

[7] Cites Transactions of the American Medical Association, 1851; Drake, p. 197. (Toner.)

[8] Notes the death was at the Marine Hospital. Cites Editor, New York Journal of Medicine, 1856, p. 281 (Toner.).

[9] Cites: Dowler, New Orleans Medical Journal, 1850, p. 597. (Toner.).

[10] Vevay Indiana Register. “Arrival of the Hornet (Norfolk, Aug. 5).” 9-2-1825, p. 2, col. 3.)

[11] Preceding paragraphs dealt with yellow fever in Pensacola in 1822.

–>169 Blanchard tally of Georgia and maritime losses as noted below.
— 147 Georgia on-land fatalities by locality as noted below.
— 22 Maritime losses by vessel as noted below.
–>150 Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Savannah in the Old South. 2003. Appendix.
— 100 Rappaport and Partagas 1995.
Breakout of GA fatalities by locality where sources have been specific:
— 11 Captain Hudson’s plantation. Drownings of slaves. Fraser. Low Country Hurricanes. 2006, 90.
— 4 Colonel’s Island. Edward and Philip Bacon and two slaves.
— 8 Creighton Island, John Miller plantation. Thomas Miller, the overseer, a worker 5 slaves.
— 33 Darien surrounding area. Blanchard tally from breakouts below.
— 1 Mr. Nephew’s place. Darien Gazette, GA. “Disastrous Hurricane.” 9-21-1824, p.3.
— 7 Capt. Hudson’s place; worker drownings. Darien Gazette, GA. “Disastrous Hurricane.” 9-21-1824, p. 3.
–11 Mr. White’s place; worker drownings. Darien Gazette, GA. “Disastrous Hurricane.” 9-21-1824, 3.
–10 J. Snow plantation; drownings. Wife’s sister, his child, 2 young brothers, R.R. Merrell; 5 slaves.
— 1 The Thicket mills; drowning. Darien Gazette, GA. “Disastrous Hurricane.” 9-21-1824, 3.
–>3 Mr. Chisolms place “family of negroes…killed.”
— >3 Elba Island, Savannah River. “slave cabins collapsed…and some ‘valuable negroes’ drowned.”
— >3 Elliott’s Plantation. “…several valuable negroes, number not ascertained…drowned.”
— 18 Patterson’s Island. Mrs. Lafong, 12 of her slaves, Mr. Chase, his wife, child and two slaves.
— >3 Sapelo Island. 6-ft wave washed over island; “people in less-protected cabins…did not [survive].”
— 2 Sapelo Island. Children of a Mr. Gould torn from his arms and carried away by the sea.
— 9 Sapelo Island, Thomas Spalding plantation; drownings; six slaves, overseer’s two sons & father.
— 83 St. Simons Island. Sandrik and Landsea (NOAA). “Chronological Listing of Tropical…” 2003.
Breakout of maritime fatalities by vessel, where noted:
— 2 Ship Albion, of London. Seaman washed overboard. Mate drowned, line to rescue ship broke.
— 6 Ship John and Mary of Liverpool; chief mate, carpenter, four seamen swept overboard.
— 6 Ship Martha Forbes of Boston, 50-60M SE of Savannah; 5 crew washed off; Cpt. died lashed to mast.
— 2 British brig Wilding off Charleston; two seamen, one cabin boy drowned when she fell on her side.
— 6 Small boat carrying Raymond Demere and 5 slaves, capsized between Darien and St. Simons.
— ? Unknown and unspecified losses.

South Carolina (0)

Narrative Information

Fraser: “1824 September 14-15…Major hurricane…Offshore/coastal waters of Ga. And S.C. Landfall near St. Simons and Darien…150+ [deaths est.]…Financial losses in Darien $18,207,920…Vessels, crops, and farm animals lost.”

NOAA: “Year: 1824
“Date(s): 14-15 September
“Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia – major hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters – major hurricane
Lower Georgia – major hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters – major hurricane
Northeast Florida – hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters – major hurricane
“Landfall Point(s): Near Darien and St. Simons Island; The eye moved directly over the town of Darien, Ga.

“Remarks: Center probably skirted north of Caribbean islands and along the outer Bahamas. Exceeded 1804 storm in flooding and damage. St. Simons Island completely overflowed. 83 persons killed on this island. (not listed in Georgia by Dunn and Miller and is only indicated as being “Along the Georgia coast” by Tannehill. Well documented by Ludlum.

“William Page had 245 acres under cultivation on St. Simons Island and it was reported that this hurricane did extensive damage to his holdings on that island. “…as the sea dashed around them with all…[its] fury…until it had leveled to the earth the hospital, storehouse…cotton and corn-house, with many out buildings, crushing their carriage, carts and wagons, drowning their cattle an[d] other stock and spreading wild confusion…” John Couper’s losses were estimated to be between 50 and 60 thousand dollars. Thomas Spaulding of Sapelo island reported a wall of water six feet high sweeping across the island and losses of 40 to 50 thousand dollars. The lighthouse on the south end of Sapelo was destroyed, with the sea running from 6 to 8 feet inside the structure. The beacons on Wolfs Island were likewise destroyed. The keeper of the Wolf’s Island beacon reports the door “Stove in, the sea breaking from 10 to 12 feet, which destroyed the whole of the oil.”

“William Carnochan’s Sugar Mill and rum distillery near Darien (at the Thicket) was destroyed and never rebuilt. “The islands on the coast were all under water. On the mainland at Carnochan’s flat, where Mr. [Richard L.] Morris and Mr. [T.P.] Pease now reside, at the Hudson place, and at Colonel Harrison’s (a continuation of the same flat ground) the tide rose over ten feet above the surface.”

“The eye passed directly over the town of Darien, “The wind was first from the north and east. It blew with the greatest violence between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, after which it suddenly ceased. For half an hour it was nearly calm. Then it shifted to the west, and for some hours it blew more fiercely than ever. Under this change of direction the water fell rapidly, and many captives in trees and homes were permitted to come down and out. The Savannah Georgian, of 25 September 1824, reported, “The storm at Darien, and its neighborhood. Exceed that of 1804, both in violence and destruction.” This is confirmed by reports from the Darien Gazette over the next two weeks. The beaches of Cumberland Island, near the St Johns bar and at St Augustine were covered with wreckage.

“Summary: Storm Tide values support major status and based on the storm’s track from the Bahamas to Darien, will list as a major hurricane for Upper Georgia, Lower Georgia, and all of the coastal waters and as a hurricane along the northeast Florida coast.” (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. May 2003 update.)

Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas: “Georgia…14-15 Sep 1824…100 , 83 .”

Rubillo on South Carolina: “The flood of 1824. While escaping a direct hit (the hurricane struck somewhere between Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida), antebellum residents of South Carolina learned first-hand about the secondary effects of tropical cyclones in the middle of September 1824.

“As this storm traveled inland, it dumped tremendous quantities of rain in the Piedmont. In Sumter County near the middle of the state, 9.1 inches of water fell during the storm. Mature crops ready for harvesting were destroyed. On the plantation of famous South Carolinian Wade Hampton, crop damage exceeded $35,000. His was only one of hundreds of farms and plantations in the midlands of the state. That water then flowed downhill and downstream, flooding fields throughout the Lowcountry. Agricultural loss were in the millions when all the damage across the state was computed.” (pp. 72-73.)

Newspaper

Sep 21, Darien Gazette, GA: “Last Tuesday afternoon [14th] the weather was uncommonly dark & gloomy, the wind fresh from the N. E. with frequent showers. At 8 P.M. the wind increased to a violent gale; at 9 P.M. to a hurricane, accompanied with noise resembling a heavy surf upon the beach, or breakers upon a reef – this lasted until about 11 or 12 at night, when a pause of about half an hour, almost to a calm ensued. At half past 1 A.M. the wind shifted to S.E. and blew a hurricane of redoubled violence, accompanied by tremendous gusts and a noise like that at the Falls of Niagara. This lasted in all its fury, with heavy rain, until about 4 A.M. when it gradually subsided, and at day light the weath4r was mild and pleasant. But who shall describe the wreck and ruin that presented itself to our view when day appeared? Houses, chimneys, trees and fences prostrate; some unroofed, some tottering and nearly all without windows. Two vessels, the schooner Thorn and a sloop, upon the wharves. Fortunately no lives were lost in the city; but as the tide was six feet above the high water mark, it is to be feared the most dreadful consequences have befallen our surrounding neighbors….

“We believe there were not six houses in town that escaped without serious injury….

“Mt. Nephew’s barn and stables down and one negro killed.

“Capt. Hudson, 7 negroes drowned, and all his cotton houses and scaffolds gone.

“Mr. White, 11 negroes drowned, and all his buildings swept off.

“Mr. Snow, all his houses swept into the river; his wife’s sister, his own child, two young brothers and Mr. R. R. Merrill, drowned. He and his wife save themselves by clinging to a tree.

“Mr. William Carnochan, at the Thicket, lost all his buildings, except the dwelling house, and all his crop, on Hurd’s Island, and the buildings swept off and the cotton totally destroyed; one negro drowned….

“Mrs. Lafong and all on Patterson’s Island are lost, with the exception of one person….

“This was the most furious and most disastrous hurricane, in its results, ever remembered to have visited this part of Georgia and which seems evident from the number of old Live-Oaks torn up by the roots. It was more like a combination of tornadoes than a regular hurricane, the trees being prostrated in every different way – and roofs separating and scattered in opposite directions….” (Darien Gazette, GA. “Disastrous Hurricane.” 9-21-1824, p. 3.)

“….Mr. Miller on Creighton Island, his overseer and four negroes killed. The buildings, crop, cattle and every thing swept off, the water was ten feet deep on the Island….” (Darien Gazette, GA. “Further Distressing Particulars.” 9-21-1824, p. 3.)

Sources

Darien Gazette, GA. “Disastrous Hurricane.” 9-21-1824, p. 3. Accessed 12-6-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/darien-gazette-sep-21-1824-p-3/

Darien Gazette, GA. “Further Distressing Particulars.” 9-21-1824, p. 3. Accessed 12-6-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/darien-gazette-sep-21-1824-p-3/

Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Low Country Hurricanes. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2006.

Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-47). Coral Gables, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 1995, 42 pages. Accessed 8-20-2017 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf

Rubillo, Tom. Hurricane Destruction in South Carolina: Hell and High Water. Xharleston: History Press, 2006.

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. May 2003 update. Accessed 12-6-2022 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/history/index.html

Savannah Republican, GA. “The Hurricane.” 9-18-1824, p. 4. Accessed 12-6-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/savannah-republican-sep-18-1824-p-4/

Savannah Republican, GA. “The Hurricane.” 9-28-1824, p. 3. Accessed 12-6-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/savannah-republican-sep-28-1824-p-3/

–364-373  Total                      Blanchard tally based upon numbers below.

—       343  Total                      Keating 1879, 85.

 

Alabama                     (          6)          (       Sep)

—     6  Mobile             Sep      Augustin 1909, 443; AL Genealogy Trails. AL Epidemic History.

 

Louisiana                   (108-118)        (Aug-Sep)

–118  New Orleans                 U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc.  Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, 435.

–108    “                                 Carrigan 1961, 92; Keating 1879, 85; Sternberg 1908, 719.

 

New York                  (           8)

—    8  NY Marine Hospital     U.S. Marine-Hospital Svc.  Annual Rpt…FY 1895. 1896, 435.[1]

 

South Carolina          (       235)         (Aug-Nov)

–~240  Charleston                  The Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. 12-8-1824, p. 3.

—  235  Charleston                  Keating 1879, 85; Sternberg 1908, 719; U.S. MHS 1896, 435.

 

U.S. Brig Spark         (           7)

–6  Republican and Political Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD. 7-13-1824, p. 3.

–1  Lt. Cumming (at NY quarantine?). Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. 7-31-1824, p. 3.

 

Narrative Information

 

Westervelt in Vaché on U.S. brig Spark: “The United States brig Spark arrived during the quarantine season of 1824, having been some time on the West India [Caribbean] station, and coming last from Havana. Midshipman Clinton was buried at sea, two days previous, having died of fever, after a short illness. As in all cases of this kind, the great indisposition to give diseases their proper names prevailed, and consequently the true nature of Clinton’s disease was not suspected until two days after, when other cases occurred on board, which unequivocally settled its character. Within a week, a number of cases of yellow fever were received in the quarantine hospital from this vessel. The crew, except sufficient to dismantle and cleanse the vessel, were landed, and in a few days new cases ceased to occur among them. But when those who had remained on board for the purpose of purifying her, &c., were relieved by men who had been on shore several days, many of them sickened, and they in their turn were relieved by others, again they sickened, and fresh cases continued to occur, whenever new men were sent on board, even after the vessel had been scuttled, and had several feet of water in her hold, and it did not cease until the water had actually become ice.

 

“In reference to the appearance of yellow fever on Staten Island, in the neighborhood of the quarantine, I find my memory too imperfect to particularize. I only remember that several cases and some deaths occurred, that the disease was well marked in its character, and that it was doubtless caused by some communication with the cargo, or clothing, or bedding of the crew or passengers of some infected vessel, which had been brought on shore clandestinely, in violation of law, and therefore not to be divulged.” (Dr. Westervelt letter of 11-17-1845 in Vaché, Letters on Yellow Fever, Cholera, and Quarantine, pp. 28-29.)

 

July 14 report, Charleston & US brig Spark: “The U.S. brig Spark arrived at Charleston from Havana via Bahamas’s — Yellow fever is prevailing at Havana; the Governor Vives very ill.

 

“Two officers and four men who went on shore at Havana from the U.S. brig Spark, have died since of the Yellow fever. Lieutenant James Clinton, son of De Witt Clinton, was one of the officers, no other person is sick on board.

 

July 31 report, U.S. brig Spark: “Lieut. Cumming, of the U.S. brig Spark, has fallen a victim to the yellow fever, contracted in his late visit to Havanna. The brig is at N. York quarantine ground.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. 7-31, 1824, p. 3.

 

Aug 6-20, Charleston: “Yellow Fever. — At Charleston 21 deaths during the week ending the 12^th, and forty seven during the week ending the 19^th ult. Nine new cases on the 17^th, five on the 18^th, and two on the 19^th, seven on the 20^th.” (Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, “Yellow Fever.” 10-5-1824, p. 2.)

 

Aug 8, New Orleans: “The Yellow Fever has made its appearance at New Orleans — on the 8^th ult. The board of health recommended all strangers to leave the city as soon as possible; on the 12^th, nine new cases were reported.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. “The Yellow Fever.” 9-4-1824, p. 3, col. 2.)

 

Aug 11, US brig Spark at NY Quarantine Station: “Several cases of Yellow Fever have occurred at the Quarantine Ground near N. York, on board the U.S. brig Spark, from the West Indies [Caribbean]. The city is still healthy.” (The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. 8-11-1824, p. 4.)

 

Aug 17-24, New Orleans: “The deaths at New Orleans from the 16^th to the 16^th Aug. [sic] were 56 — Of this number 32 are reported to have died of fever, viz. yellow fever, 15 — malignant fever, 3 — putrid fever, 3 — bilious fever, 5 — remittent fever, 3 — fever, 3.

 

“Deaths on the 17^th, fourteen–18^th, nine — 19^th, sixteen — 20^th, seven — 21^st, eleven — 22d, fourteen — 24^th, nine. Balt. Amer.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “New Orleans,” 9-29-1824, p. 1.)

 

Aug 11, Charleston: “The Charleston Mercury of the 11^th inst. mention that 3 or 4 cases of yellow fever had occurred in that city within a few days.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. 8-21-1824, p. 3.)

 

Aug 24, Charleston: “Four new cases were reported in Charleston S.C. on the 24^th ult.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. “The Yellow Fever.” 9-4-1824, p. 3, col. 2.)

 

Aug 25, Charleston: “The Board of Health of Charleston announces the occurrence of seven new cases of Yellow Fever on the 25^th August.” (Torch Light, Hagerstown, MD. 9-7-1824, p. 2, col. 6.)

 

Aug 27-29, New Orleans: “To the politeness of a mercantile house in this city, we are indebted for a New Orleans paper of the 31^st of August, from which, and likewise from a private letter, we regret to learn, that the yellow fever at that place continues to increase, and is unusually fatal. From the report of the Board of Health, it appears there were twenty-eight deaths from the 28^th to the 29^th of August, nineteen of whom died of yellow fever. The letter adds, that ‘on the 27^th no less than thirty-four new cases were reported to the Board of Health, most of which are now in the grave. Amer. Sen.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Yellow Fever at New Orleans.” 10-13-1824, p. 3, col. 2.)

 

Aug 28 report, Charleston: “The two deaths which was noticed in out last, as occurring at Charleston with the yellow fever, seems to have been the only instances yet reported, of the prevalence of that disease in that city — except one woman belonging to the brig Enterprize.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. 8-28-1824, p. 3, col. 1.)

 

Aug 28-31, New Orleans: “New Orleans. — From the 28^th to the 31^st Aug. inclusive there were 38 deaths by yellow fever. In the list of interments we observe the names of Thomas Welch [and] Joseph Robinson of Baltimore. ‘The sickness maintains its afflicting course without any appearance of amendment. Its ravages are principally confined, however, to strangers and citizens who are unacclimated, as the list of mortality, which we publish daily from the board of health, will more distinctly show. Our trade is completely at a stand — not more than two or three vessels in port which are loading or discharging.” (Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, “New Orleans.” 10-5-1824, p. 2.)

 

Aug, last week, New Orleans: “The deaths at New Orleans, by Yellow Fever, were at the rate of ten per day in the last week of August. There appears to have been, among the victims, scarcely a single native, nor an old inhabitant: they are all strangers, who have unwisely braved the climate, which experience has proved to be almost inevitably fatal, in the hot and autumnal months, to those who are not habituated to it. Nat. Intel.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. 10-13-1824, p. 3, col. 2.)

 

Aug 31, Charleston: “Six new cases of yellow fever were reported on the last of August at Charleston.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 9-14-1824, p. 3, col. 1.)

 

Sep, late-early Sep, Charleston and New Orleans: “The Yellow Fever at New Orleans continues to be very alarming.

 

“The Yellow Fever at Charleston — One case reported on the 31 instant, three of the 4^th, five on the 5^th, four on the 7^th.” (Maryland Republican, Annapolis. 9-18-1824, p. 3, col. 3.)

 

Sep 4-5, New Orleans: “In New Orleans the report in interments [burials] for the fourth and fifth of September last amounts to 31, of which number eighteen were victims to the yellow fever. Baltimore American.” (Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. 10-13-1824, p. 3, col. 2.)

 

Sep 12-16, Charleston: “From the 12^th to the 16^th ult. there occurred fifty-eight deaths by the yellow fever. The disease has subsided considerably at Charleston.” (Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, 10-16-1824, p. 3, col. 2.)

 

Sep 14, New Orleans: “A New-Orleans paper of the 14^th ult. [Sep] says: ‘No new case of the yellow fever has been reported to the board of health, for the last three days.” (Brookville Inquirer, IN. 10-23, 1824, p. 1, col. 4.)

 

Sep 16, New Orleans: “At New Orleans, so late as Sept. 16, as many as twenty persons were dying every day by the Yellow Fever!” (Gettysburg Adams Centinel, PA. 10-20-1824, p. 2, c. 5.)

 

Oct 4, Charleston: “There were three deaths by yellow fever in Charleston on the 4^th inst.” (Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, 10-30-1824, p. 2.)

 

Nov 15, Charleston: “The Board of Health of the city of Charleston, on the 15^th inst. reported one death by the Yellow Fever.” (Torch Light, Hagerstown, MD. “Domestic.” 11-30-1824, p. 2.)

 

Dec 8, Charleston: “We understand (says the Charleston Mercury) that the number of deaths by Yellow Fever during the late fatal season, was about 240. An official statement will shortly be published by the Board of Health.” (The Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. 12-8-1824, p. 3, col. 3.)

 

Sources

 

Alabama Genealogy Trails. Alabama Epidemic History  (citing Time Magazine, 7-6-1925 as source). Submitted by K. Torp. 2013. Accessed 8-25-2013: http://genealogytrails.com/ala/epidemics.html

 

Augustin, George.  History of Yellow Fever.  New Orleans: 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

 

Brookville Inquirer, IN. 10-23, 1824, p. 1, col. 4. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/brookville-inquirer-oct-23-1824-p-1/

 

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

 

Gettysburg Adams Centinel, PA. 10-20-1824, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-oct-20-1824-p-2/

 

Keating, J. M.  A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN:  Howard Association, 1879. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. [Yellow Fever at Charleston], 8-21-1824, p. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-aug-21-1824-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. [Yellow Fever at Charleston], 8-28-1824, p. 3, col. 1. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-aug-28-1824-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis.[Yellow Fever, Charleston], 9-14-1824, p. 3, col. 1. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-sep-14-1824-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis. “The Yellow Fever.” 9-4-1824, p. 3, col. 2. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-sep-04-1824-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis. [Yellow Fever, Charleston and New Orleans], 9-18-1824, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-sep-18-1824-p-3/

 

Maryland Republican, Annapolis, MD. [Yellow Fever on U.S. Brig Spark], 7-31-1824, p. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-jul-31-1824-p-3/

 

Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, “New Orleans.” 10-5-1824, p. 2. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-oct-05-1824-p-2/

 

Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, “Yellow Fever.” 10-5-1824, p. 2. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-oct-05-1824-p-2/

 

Republican and Political Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD. [Yellow Fever in Havana and on U.S. Spark], 7-13-1824, p. 3. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-jul-13-1824-p-3/

 

Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, 10-16-1824, p. 3, col. 2. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-oct-16-1824-p-3/

 

Republican and Political and Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD, 10-30-1824, p. 2. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-oct-30-1824-p-2/

 

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “New Orleans,” 9-29-1824, p. 1. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-republican-compiler-sep-29-1824-p-1/

 

Republican Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. “Yellow Fever at New Orleans.” 10-13-1824, p. 3, col. 2. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-republican-compiler-oct-13-1824-p-3/

 

Sternberg, George M. (US Public Health Service, US Marine Hospital Service).  “Yellow Fever:  History and Geographic Distribution.”  Pages 715-722 in Stedman, Thomas L., M.D. (Ed.) Appendix to the Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences.  NY: William Wood & Co., 1908.  Google digitized:  http://books.google.com/books?id=3ezqX415M5wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

The Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. [Yellow Fever on US Spark, NYC], 8-11-1824, p. 4. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-aug-11-1824-p-4/

 

The Compiler, Gettysburg, PA. 12-8-1824, p. 3, col. 3. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-republican-compiler-dec-08-1824-p-3/

 

Torch Light, Hagerstown, MD. “Domestic.” 11-30-1824, p. 2. Accessed 4-13-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hagers-town-torch-light-and-public-advertiser-nov-30-1824-p-2/

 

Torch Light, Hagerstown, MD. [Yellow Fever at Charleston], 9-7-1824, p. 2, col. 6. Accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hagers-town-torch-light-and-public-advertiser-sep-07-1824-p-2/

 

United States Marine Hospital Service, Treasury Department. Annual Report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1895 (Document No. 1811).  Washington:  GPO, 1896.  Digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Vaché, Alexander F., MD. Letters on Yellow Fever, Cholera and Quarantine; Addressed to the Legislature of the State of New York: With Additions and Notes. New York: McSpedon & Baker, Printers, 1852. Google preview accessed 4-14-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=44PeX7rlPCIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

 

 

[1] We assume these were in the area of the U.S. brig Spark. Westervelt, in Vache, notes some deaths in Staten Island from, he assumed, communication with an infected ship.

—  740-745  Blanchard tally based on locality breakouts below.

 

New York City, NY (      394)

— ~400  Duffy. A History of Public Health in New York City 1625-1866. 1968, p. 248.

—   394  Jones. “Introduction of Vaccination into New York, United States of America.” P. 193.[1]

—   394  NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene. Summary of Vital Statistics 2009. Dec 2010[2]

—     22  April 4-10.

—

 

Sandusky, OH           (        21)

—  21  Mar 21-Apr 7.  Sandusky Clarion, OH, 4-7-1824, p. 4.

 

Philadelphia, PA       (325-330):

–330  Wells. “Meteorology and Epidemics of Philadelphia,” Amer. Journal of Med., 1873, 136.

–325  Henry, F.P. (ed.). Standard History of the Medical Profession of Philadelphia. 1897, 277.

—  23  Jan 25-31 (out of 120 deaths). The Missionary, Mount Zion GA. “Summary.” 2-16-1824, p. 5.

 

Narrative Information

 

Duffy: “On December 19, after the weekly bill of mortality showed 17 deaths from smallpox, the City Council appointed a committee to look into the matter. Subsequently, on January 29 the Council granted the Dispensary $1,000 to cover the cost of a general vaccination of th poor, and in conjunction with the Board of Health, began an educational campaign to arouse the public. The Council especially asked clergymen, charitable associations, and ‘intelligent’ persons to spread the good word about vaccination among the poor. Despite their efforts, the best available figures show that smallpox killed 94 persons in 1815 and 179 in 1816. The number of smallpox deaths fell off sharply thereafter, and the intensive campaign of 1816 possibly helps to account for the virtual elimination of smallpox during the next eight years. The very success of these efforts proved self-defeating, for the temporary elimination of smallpox caused apathy to set in, and a smallpox outbreak in 1824 killed almost 400 persons.” (Duffy, John. A History of Public Health in New York City 1625-1866. 1968, p. 248.)

 

Newspapers

 

Feb 16: “The deaths in Philadelphia the last week in Jan. were 120, including twenty-three of small pox, 17 consumption, 19 typhus fever, and six of measles.” (The Missionary, Mount Zion GA. “Summary.” 2-16-1824, p. 5.)

 

April 7: “The City inspector reports the death of twenty-one persons by Small Pox during the week ending on the 7^th ult.” (Sandusky Clarion, OH, 4-7-1824, p. 4.)

 

April 4-10: “One hundred persons died in the city of New-York, during the week ending the 10^th instant; and of these we regret to add twenty-two died of the small pox!” (Republican and Political Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD. 4-27-1824, p. 2.)

 

Sources

 

Duffy, John. A History of Public Health in New York City 1625-1866. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Printers, Inc. and Russell Sage Foundation, 1968. Google preview accessed 6-20-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=LAcXAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Jones, Joseph, M.D., President of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana. “Introduction of Vaccination into New York, United States of America.” Pages 191-193 in: Contagious and Infectious Diseases, Measures for Their Prevention and Arrest. Small Pox (Variola); Modified Small Pos (Varioloid); Chicken Pox (Varicella); Cow Pox (Variola Vaccinal): Vaccination, Spurious Vaccination…(Circular No. 2, Prepared for the Guidance of the Quarantine Officers and Sanitary Inspectors of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana, by Dr. Joseph Jones). Baton Rouge: Leon Jastremski, State Printer, 1884. Accessed 2-12-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=3VTboPycbBgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Republican and Political Agricultural Museum, Annapolis, MD. 4-27-1824, p. 2. Accessed 6-20-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-maryland-republican-and-political-agricultural-museum-apr-27-1824-p-2/

 

Sandusky Clarion, OH, 4-7-1824, p. 4. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com

 

The Missionary, Mount Zion GA. “Summary.” 2-16-1824, p. 5. Accessed 6-20-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/mount-zion-missionary-feb-16-1824-p-5/

 

[1] From a table entitled: “Total Deaths from all Causes, and from Small-Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever and Phthisis-Pulmonalis [TB] in the City of New York during a Period of Fifty Years, 1804-1853.”

[2] Chart on cover page entitled “The Conquest of Pestilence in New York City…As Shown by the Death Rate as Recorded in the Official Records of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.”

South Carolina
— 300 Jordan, Dukes, Rosengarten. A History of Storms on the South Carolina Coast. P.23.
— ~300 Ludlum, David M. Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870. 1963, pp. 115.
–200-300 Rappaport & Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994. 1995.
— >300 Wikipedia. “1822 Atlantic hurricane season.” 1820s Atlantic hurricane seasons.
–“hundreds of slaves…in the low-lying Santee Delta…”
–15 members of Myers family, Georgetown home swept away.
— 200 Dunn and Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition) 1964, p. 311.
— 200 U.S. Army Signal Corps. Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXI, No.10, Oct 1893, 274.
–20 Murphy Island
–40 North Inlet

Narrative Information

Dunn and Miller: “1822 Sept. 27-28 Carolinas Major [intensity]…200 drowned S.C.”

Jordan, Dukes, Rosengarten: “1820, Sept. 27-28 (3) …Storm of very large geographical extend passed barely inland between Charleston and Georgetown; damage to Charleston waterfront great; fifteen ships washed ashore at Sullivan’s Island – 12 dead; at Georgetown the storm surge may have reached 15 feet; North Island in Winyah Bay overflowed – 300 deaths (Charleston Courier, Sept. 30, 1822; Ludlum.)” (Jordan, Dukes, Rosengarten. A History of Storms on the South Carolina Coast. P.23.)

Ludlum: “The Memorable Carolina Hurricane of 1822

“A hurricane of fairly small size, but packing tremendous energy struck the South Carolina coast between Charleston and Georgetown close to midnight of 27-28 September 1822. The tight whirl of winds moved forward at an unusual rate so that areas experienced full hurricane blasts for less than four hours. Nevertheless, it was the most devastating storm to hit the South Carolina coast since 1804, and 32 more years would pass until its equal put in an appearance.

“From the detailed wind descriptions at Charleston and Georgetown, it is certain that the center passed between the two points, and probably closer to the latter which lay in the dangerous right semicircle of the storm. An unprecedented storm tide accompanied the peak of the wind in this sector, resulting in several hundred deaths y drowning as the rising waters ingulfed the extensive lowlands surrounding Winyah Bay.

“At Charleston it was mainly a wind storm that ‘raged with most ungovernable fury’ from north and northwest. The editor of the Courier supplied some of the meteorological facts:

About 10 o’clock a breeze sprang up at N.E. which had increased by 11, to a pretty heavy blow. At 12 it had assumed the desolating power of a West Indian Hurricane, and at 1 o’clock was at its extreme height – having come around by N., from N.E. to N.W. at which later point we encountered its greatest fury – Shortly after two o’clock, it began to abate in violence, and by 3, was again perfectly calm.

The havoc occasioned by this tremendous visitation in the city, is without parallel in the memory of our oldest inhabitants. The Tornado, which passed over a part of it, in the year 1811, was perhaps of equal or even greater violence; but its effects were then confined to a very narrow limit, while the desolation on this occasion, is extended to every part of the city and suburbs.

“The temperature at 2200 stood at 70⁰ and the barometer at 30.15″ just before the onset of the gale. Three and a half hours later at the peak of the storm the mercury had risen in the tropical air to 77.5⁰ and the barometer had tumbled rapidly to 29.50″. The areas of the city in the western and northern districts suffered the greatest damage. Hardly a house did not receive some minor structural damage, to attest the strength of the gale. But the harbor area escaped the extensive losses to shipping and wharves that occur when the storm winds come out of an easterly quarter. The tide rose and fell six feet in the short period of 45 minutes around 0100. Eight persons were reported drowned at Charleston and four at Sullivan’s Island.

“According to press reports the gale did not extend more than 25 miles inland from the coastal area. At Pineville its strength was not great, and advices received from Combahee, Parker’s Ferry, and Monk’s Corner said the ‘wind by no means violent there.’

“To the south, Savannah had a brief gale of only 20 minutes duration with no damage being sustained.

“The norther sector of the storm appears to have been of much greater areal extent and to have carried far superior wind energy. The onshore slant of the winds caused a high storm tide from Winyaw Bay northward at least as far as Cape Fear where Fort Johnston had ‘rain with very high wind from east’ on the 27th….

“The death toll ran very high as many plantations on North Island and the shores of the bay were completely overflown by the rampaging tide. The editor estimated that more than 120 negroes and five whites were drowned on North Island alone! A total loss of about 300 seemed a reasonable figure. As a result of the tragedy, a number of stormproof structures resembling small towers were built on North Island to afford protection for the slaves whose flimsy houses were engulfed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Some of these were still standing in 1893 when another major disaster took another enormous toll of lives along the Carolina coastal plain.

“The settlement of Georgetown, itself, lying on the western shore of the bay about eight miles inland, also felt the lash of the southeasterly hurricane….” [Goes on to note storm effects in North Carolina and Virginia, as far inland as Monticello in Charlottesville, while not noting any fatalities.]

(Ludlum, David M. Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870. 1963, pp. 114-115.)

Peninsula Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, VA: “1822 September 27-28: This hurricane struck Charleston, then moved through central North Carolina and western Virginia, accompanied by a ‘tropical deluge’. Richmond had endured a long drought until this storm visited the region. ‘Very copious rains’ and ‘equinoctial winds’ quickly ended the drought. Flash flooding occurred on the James River, rising feet in depth in a matter of one hour (Washington Gazette). Mail south of Richmond was unable to be delivered for three days, as the storm rendered roads impassable. At Monticello, near Charlottesville, Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughter noted that a violent storm broke branches and felled one of their willows. At Lynchburg, winds uprooted trees and toppled chimneys. Along the Staunton River, rains began on the 27th and continued until 9 a.m. the next day. The river rose to “the greatest height ever known” (Chapman).” (Peninsula Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (VA), Jan 2006, p. C-10.)

USA Signal Corps: “The gale of 1822, September 27 and 28, is the most memorable of all prior to 1893 among the traditions of this section, the loss of life being very great for those days; forty were drowned at North Inlet; twenty on Murphys Island, and probably in all 200 at various points along the coast. The storm began about 10 p. m. of the 27th and was all over by daylight of the 28th. After that gale several planters built storm towers of brick for their slaves to take refuge in. Records of high water have been preserved by means of notches on trees, and by comparison it appears that the high water of October 13-14 [1893] exceeded that of September, 1822, and also that of August 28, 1881, by nearly 3 feet.” (Letter abstract in: USA Signal Corps. Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXI, No. 10, Oct 1893, 274.)

Wikipedia: “1822 Atlantic hurricane season
“….The Carolina Hurricane of 1822. This hurricane moved north-northwest from the Bahamas on September 25 to hit Charleston, South Carolina on September 27. It claimed the lives of hundreds of slaves who found themselves trapped in the low-lying Santee Delta, miles from higher ground and with no shelter. It caused 300 (or more deaths), but managed to break a drought in the Richmond area. Part of cluster of hurricanes struck Charleston area in 1804, 1811, 1813, 1820, and 1822. Fifteen members of the Myers family drowned after their Georgetown home was swept into the ocean. The family’s sole survivor, Mordecai Myers, buried the victims, which included his parents. ”

Sources

Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). Baton Rouge LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, 377 pages.

Jordan, Laylon Wayne, with Robert Dukes, Jr. and Ted Rosengarten. A History of Storms on the South Carolina Coast. Charleston, SC: The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. Undated. Accessed 8-16-2022 at: https://www.scseagrant.org/wp-content/uploads/South-Carolina-Hurricane-History-1980.pdf

Ludlum, David M. Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870. Boston, MA: American Meteorological Society, 1963. Accessed 8-17-2022 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002912718&view=1up&seq=6&q1=1822

Peninsula Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee (VA). Peninsula Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan: Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. Richmond, VA: January 2006, 313 pp. At: http://www.yorkcounty.gov/fls/MitPlan/Peninsula_Natural_Hazards_Mitiation_Plan.pdf

Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-47). Coral Gables, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 1995, 42 pages. Accessed 8-20-2017 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf

United States Army Signal Corps. Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXI, No. 10, October 1893. Accessed 8-17-2022 at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/1893.pdf

Wikipedia. “1822 Atlantic hurricane season.” 1820s Atlantic hurricane seasons. Accessed 8-17-2022 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1820s_Atlantic_hurricane_seasons#1822_Atlantic_hurricane_season

Additional Reading

Rubillo, Tom. Hurricane Destruction in South Carolina: Hell and High Water. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006.