The summer of the pestilence. A history of the ravages of the yellow fever in Norfolk, Virginia, A. D. 1855.

Contents

PREFATORY LETTER.

PAGE

Reasons for writing tMs History — Plan to be pursued 7

Letter I

Announcement of the Existence of Yellow Fever in Norfolk — Effect of this Announcement — Way in which it seems to have been introduced — Reasons for and against its General Spread — Present Condition of the City — Course of Duty 13

Letter II

Spread of the Fever — Its mild Type — Visit to Portsmouth — Deserted state of that place — Panic-—

Causes of this Panic — Quarantine Regulations —

4 CONTENTS.

PAQK

Quarantine Order of Welden — Death in the Street — Howard Association formed — Burning of Barry's Kow — Day of Prayer appointed 31

PAOB

Disappearance of the Fever — The Orphans — The Plague-Fly — Description of it — Hypotheses respecting its Nature 156

Letter XII

Results of maturer Reflection — How was the Fever introduced into Norfolk ? — Why was it so fatal ? — Is Yellow Fever contap-ious? — Practical Inferences .... 168 refatorg fttitt.

SECRETARY OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

When I had the pleasure of meeting with you in Kichmond, a few weeks ago, you expressed the wish that some one should write a brief history of the pestilence from which our city has suffered during the past summer, remarking that this visitation of the pestilence had been of such unexampled violence, that its history would properly enter into the history of our State ; and that for this reason, as well as others, it seemed desirable that some more connected and generally acceptable account should be given of it than that furnished in the reports which appeared from time to time in the daily papers. This undertaking you were pleased to urge upon me, as one who had remained in the city during this "summer of the pestilence,'^ and more especially as one who, in the discharge of the duties belonging to a minister of the gospel and the pastor of a Christian church, had been called to see and know more than most others of what was reallyoccurring in our midst.

My reply then was, that, although the same request had been made from other quarters, I could not consent to undertake the work, partly because of the intrinsic difficulty of the task, but mainly because I felt that it must be to me an exceedingly painful one. There are scenes in nature which the painter, who has studied the capacities of his art, will never undertake to transfer to canvas. So are there incidents in the history of this pestilence, — incidents of which I was an eyewitness, — which no one, it seems to me, who has tried the capacities, or rather, I would say, the incapacities, of human language, will ever undertake to put upon record. Human language is the creature of every-day life, and therefore unfitted to record events which, occurring but once in an age, do not enter into the common experience of man. I felt, too, that to me such an undertaking must prove an exceedingly painful one. Not that I could ever wish to forget the many dear friends numbered

PREFATORY LETTER.

among "the dead of tlie pestilence;" nor that 1 could willingly, even if such a thing were possible, obliterate the impression made upon my memory by the most painful scene of parting through which I have been called to pass. Saddening though these recollections be, yet does the scarred heart cling to them as choicest treasures; but it is one thing to retain and cherish these recollections in the privacy of one's own bosom, and a very diflFerent thing to expose them to the public gaze; and this last is that from which I shrank.

Since my return home, this undertaking has been urged upon me for a different reason. The thought has been suggested, that, should this terrible pestilence prove to be "a travelling epidemic,'^ on its way northward, (and I know that the ablest physicians from the south, who were with us, and who had watched its course for the several years last past, believed that such was its character,) a brief history of its ravages in Norfolk might be of great service in any city in which it might hereafter appear, in showing to the inhabitants of such city just what dangers they had to apprehend and in what ways they could labour most effectually for the relief of the suffering. Never can I forget the kindnesS; the prompt, the generous aid, extended to us by our northern brethren, in our time of trial ; — timely aid, but for which there had been few left to tell the sad story of our sufferings; and God forbid that, for any merely personal considerations, I should refuse to acknowledge that kindness in any way and in any measure in which it may be possible for me to do it. My hope is — my prayer to God is — that Norfolk may prove to be the northern terminus of the course of this pestilence. And yet such may not be the plan of Him who directeth its steps ; and the bare possibility that it may burst upon some of our sister cities to the north, during the coming summer, has changed my purpose, as expressed to you, and determined me to undertake the work, painful though it must prove to be.

In order that I may accomplish the main purpose for which I write, and the only purpose which could have overcome my repugnance to the task, it will be necessary for me to confine myself pretty much to my own personal observations, — a record of that which I have heard, and seen, and felt, during the prevalence of the fever in our city, — adding such statistical and general statements only as are necessary to complete the record of these personal observations. For this reason, it has seemed to me best to give what I shall write the form of a series of letters, purporting to have been written from time to time, as the pestilence progressed in our midst. Many of the incidents of which I shall have occasion to speak have so burned in their record upon my memory, that no effort is required to bring them up again in all their original distinctness. Others I shall supply from memoranda made and letters written at the time. In these letters I shall endeavour to recall my feelings and impressions, so as to write just as if the letters had been written at the dates they bear; the only liberty taken being to correct certain errors, as to dates and numbers, into which I would have fallen had I then written them.

I have taken the liberty of addressing these letters to you, in part because you have for many years honourably filled the office of Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, — and there seemed to me a propriety in giving to a series of historical letters such a direction, — but principally because you are a native of Norfolk, and long filled the office of ruling elder in the church of which I am now the pastor, and are, therefore, personally acquainted with many of those of whom I shall have occasion to speak ; for, as the pastor of a particular Christian church, my personal recollections must, in large measure, concern the members of that church and congregation; and I know that you do feel and have felt an interest in them such as could be felt by no stranger.

It might seem, at first thought, that, pursuing such a plan as this, I would not give what could properly be called a Histori/ of the Pestilence in Norfolk. A full history would be but a multiplication of the scenes and incidents I shall have occasion to describe; and if the reader, as he passes along, will bear in mind the fact that mine is one of nine Christian congregations in the city of Norfolk, he will need nothing more to render this a proper history of the ravages of the pestilence in Norfolk.

With the wish that you may long live to watch over the interests of our Historical Society, I remain yours truly,

Geo. D. ARMSTRONa.

Norfolk, Va., December 1, 1855.

THE

SUMMER OF THE PESTILENCE,

Letter I

ANNOUNCEMENT OP THE EXISTENCE OF YELLOW FEVER IN NOKFOLK — EFFECT OP THIS ANNOUNCEMENT — WAY IN WHICH IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED — REA- SONS FOR AND AGAINST ITS GENERAL SPREAD — PRE- SENT CONDITION OF THE CITY — COURSE OF DUTY.

Wednesday, Aug. 1, 1855.

On the day before yesterday it became generally known here that the yellow fever existed in our city. As you have probably learned from the daily papers, this terrible disease has prevailed in Gosport for some time past; and within the last ten days, quite a number of cases have occurred in Portsmouth, just across the river from us. Now, I think there is no reasonable doubt

2 13

14 THE SUMMER OP THE PESTILENCE.

that It exists in our city also. I use this expression, "no reasonable doubt," because there are some who do doubt the existence of the yellow fever here; calling the disease which is causing great alarm among our citizens "the Upshur fever," after our good friend, Dr. Geo. L. Upshur, in whose practice most of the cases, thus far, have occurred.

It is a very difficult matter for a physician, situated as Dr. Upshur has been, to know just what he ought to do. It seems now that cases of fever have existed in our midst since the 16th of July, which Dr. Upshur, although for a time unwilling to admit it, now that the disease has had time to show its true nature, has become thoroughly convinced are cases of yellow fever. On Monday, he took the responsibility of making known what he believed to be the truth in the case. And now, while some are blaming him for not having made known these facts at an earlier date, so that, the instant the first case occurred, provision might have been made for the removal of the sick beyond the city limits, and such other sanitary measures adopted as would have prevented the fever spreading among us ; others are blaming him just as loudly for having made the declaration he has, at all, speaking of the doctor as an alarmist, and calling the fever "the Upshur fever," — affirming that, without cause, he has injured the business of the city to an amount which many thousands will not cover. For my own part, I have no doubt that Dr. Upshur has acted conscientiously in this whole matter ; nor have I any doubt that he has acted rightly, too, and that the yellow fever does exist among us at this time.

If this be so, how has the fever come among us? you will ask. In the present excited state of the public mind on this subject, it is next to impossible to tell what to believe and what not. Rumours, almost without number, are afloat; but most of them, I presume, so changed and distorted, that, could they return to those with whom they originated, they would not be recognised. Your old friend, T. Broughton, Sr., Editor of the Herald, and Secretary of our Board of Health, appears to have about as cool a head upon his shoulders as any man I meet with ; and as I know he has taken pains to get at the truth, I regard the statements in his paper as containing the most reliable information to be gotten at the present time. In his issue of yesterday he states, that about ten days ago a number of poor families removed from Gosport to "Barry's Row," in our city, — the section to which the disease is thus far confined; and that it is thought they brought the disease with them, some having the poison in their system then which has since developed itself, and that others have taken the fever from them, or perhaps, from the infected clothing and bedding they brought with them.

The origin of the fever in Gosport is traced by all, I believe, to the Ben Franklin, a steamer, bound from the Island of St. Thomas, where the fever is prevailing, to 'New York, but compelled to put into Hampton Roads in distress. This vessel arrived in our waters on the 7th of June, and after remaining at quarantine for twelve days, came up to Gosport on the 19th of June, and was at once taken to Page and Allen's ship-yard, for the purpose of having certain repairs made upon her. From the time she left St. Thomas, she is said to have been in so leaky a condition as to render constant pumping necessary. And it is now reported — upon how good authority I cannot learn — ^that two deaths among her crew, which occurred on her passage, and which her captain reported to our health officer as caused by other diseases, were in fact deaths from

2* yellow fever. This much, is certain: that her passengers left her in Hampton Roads, not one of them remaining to meet our health officer when he visited her. This, together with several other suspicious circumstances attending her entrance here, led to the exaction of a promise from her captain, as a condition for allowing her to go up to Gosport, that, in effecting her repairs, her hold should not be broken up. This pledge has been violated ; and the first case of fever in Gosport is said to have been that of a labourer employed in breaking up her hold, who, after a short illness, died on the 8th of July, exhibiting all the characteristic symptoms of yellow fever. So soon as this case was reported, the vessel was ordered back to quarantine, where she now lies, with the yellow flag at her masthead.

Page and Allen's ship-yard is in the southern part of Gosport, almost imme diately adjoining the main entrance to the navy-yard. The row of buildings in which all the first cases of fever occurred there is a row of the same general character with "Barry's Eow" in our city: — ^the buildings small, sadly out of repair, overcrowded with inhabitants, and filthy in the extreme. I was told by a gentleman in Portsmouth, the other day, that when the authorities of that place made an examination of these buildings, preparatory to the adoption of such sanitary measures as the case might call for, they found in one of the tenements the dead body of a calf, in a state of partial putrefaction. I mention this fact, because I believe that it alone will give you a better idea of the condition of things in those buildings than could be given by any description in general terms. The dead body of a calf rotting in a human dwelling has its natural accompaniments, which there is no need that I should tell you of. Barry's Kow, in our city, is of the same general character, and, as I know, from having passed it frequently in the course of the last two months, in an exceedingly filthy condition.

The infected district in Gosport was fenced in some two weeks ago; and until within the last week, it was reported by the sanitary committee of Portsmouth that all the cases of fever in Portsmouth could be clearly traced to that infected district. Within the last week, however, cases have occurred which cannot be easily, if at all, traced to Gosport; and the opinion is pretty generally entertained that the infection has now spread into Portsmouth.

In our city, the Board of Health had the infected district, including Barry's Row and the building immediately adjoining, fenced in on Monday, and took prompt measures foi having a temporary hospital erected at Oak Grove — a grove just beyond the corporation limits, on the north side of the city. These buildings are now so nearly completed that to-day they are removing the sick to them; hoping by these measures to stay the spread of the pestilence among as.

As you would naturally suppose, the announcement made on Monday, that the yellow fever existed in our midst, caused no little excitement among our people ; in fact, a much greater excitement than the occasion seemed to justify; and many families are already leaving our city. In those places in which the yellow fever frequently prevails, its advent is looked upon as so much a matter of course, that, I am told, it causes little or no alarm. 'Not so with us. l^sTearly thirty years have now elapsed since it prevailed to any extent in Norfolk. A few scattering cases there have been, from time to time, such as occur in all our commercial cities trading with the West Indies ; but, then, these cases have caused but little alarm, as the disease has shown but little disposition to spread from them. For my own part, I know not what may be before us, but I cannot help taking a more hopeful view of our case than many do ; while, at the same time, I must admit that there are some things which seem to wear a very threatening aspect ; and I am not much surprised at the panic which has arisen among us. Should the yellow fever prevail here with any thing like the violence it did last year in Savannah, with the three long hot months which must intervene between this and frost to do its work in, it must make terrible havoc ; and in prospect of such a probability, I can only say, " God help us ! for the help of man is vain."

By those who are disposed to take the most cheerful view of our case and prospects, it is said, this fever appears to be of a very mild and manageable type. " Only seventeen cases in fourteen days, and three deaths out of that number." (Report of our Board of Health for to-day.) In Gosport, too, the report on the 24th — the last report I have at hand — was that in the nineteen days which had then elapsed since the first case came under the care of the physician, there had been hut six deaths, and there were then but fifteen cases under treatment. Since then it has spread into Portsmouth, but has not assumed a malignant type anywhere. It is also said that in former years, — in 1822 and '26, — when the yellow fever last prevailed in Norfolk to any extent and in a violent form, it was confined to the part of the city south of Main Street and west of Market Square, no case ever having been known to originate out of this, the infected district, in those years ; that persons living in that district had just to remove to the north of Main Street, and they were as safe from the fever as they would have been a thousand miles off. Since then, in consequence of the growth of our city, the part south of Main Street has been almost entirely given up to business, four-fifths of our people now residing north of that street; and hence, judging from the experience of the past, as little likely to take the fever here, at home, as they would be anywhere.

By those disposed to take a more gloomy view of our prospects, it is said, the fever now existing in our midst is not the ordinary yellow fever, but the African fever, as some say, or, as others say, the yellow fever in an epidemic form, differing from the ordinary yellow fever just as epidemic malignant scarlet fever differs from that disease in its ordinary form ; that it is a "travelling epidemic," like the cholera some years ago ; that it appeared first in Rio in 1850, and has been gradually making its way northward, along the Atlantic coast ; that it was this " travelling epidemic" which caused such a terrible destruction of life in Savannah, last summer; and that its appearance among us at this time is in accordance with predictions made several years ago by physicians who had made the " epidemic yellow fever'* their study. And further, it is said, it has now located itself in a new spot, entirely beyond the old infected district, and in a spot very well adapted to spread it generally though the city.

What to think of our prospects, as already intimated, I hardly know. Could I be persuaded that this was the same disease which decimated Savannah last summer, I should rejoice to see every one of our citizens who could, flee to some place of safety "until the storm be over-past;" for in Savannah the only safety seemed to be in flight. But all the known facts respecting the origin of this fever among us seem utterly at variance with the idea that this is the "travelling epidemic" which some suppose it to be. It seems clearly to have been imported in the Ben Franklin ; and I see no reason to think that, if that ill-fated vessel had never been sufiered to come into our harbour, or even if the pledge given by her captain, that her hold should not be broken up, had been observed, there would have been a case of yellow fever among us now. It was by the breaking up of the hold of that steamer that the fatal miasm was let loose which has caused all the threatening consequences we see. It may be that there are facts which, if I knew them, would change my opinion on this point; and I know that it is a thing improbable in itself that, in the present excited state of public feeling, and in the midst of the almost innumerable reports which are passing from mouth to mouth, we should be able to separate the true from the false, or to get at all the facts which bear upon this question. The opinion which I have expressed, therefore, is nothing more than an opinion based upon the facts now known to me, and as I have stated them above.

Besides all this, I have another ground for hoping that the yellow fever will not assume an epidemic form among us — and that is, the present condition of our city. As you well know, within the last ten years our streets have been so generally paved, that iTorfolk is now one of the most thoroughly-paved cities in the Union; and although the site of the city is level, the streets have been so carefully graded that the water runs off almost as soon as it does in Richmond, with all its hills. In consequence of this, and the general substitution of rain-water for the brackish wellwater once used, a careful comparison of our bills of mortality with those of other cities will show, that for the ten years last past N"orfolk has been one of the healthiest cities on the Atlantic seaboard. At the present time the general health of the place is as good as usual. And although our city is no exception to the general rule that, in every place of any size, there are particular localities, such as Barry's Row, where poverty and filth seem to hold possession by a sort of "/ee si7nple,'' yet our city is, at the present time, by no means a dirty one. I have heard some persons express a different opinion on this last-mentioned point; but this, I think, is owing to the fact that the existence of the fever in our midst has made them more sharp-sighted than usual; and they see and notice filth now which, at other times, would escape their notice altogether.

For all these reasons, I could wish that our people who are now leaving could take a different view of matters, and quietly remain at home ; yet I am not willing to take the responsibility of advising any to remain. It is enough for me to decide that question for myself; and my own convictions of duty were never plainer than they are at this time, that home is my place, come what may. The physician and the Christian pastor are, by their profession, called to minister to the sick, the dying, and the afflicted; and, certainly, a time of pestilence, when their services are most needed, is no time for them to flee. E'ot that there may not be, in particular instances, circumstances which may render it the duty of a physician or a pastor to leave home, even at such a time; but the presumptions are, in both cases alike, all against their leaving. The question w^hich they should ask is not Why should I stay? but Why should I not stay? and no mere danger to themselves personally should enter into the decision of this question. For myself, I can say that, in the prospect of the possible spread of the fever throughout our city, I have no anxious thought. The pestilence, when raging in its most terrible violence, and when man stands appalled before it, is yet ever under God's control, and can claim no victims but such as are given it. That mighty God I have been taught by his spirit, I trust, to look up to as "my Father in heaven."

3*

His I am, and him I have vowed to serve. If he has work for me here, in time to come, he can protect me; if he has not, and my work on earth is nearly done, then sooner comes, I hope, the perfect, blessed rest of heaven.

LETTER n.

SPBEAD OF THE FEVER — ITS MILD TYPE ^VISIT TO PORTS- MOUTH — DESERTED STATE OF THAT PLACE — PANIC — CAUSES

OF THIS PANIC — QUARANTINE REGULATIONS QUARANTINE

ORDER OF WELDEN DEATH IN THE STREET — HOWARD

ASSOCIATION FORMED — BURNING OF BARRY's ROW — DAI OP PRATER APPOINTED.

Since I last wrote you, the yellow fever — for all regard the disease prevailing among us as the yellow fever now — has continued to spread in our city. As compared with the fever prevailing here in former years and in other cities, this appears to be the disease in a mild and manageable form. According to the best information I can get, although it has now existed in our city for nearly a month, there had been, up to Saturday last, but about sixty cases treated by our physicians, and out of those but about twenty bad proved fatal. Tbe fever bas spread, from tbe point at wbicb it first appeared, into tbe infected district of former years, and several cases have occurred on Wide Water Street, west of Commerce Street. Tbis was to be expected, and I believe was anticipated by all. Tbus far, no case bas occurred in any otber part of tbe city wbicb is not clearly traceable to tbe infected district or to Portsmouth in its origin; and tbe deaths have been almost altogether among our foreign population, where want of acclimation, intemperance, poverty, and filth, mark them out as the proper food for any such disease.

Several deaths which have occurred at tbe Oak-Grove hospital, and reckoned among the twenty, are clearly attributable to tbe obstinate imprudence of the patients. On yesterday I was told of one who had passed the crisis of the disease, and had every prospect of a speedy recovery, who, in some way, procured a bottle of whiskey, and, having drunk to intoxication, was subsequently found, some twenty yards from the hospital, lying on the bare ground, at ten o'clock at night. As a matter of course, he was dead before morning. But two cases have occurred in my congregation, both now decidedly convalescent.

In Portsmouth the infection has spread, until now the whole central portion of the town is considered infected. On Tuesday of last week, hearing that Eev. Isaac Handy, pastor of the Middle Street Presbyterian church, was sick with the fever, I went over to Portsmouth to see him. It was the first time I had been there for several weeks, and I was most forcibly struck with the scene of desolation presented on every side. It was a clear, bright, sunshiny day, not warmer than usual for the season; and as I passed through our streets on my way to the ferry-wharf, although there was not the same bustle and appearance of activity in business which I have often seen, (many of our citizens having gone away,) yet every thing seemed to wear a cheerful aspect; and I doubt whether a stranger would have noticed any thing to remind him of the existence of the yellow fever in our city. I felt more cheerful, myself, than I had for several days past, — the report of our Board of Health, published that morning, giving "no deaths" for the day before. I heard the remark made by a gentleman I met, " ]^ow that the more excitable portion of our people have fled, we shall have a quiet time again."

On landing on the Portsmouth side of the river, all seemed changed. There had been no change in the weather; and yet the atmosphere presented a hazy appearance, much Hke that which you have often noticed during our Indian summer. The streets were literally deserted. In passing from the ferry-wharf to Mr. Handy's house, I had to go through fully half the length of the main street of Portsmouth; and yet in all that distance I met but one white person, and saw but one store open. As I passed the end of the market-house, looking down toward Gosport, in the part of the market usually crowded by the country-people, I saw but two market-carts. The negro drivers of these carts were sitting on the curb-stone beside them, and they, with their horses, looked as if wilted down by the heat ; and I saw no one there present to buy their marketing.