Yellow+Fever

=** 1878: Yellow Fever Strikes Collierville **= ​

**Collierville in 1878**
During the Reconstruction years, the citizens of Collierville worked together to rebuild their community from the ashes left by General Sherman at the Battle of Collierville. The Town had once been a vibrant hub of travel and commerce, first on the stage coach route, then on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. The townspeople persevered through the hardships after the War, struggling to recreate their thriving community. In 1870, Collierville's city charter was re-incorporated. Collierville was home to 1,031 people, more than double the village's population before the Civil War. Seven years later, Collierville could claim over a dozen grocery and general stores, three churches, a female college, a hotel, and a beautiful park in the middle of the Town. The townsmen worked at a variety of professions including physicians, blacksmiths, a lawyer, a photographer, and a jeweler. By 1878, Collierville was again a prosperous business center when it was once more devastated. However, the village was not demolished by fire, but by the mysterious and seemingly unavoidable plague, Yellow Fever.

**History of Yellow Fever**
Yellow Fever was a complete medical mystery in the 1800's. It was a fearsome, horrific disease with no known cause or effective treatment. The virus came to be called Yellow Fever due to the jaundiced skin of those infected with the disease. The high fever that victims experienced was the body's natural response to fighting a virus. Other symptoms included chills, hemorrhaging, and severe pains. Yet the most defining and terrifying symptom was the black vomit of blood and stomach acids that eventually led to death.

The harsh symptoms of Yellow Fever coupled with its mysterious source created a terrorizing fear of the disease. Because the source of Yellow Fever was unknown, the illness so severe, and the disease so hard to survive, the very mention of Yellow Fever created a horrible panic. When Yellow Fever appeared in the mid-south region in 1878, citizens were exceedingly anxious to evacuate the area. James Speed, the superintendent of the Louisville and Nashville and Great Southern Railroad ticket offices, reported selling $35,000 in tickets between August 12 and August 16 ($768,941.89 today). Refugees attempting to escape from the fever, often unknowingly carried it with them, creating cases as far away as Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. Families also commonly fled their homes only to be turned away by the strict quarantine laws enforced at their destination. People were often arrested at "shotgun barricades," where patrollers caught refugees sneaking into quarantined areas. Quarantined places also required trains and boats to go through a strict inspection before being allowed to unload any cargo. As a result business and commerce were disrupted because shipments could not be sent or received due to quarantine laws. Business owners often fought against quarantine rules preferring to face Yellow Fever than lose money.

During the 1878 epidemic, it was believed that Yellow Fever was caused by poor sanitation. In 1900, Dr. Walter Reed would finally prove that Yellow Fever was carried by the female Aegi aegepti mosquito. This breed of mosquito was originally native to West Africa. The disease was carried to the American continents as mosquitos traveled across the ocean in the hulls of ships. Once the ship had landed, the mosquito would feast upon human flesh previously unexposed to Yellow Fever and therefore not immune to the virus. People bitten by the mosquito became infected with Yellow Fever. The cycle continued when a new mosquito bit an infected person, becoming a carrier of the virus, thus infecting everyone that it bit. Carrier mosquitos reproduced by laying eggs, typically in areas with standing water, leading to the loose connection of Yellow Fever and sanitary conditions. Yellow Fever epidemics invaded the United States when railroad and river boat travel began rapidly expanding. A carrier mosquito could easily travel aboard a ship from West Africa to New Orleans. Once in New Orleans, the disease was easily spread up the Mississippi River by boat travel as long as there were mosquitos and humans to infect. The cycle was ended only when mosquitos were killed by the first autumn frost.


 * View a certificate of good health given to railroad passengers during quarantine.**

**The 1878 Epidemic**
The 1878 epidemic was so severe for several reasons. One factor was the occurance of the global weather phenomenon, El Nino. El Nino occured because wind patterns over the Pacific Ocean weaken, causing a significant rise in the water temperature. This change disrupted the weather patterns around the world, creating an unusually warm and rainy season throughout the entire year. The damp climate caused by El Nino created the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. During El Nino, temperatures typically do not drop low enough to kill mosquitos during the winter. These conditions allowed the mosquito to reproduce rapidly and live longer than usual. Today, scientist can link El Nino to nearly all Yellow Fever outbreaks.

America's increasing modes of transportation also helped the virus to spread. During Reconstruction, railroad and boat travel boomed to new proportions, making it easier for the mosquito to travel to new places aboard a ship or train, and for infected passengers and crew members to unknowningly carry the virus to a new location. Before the 19th century, Yellow Fever was typically only found in port towns where ships from Cuba or West Africa docked. Yet as the railroad and steam boats began to connect more of the United States together, Yellow Fever cases began increasing in inland locations as well. In the early 1800's, Memphis was thought to be too far inland to be exposed to Yellow Fever. Yet, occurrences of the virus increased dramatically after New Orleans became easily accessible by the railroad and river traffic in the 1850's. Memphis was plagued by Yellow Fever in 1855, 1867, 1873, 1878 and 1887 However, Collierville remained untouched by the virus until 1878. Indeed, Yellow Fever's path that year can be traced from Memphis to Chattanooga through the towns along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

Collierville clung to the idea that the village was too far inland from the Mississippi River to fall prey to Yellow Fever. Only when word reached the Town that Grenada, Mississippi was suffering with the virus, did Collierville fear the village would be stricken, too. Grenada had never experienced Yellow Fever before, and, like Collierville, believed their inland location would keep them safe. Grenada was approximately 70 miles from the river, while Collierville was only around 35. An article in the //Memphis Daily Avalanche// told that upon hearing the news about Grenada, Collierville citizens "are beginning to stir." From the first case reported on August 15, Grenada's telegrapher, Thomas Marshall, sent daily dispatches about the cities' conditions. In 24 hours, he had reported 22 deaths. The dispatches stopped on August 23, when Marshall died of the fever still stationed at his post.

**Emily B. Souder**
Yellow Fever's arrival to the United States, and ultimately Collierville, was almost certainly traced to the steamship, the //Emily B. Souder//. In the spring of 1878, the //Souder// docked in Havana for a supply of sugar. Yellow fever was heavy in Havana that year, brought by ships from West Africa carrying ivory, gold, copper, salt, where the El Nino rains bred the Aegi aegepti mosquito. On May 23, 1878, when the //Emily B. Souder// arrived for inspection at the New Orleans quarantine station, there were no cases of Yellow Fever recorded in the United States yet that year. The physician inspecting the //Souder// noted that the ship's pursor, John Clark, was ill; yet he diagnosed Clark with neuraligia and a hangover, and let the //Souder// pass through the quarantine. Clark would later boast he "had beaten the quarantine officer." Clark died in the night on May 25th. Though he was treated for yellow fever, his death was recorded as malaria. On the day Clark was buried, the //Souder's// engineer, Thomas Elliott, became ill and died five days later. Physicians diagnosed Elliott's cause of death as Yellow Fever.

Once Yellow Fever arrived in New Orleans, the virus crept its way up the Mississippi River finally reaching Memphis in late July. Though not officially recorded as Yellow Fever, several deaths from fever occurred on Second Street, near the river. The victims often feel ill within days of a visit from a shiphand.

The fist confirmed Yellow Fever case in Memphis was not until August 14, when Mrs. Kate Bionda was recorded as dying of the disease. Bionda owned a snack shop in the Pinch District, a neighborhood near the Mississippi River that was popular with riverboat crews. Bionda had served William Warren, a crewman from the steamer, the //Golden Crown//. On August 5, Warren succumbed after being sick for several days, though his death was not recorded as caused by Yellow Fever. Mrs. Bionda died eight days later. The following day her death was recorded as Memphis's first official case of Yellow Fever.

**Collierville Quarantine**
Collierville received the news of Kate Bionda's death and the Fever's arrival in Grenada within two days time. The Town sprang into action to protect itself through a strict quarantine. In the August 14 issue of the //The Memphis Daily Avalanche//, in an article titled "Collierville Quarantine Against Memphis," Collierville officials announced:

"[A] rigid quarantine against Memphis and all interested points, both persons and goods. Memphians had better hunt homes elsewhere, as they may subject themselves to heavy fines by stopping here. Our citizens will not be allowed to return without a permit if they go to Memphis on business. Trains will not be allowed to stop to put off sick passengers. The railroad and dirt roads will be thoroughly patrolled. Conductors of trains would do well to notice the fines for bringing any sick or complaining to town."

Yet, the paper's very next article contradicts much of the quarantine's rules. The article titled "The Feeling of Collierville," states that news of Yellow Fever in Grenada has created "considerable excitement." Collierville was protecting itself by disinfecting the streets with lime, copperas, and carbolic acid, a combination which caused the streets to "smell to heaven." The article explains that the Mayor and Board of Aldermen had tried to establish a quarantine, but the author states that "refugees are here from Memphis and more are coming. Rooms are being prepared for their accommodation...We will not establish quarantine but will likely prohibit refugees from returning from Memphis, after they once get here."

Echoing this sentiment, a letter appeared in the August 21 //Avalanche// from a Collierville citizen who identified himself as Argus. The letter appealed to the Mayor and Board of Alderman to lift the quarantine, stating that the sick should be helped rather than shunned. The letter argued that the quarantine did little good to stop the disease, but hindered commerce by keeping freight from being shipped. A letter of agreement signed CCC appeared as well.


 * View the //Avalanche// articles "Collierville Quarantine Against Memphis" and "The Feeling at Collierville."**

**Animosity Toward Evacuees**
In most area's that suffered from Yellow Fever, those who did not evacuate from the disease felt animosity toward those who fled. The general feeling was that the people who left had abandoned their community in a time of need. The feeling was especially strong toward doctors and clergymen who fled. In the account of the 1878 epidemic, //Heroes and Heroines of Memphis//, ministers who evacuated are referred to as "runaways." The book admonishes that the ministers "left their communities to die like dogs," and literally denied the Biblical scripture they preached, "I was sick and ye visited me not" (Matthew 25:36 KJV).

In Collierville, these same bitter feelings are reflected through the letters published in the //Avalanche// by Collierville citizens. On October 4, a letter signed H.C.R. reads "[Those who left] can blow about the yellow fever times at Collierville but when you pin them down to what they did and how much contribution, etc., they will want to change the subject." Five days later, an even more piercing letter declared "I express a common sentiment in wishing that every worthy citizen had deserted the town and our loved homes and left 'Bronze Jack' to tear and glut his insatiate appetitie upon the human forms who sit around like vultures, refusing, for humanity or money, to work to alleviate the distress or bury the dead." The letter ends urging refugees to help the devestation in Collierville by sending money.

**Yellow Fever strikes Collierville**
The first cases of Yellow Fever did not appear in Collierville until late August. On Thursday, September 5, //The Memphis Public Ledger//, ran a story titled "Collierville's Wild Scare," the article stated:

"Great excitement here on account of the yellow fever which appeared on last Monday. Two deaths so far and several suspicious cases in town. The greatest excitement prevails, people are fleeing to the country in all direcitons. Fifty-one families have left, others are leaving hourly. The country all around is wild with rumors regarding the fever, and the town is almost completely destroyed."

The September 4 issue of the //Ledger// reported the first two deaths in Collierville. One of the first victims, Merrit Brown, was a notable citizen. Brown had been a soldier in the Wigfall Grays, the regiment of Confederate soldiers from Collierville. While Brown served as a soldier he was captured as a prisoner of war. He also won the Medal of Honor following the Battle of Murfreesboro. Brown was employed as a Railroad Agent, so it is possible that he contracted the disease while working before any quarantine was in effect. Nearly a month after Brown's death, on October 1, Collierville lost its Town Marshall, A.J. Holland, to the fever. Both graves are located in Magnolia Cemetery. (Picture) The mayor of Collierville, H.G. Davis, succumbed to Yellow Fever on September 25. The October 4 //Avalanche// reports that Mayor Davis, was very well liked by the Town. The article stated that Davis was a man with "a big heart as tender as a child's", and that "a truer man never lived than Harry Davis... and the poor never suffered by [his] hands."

By October there were less than 200 people left in the Town, many of the original population having fled. The October 1 //Avalanche// reported that there were 53 cases, 22 deaths and eight convalescents in Collierville. Three days later a letter appeared stating there were 60-70 cases of Yellow Fever with 30 deaths. A letter in the //Avalanche// reported that Collierville's heathy citizens met at the depot each evening at 5 p.m. to pray for the Town's restored health.

**Magnolia Cemetery**
Many of Collierville's Yellow Fever victims are buried at Magnolia Cemetery, located at Mount Pleasant and Quinn Road. The cemetery was originally the private burial plot for the William J. Brown family. On May 18,1878, Brown sold two tracks of his land to the Magnolia Cemetery Association, thus creating a public cemetery. Tragically, that same year, Yellow Fever plagued Collierville, leaving many graves in the new cemetery. Of the 57 documented deaths, at least 15 victims were buried at Magnolia Cemetery.

**Sanitation**
Collierville citizens and the surrounding communities were astonished when Yellow Fever invaded the area. Collierville had never suffered from the disease before and came to believe it was immune due to its distance from shipping ports and its unpolluted environment. The virus's cause was thought to be poor sanitation, and Collierville had a reputation for being very clean. In the October 29 //Ledger//, a mystified writer expressed concern that such a salubrious location could fall victim to Yellow Fever. The letter stated that "towns like Collierville, Germantown, Somerville, and Brownsville heretofore considered places of refuge from epidemics have suffered frightfully and yet none of the aggravating causes and promoting influences of the fever exists within. They have not bayous, no rotten pavement (plank roads) or much of any kind, no deep damp cellars and nothing offenseive to health unless it be their water closets and want of sewage." As did most infected locations, Collierville tried to sanitze the Town using lime and carbolic acid. Although, these measures did not elimate Yellow Fever, often the mosquitos breeding grounds were disturbed, making the mosquito slower to reproduce. Thus, the loose connection between Yellow Fever and sanitation.

**Collierville's Doctors**
Throughout the epidemic, the Town was well cared for by several steadfast doctors. According to records from the 1876-77 Tennesee Gazetteer, there were at least eight physicians practicing in Collierville. Yet, during the Yellow Fever crisis many of these doctors fled to safety with their families. Only doctors H.B. Ramsey, W.D. Somers, Augustine Webb, and Peter A. Perkins remained to care for the sick. Yet, the cost of their loyalty was high. Dr. Somers lost his son after recovering from the illness himself, and Dr. Webb lost both his wife and daughter to the disease. Sadly, Dr. Perkins succumbed on September 12, a week after the first reports of Yellow Fever in Collierville.

Also, serving the community was Dr. G.A. Smith, who faithfully traveled from his home in Northern Mississippi every day to help the sick in Collierville.

**The Howard Association**
Many other doctors and nurses served Collierville through the Howard Association. The Howard Assocation originated in New Orleans during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1837. The association was named for John Howard, an English health reformer. The group was established "to relieve the sick and destitute by some systematic effort." The Association accomplished this goal by arranging doctors and nursing volunteers to be sent to the locations where they were most needed. The Memphis chapter was established in October of 1855 while the city was suffering from the virus.

The Howard Association greatly served Collierville throughout the 1878 epidemic. J. Edgar Byrd, of Louisville, Kentucky, was in charge of the 30 Howard nurses stationed in Collierville. It is recorded in the //Condensed History of the Great Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878//, that Byrd "nobly" served the suffering Town. In addition to Byrd and the nurses, Dr. J. Cecil Legare arrived in Collierville from New Orleans on September 17 as a volunteer of the Howard Association. Collierville can also proudly claim a Town citizen among the Howard volunteers. W.H. Hill, a single man in his fifties, served as a Howard Nurse in Memphis.

Collierville proudly and generously paid the for the largest portion of their care from the Howard's. Records show that the cost of care in Collierville was $1,629.75. Collierville's citizens contributed $1,547 of this amount, being one of the few places that could meet most of their own monetary demand. Interestingly, in the record of donations made to the Association, Dr. J.P. Gentry's name appears on August 22, as delivering $70 from the citizens of Collierville. Dr. Gentry's name appears again in an October 12 //Ledger// article praising his service to the Town.

**"The Day of Deliverance Has Come"**
October 28, 1878, was a long awaited day! That evening the temperature dropped, creating the first frost of the season. Citizens knew from previous epidemics that relief would only come with the first autumn frost. On October 29, the //Ledger// reported that "the day of deliverance has come." The newspaper ran a notice to all refugees stating "it is entirely safe for refugees to return to the city."

The 1878 Yellow Fever epidemic was the worse outbreak the United States had ever experienced. The epidemic stretched from New Orleans to Ohio. In the Mississippi Valley, one out of every six sufferers died of the virus. Yellow Fever invaded the Town of Collierville in August. When the virus subsided in October, over 75 percent of the population had fled Collierville. Of the 200 people left behind, 135 had fallen ill and 57 died. Memphis had suffered so severly that it lost its city charter, thus making Collierville the oldest city in Shelby County.

**1879**
Another Yellow Fever epidemic occurred in 1879. Yet it was not as severe as the previous year. Citizens exposed to the virus in 1878 maintained a lifelong resistance to the disease. This resistance would ensure that 1878 would be the last epidemic of that time period. Collierville immediately enforced a quarantine so strict that a Dr. Wingo and Dr. Smith were both placed on trial for entering Collierville after treating Yellow Fever in Oak Grove, Mississippi.

In 1900, Dr. Walter Reed proved that Yellow Fever was carried by mosquitos. Reed was inspired by the theories of Dr. Carlos Finlay. After nearly one year of studying the illness in Havanna the actual source was discovered. In 1936, Dr. Max Theiler finally developed a Yellow Fever vaccine.

After the epidemic, Collierville's citizens would once again persevere after the crisis to rebuild their Town. Through their hard work and dedication, Collierville would become a bustling trade cener.


 * Next Chapter**: Bustling Collierville: Collierville in the 20th Century

=Thank you to the helpful staff of the Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library and Information Center.= =A special thank you to Mrs. Clarene Russell for her assistance in this project, and the wealth of research and knowledge she has shared.=

Compiled by Kimberly Liles Ison


 * Figure Sources:**
 * 1** "Tennessee- Arrest of Yellow Fever Refugees By the Safety Patrol of Memphis," Frank Leslie, //Harper's Weekly//, 1878, Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library and Information Center, Memphis, Tennessee, May 4, 2010
 * 2** //"//The female Aegi aegepti mosquito," //The Secret of the Yellow Death//, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York, 2009, p. 28
 * 3** "A map displaying the distance of both Collierville and Grenada from the Mississippi River," Google Maps, [], June 28, 2010
 * 4** "A drawing a steamship similar to the Emily B. Souder," //The American Plague//, Berkley Books, New York, New York, 2006, p. 84
 * 5** "The grave of Merrit Brown at Magnolia Cemetery," Kimberly Liles Ison, Personal Photograph, June 29, 2010
 * 6** "Magnolia Cemetery," Kimberly Liles Ison, Personal Photograph, June 29, 2010
 * 7** "Headquarters of the Board of Health- Disinfecting Wagons About To Start On Their Rounds," Frank Leslie, //Harper's Weekly//, 1878, Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library and Information Center, Memphis, Tennessee, May 4, 2010
 * 8** "The grave of Dr. Peter Perkins at Magnolia Cemetery," Kimberly Liles Ison, Personal Photograph, June 29, 2010
 * 9** //The Memphis Public Ledger//, October 29, 1878
 * 10** "Walter Reed," Knowledge Rush, [], June 29, 2010