The Great American History Blog: The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878: A Case Study

Yellow Fever Hospital

The worst outbreak of Yellow Fever in American history hit the Mississippi River Valley in 1878. The region recorded 120,000 cases and some 20,000 deaths. Here is how it looked to the people on the ground:

In August 1878, news reached Holly Springs, Mississippi that the neighboring town of Grenada was in the grip of the yellow fever epidemic that was sweeping the South. The fever had stricken some one hundred and thirty one Southern towns that summer.

Yellow fever is an acute infectious disease of tropical and sub-tropical regions, which is capable of invading the temperate zones as devastating epidemics during warm seasons. A typical attack of yellow fever has a sudden onset with headache, backache, fever prostration and congestion of the face during the first few days. Later there may be vomiting of black blood, bleeding gums, kidney disease and jaundice. Mortality varies greatly, sometimes running to over fifty percent.

Yellow fever is transmitted by the bite of certain types of mosquitos, a fact unknown in 1878. Ignorance bred fear, and those who could fled any district touched by the fever.

On August 7, the mayor and council of Holly Springs set up a Board of Health which advised, that to protect the town, a rigid quarantine should be imposed. The mayor and council rejected the resolution on the grounds that it would be cruel to turn away refugees fleeing from the disease.

Men, women and children, from Grenada began arriving in Holly Springs on August 17. A Mr. Downs became ill on the day of his arrival. As illness overtook one after another of the refugees, fear spread through the town. In the early hours of Sunday, August 25, Mr. Downs died. Hoping to keep Downs’ death a secret from the public, his body was removed through a back window and buried in the darkness.

More and more of the refugees began to die, and cases of “bilious fever” developed among local citizens. The diagnosis changed as the number of cases grew. On September 4, yellow fever was declared “epidemic” in Holly Springs. Streets to the train depot were jammed with townspeople trying to refugee north. Colonel H.W. Walters took charge of relief measures.

By September 6, Father Anacietus Oberti and twelve nuns from Bethlehem Academy had set up a makeshift hospital. There was little, in fact, that could be done to treat the yellow fever other than to provide quiet surroundings, water, and to withhold food during the height of the disease. Six of the nuns quickly became ill and died, as did Father Oberti. Doctors, nurses and other volunteers from New Orleans arrived in response to an appeal for help, but the death list continued to mount.

The yellow fever spread across the entire town and to nearby farms. W. J. L. Holland, who became Chairman of the Relief Committee after Colonel Walters died from the fever, wired the press, “The situation is worse. It looks like every man must go down. Only ten out of the first hundred cases live. Two days ago, thirty news cases and ten deaths; yesterday, twenty three new cases and eleven deaths. After having recruited five times, the Relief Committee yesterday numbered one. Five hundred persons now lie stricken. We pray for friends and frost. We have a safe full of keys and valuables belonging to families that have all been swept away.”

On October 19, 1878, Mr. Holland issued the following message to the press, “Today there have been six new cases and one death. Your correspondent happens to be one of the new cases, after having struggled with ‘Yellow Jack’ from the beginning of the epidemic, he desires, through you, in the name of this people, to express their lasting gratitude to our friends in every part of the Union who have generously contributed to us in so many ways.”

October 25, 1878. Funeral notice: “W. J. L. Holland, late Chairman of the Relief Committee, departed this life at 2:30 A.M. aged thirty six.

November 1, 1878: “Four new cases, no deaths. Heavy frost last night and business houses open.”

Out of a population of 3,500, some fourteen hundred citizens of Holly Springs were stricken with the fever. Of these, three hundred and four died.

An effective vaccine for Yellow Fever was not developed for another sixty years.