The essay, “The History of Yellow Fever”, was written by Philip S. Hench, for the purpose of portraying the history, cause, and tragedies that people experienced when infected with the disease. It also contained information for Americans explaining how Yellow Fever originated and what measures the government took to prevent the disease from resurfacing in later years. The article was written after...
In 1793, Philadelphia was the site of the most fearsome epidemic to strike the young nation. By July, the city's inhabitants were remarking on the extraordinary number of flies and mosquitoes that swarmed around the dock area. Caribbean refugees brought Yellow Fever. In one epidemic alone, 5,000 residents — nearly one-tenth of the population — perished. Hardly a family was untouched. Many people...
In 1847 inhabitants of the Mississippi River basin had to deal with an outbreak of Yellow Fever. Transmitted by mosquitoes, Yellow Fever caused symptoms including fevers, chills, headaches and nausea. In the later months of 1847 the letters that overseer Charles Lewellyn sent to Paul Cameron about the condition of his plantation were fraught with the names of slave that were ill, recovering or...
In the “Cameron Plantation Letters” there are numerous references to the health of the slaves living on the Greene County Alabama plantation. There are one hundred or so letters in the University of North Carolina collection that are catalogued on the website ‘The Plantation Letters, Interpreting Antebellum Plantation Life’. I found thirty-five that directly referenced the health...