The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878
The start of the Yellow Fever Cemetery of Martin, TN
During the 1800’s epidemic diseases took the lives of many of our ancestors. Outbreaks of cholera, smallpox and dysentry were common. But for West Tennessee, Yellow Fever posed the greatest threat, especially in the urban towns like Memphis. During epidemic outbreaks, people of Memphis would flee the city, taking trains headed east, south or north. The towns along the rail lines were hardest hit – Milan, Paris and Martin among them. During the 1878 epidemic, nearly 25,000 people fled Memphis within two weeks – and this is how Yellow Fever arrived at Martin in 1878, unpaying passengers aboard the trains were the female Aedes aegypti mosquitos – the carriers of the disease.
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1873 claimed 2,000 lives in Memphis – the most ever of an inland city
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 claimed 5, 150 lives in Memphis with 17,000 infected.
Yellow Fever was still a concern by 1905 from this Dresden Enterprise article
Desden Enterprise
Friday, August 18, 1905
“Yellow Fever
We are doomed to an epidemic that may reach West Tennessee, although it may not spread beyond the borders of Louisiana, still it would be a good idea to clean out your premises and keep them cleaned out, use lime and other disinfectants freely, burn old rubbish, drain out all old ponds which become stagnated in the dry season. If you are going somewhere on the train, you must have a health certificate bearing a county or municipal seal.”
Submitted by MaryCarol
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Below abstracted from Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture online
Yellow Fever caused fevers, chills, hemorrhaging, severe pains, and sometimes a jaundicing of the skin, which gave yellow fever its name. The trademark of the disease, however, was the victim’s black vomit, composed of blood and stomach acids.
Although its cause was unknown until 1900, yellow fever was transmitted from person to person by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. Sailors on ships from the Caribbean or West Africa, from which the disease most likely originated, docked in New Orleans, where mosquitoes spread the disease from the infected person to the local population. River traffic carried yellow fever up the Mississippi Valley as long as mosquitoes were available to transmit the disease from human to human. Reprieve came only with the first frost.
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The following newsaper articles submitted by Rebecca Holder
According to the Weakley County Press, December 12, 1937, A. A. Atkinson was the second man to fall victim to the fever, and was the first man to be buried, being buried in an old cotton patch west of the Illinois Central Railroad. At first it was the intention of those who had the burial of Mr. Atkinson to bury him where the Methodist Church now stands, but they decided to take him out on the west side and then buried him in a cottom patch.
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Weakley County Press – Friday, August 6, 1954
Devastating Yellow Fever Epidemic 76 Years Past
By Eleanor Jeter
Ever hear of the yellow fever epidemic? Sure you have. And you know that the relatively small plot of land on Elm Street is known as the yellow fever cemetery. But how many of you younger generation have ever heard your grandparents or “greats” tell about the time it actually happened?
Martin was by no means what it is today. As a matter of fact, about the only resemblance might be the running of the same railroad track which was such a key item in this happening.
Well, here’s the finished product of a story that legend, fact, and the passing of the years have combined to make. The time was in 1878 on an August day, doubtless rivaling in heat our current scortchers, when an old Irishman named Pat, employed by hotel owner William Martin, helped to clean out a boxcar that Mr. Martin had ordered from New Orleans in which to ship some corn (other phases of the story state that it was wheat) to a distant city.
Now as fate (and the sake of this story) would have it, the very same week, a huge ball characteristic of this era was held, and Mr. Martin, a “gay young blade” of the day was dancing with one of the Holland girls when he was stricken. Both of them were victims of the disease.
Also helping to clean the boxcar were Tom Harvey, Jim Fields, Pleas Clements, and John Hawks, who was the only man not to catch the fever. Clements took the disease and recovered. Harvey and Jim Fields, who both died of it, were the first.
Legend has brought this story through the years with two different ways of yellow fever’s being brought here. It is told that there were mosquitos in the empty car, causing the epidemic, while another accounts that it began from the dead body of a tramp found in the car. We are left to guess and base fact on the belief that the epidemic did strike Martin, taking a toll of some forty-two lives.
Specially trained nurses from New Orleans were immediately sent for by the doctors attending to the epidemic, Dr. G. W. Dibrell and Dr. Charles Sebastain, who were said to have disagreed at first as to whether the cause of the various illnesses was cholera or yellow fever.
With the death of A. A. Atkinson arose the first question as to burial. Thus he was the first victim to be ‘buried in’ the present day yellow fever cemetery which at that time was sporting a fine cotton crop!
The list of those who lost their lives in the epidemic, which may relate the victims to various now living Martinites, is as follows:
Thomas HARVEY
Jimmie FIELDS
W. H. MARTIN
Mr. LEWIS
T. P. ESTEP
Walter GREEN
Mrs. JOHNSON
Mrs. Marshal MARTIN
W. Z. LOONEY
Mr. and Mrs. Abner ATKINSON
Miss Mollie HOLLAND
Miss Minnie HOLLAND
Ben MURPHY,
T. J. MURPHY
Tom ACRES,
Miss Forest DIBRELL
Mrs. Henry DRAUGAN
Harrison VOWELL
James CARTER
L. A. BLAKE
Mrs. L. A. BLAKE
William CARTER
Mrs. James CARTER
Walter JOHNSON
E.[Emanuel] HOLLAND
Charles GARDNER
Mr. JONES the artist
Mrs.JONES, the artist’s wife
Captain POWELL
Captain DEAN
Wm. BOYD
Joe FELPS’ little child
two negroes
a child of Mr. and Mrs JONES
R. J. McCOMB
Mrs. DRAKE
W. V. BRAWLEY
Mrs. ACRES
Mrs. FUQUA
James KIMBRO
(These names were taken from a list published in a 1915 issue of the Martin Mail.)
Well, all this happened in Martin in 1878. The following year New Orleans and many other points in Louisiana and Mississippi were hit by yellow fever. And here, the citizens of Martin with their own recent epidemic still fresh in their minds, contributed what probably should go down in Martin’s history as being one of it’s most noble, yet simple, deeds.
When trainload after trainload of refugees began to come through Martin to points north, they were not allowed to stop in the corporate limits of any town in the South. Nevertheless, upon arriving outside the city limits of Martin, they would find water and food placed there for them.
So goes the tale of the great yellow fever epidemic in Martin– an account of the heroic way in which near disaster was combated. The only part of this that has been told for the sake of colorful legend was the leading to belief that from old Pat to Billy Martin to Minnie Holland to the other persons was the disease carried. In medical actuality, yellow fever can only be transmitted by a specie of mosquito known as the egypti aedaes.
Nevertheless, the plot of land on Elm Street is living (or rather it should be said, dead) proof of the disastrous 1878 yellow fever epidemic in Martin.
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The History of a “Happytown”
From the Centennial Edition of the Weakley County Press, June 28, 1973
Research and Composition by Ronald C. Thomas
Note** The following is just the Yellow Fever part of the article.
It is not known exactly how yellow fever invaded Martin except that a boxcar ordered from Memphis by William H. MARTIN to ship corn to St. Louis apparently carried the mosquitoes to the city. It is believed the mosquitoes came from Central America through the port of New Orleans northward through Memphis and on to Martin. There were 400 cases of the disease with 51 deaths. The first victim was William MARTIN, son of Mr. Billy, and Abner ATKINSON was the second. Mr. ATKINSON became the first person to be buried in what is now called the Yellow Fever Cemetery. The cemetery is located at the corner of Elm and Lee Streets and is a constant reminder of the suffering the town endured.
There are many stories about family struggles and heroic deeds during the epidemic. Two items concern individuals performing tasks in a way that helped lessen the danger for those involved.
Only two doctors served the city in 1878, Dr. DIBRELL and Dr. C. M. SEBASTIAN. Dr. DIBRELL, who was older and not well, soon left the town. He had lost members of his family and buried them near where the American Legion home now stands, thus leaving 28 year old Dr. SEBASTIAN as the only physician in the city and the surrounding area. He immediately erected posters warning the people to leave the city, but “his diagnosis was ridiculed and he was called a young upstart.” Dr. SEBASTIAN put his wife and three small daughters on a train for Middle Tennessee to stay with her father. En route they were refused a hotel room when the clerk learned they were from Martin and were forced to spend “the night in a stable.”
With the number of yellow fever cases rising rapidly, Dr. SEBASTIAN knew he would be unable to help all those that were stricken. He dispatched an urgent telegram to Dr. PIERCE of Union City stating, “For God’s Sake and the Sake of Humanity, Give Me A Hand.” Dr. PIERCE came and was a great help to Dr. SEBASTIAN, especially when Dr. SEBASTIAN became ill with a light case.
Dr. SEBASTIAN also evolved a theory about the transmission of yellow fever from one person to another. At the time, it was not known that the mosquito was the carrying insect. He observed that one person would be stricken with the dreaded disease, but instead of an individual near becoming ill next, someone in another location would be afflicted. He believed that the disease was probably not contagious, but carried from person to person by an insect. “He called it a gnat—and that this gnat was chained to a given location by the laws of nature per se, and was blown by the winds and carried in some way to another location.” He first related his theory to a meeting of the Illinois State Medical Convention and later to various other groups. “For years he was derided locally for his theory and any swarm of flying insects were hilariously hailed as ‘Dr. Sebastian’s damned gnats.’”
The second individual who contributed toward lessening the suffering was Andrew SHEPHERD, a Negro crossing watchman for the Mississippi Central Railroad. Put in charge of the company’s property during the epidemic, he refused to leave when Dr. SEBASTIAN ordered everyone to vacate the city. His job prior to the epidemic was to walk the tracks each morning inspecting them to see if they were in proper condition for the passage of the trains. If he found anything wrong, he would report it to the section foreman, so that repairs could be made before the first train was due. On his return to the section house one morning after an inspection tour, he discovered that the entire crew had left the city because of Dr. SEBASTIAN’S order. Many had already died from the disease.
SHEPHERD had no place to go nor any way to leave the city as no train was due. He could not go home as his wife had already left so he returned to the section house to await development, “for it was outside of the city, where danger from the fever was less.” SHEPHERD remained at the section house until the next train arrived which carried the railroad’s roadmaster. SHEPHERD informed him of the city’s condition and told him he was the only remaining employee. He was instructed to stay in Martin as someone was needed who could continue to check the tracks in order that possible wrecks might be averted.
SHEPHERD stayed and continued to report on the condition of the tracks. His excellent work enabled the trains to pass through Martin at top speed before stopping at the section house on the edge of town. This kept passengers from being stricken while passing through the city and helped keep the epidemic confined. Each day he would carry the mail to the waiting trains so the people of Martin could communicate with relatives and friends. Also, he would inform passengers and crews of the progress being made in combating the disease and noted, “Trains often lingered as long as twenty minutes.”
He continued this schedule for five weeks and “Although he was alone, time did not hang heavily on Shepherd’s hands, for he was a very busy man. He helped at the station and tended the switches in the yard, together with his other duties.” Finally, in November after the first frost, the danger lessened and along with other residents, SHEPHERD’S wife returned.
The suffering caused, the lives interrupted, and the fear the disease brought is difficult to imagine. The best example of how the people of Martin felt is through a poem written by W. P. CALDWELL and called “one of the most beautiful poems written in years by a Tennessean.” Although the title is uncertain, it is believed to be the “Yellow Demon of Death.”
In the deep placid shade of its whispering trees
Reposed the young city that hot summer noon
When the Angle of Death spread his wings on the breeze-
‘Twas the darkness of night on the brightness of noon.
For days that were fair and skies that were blue
Green black as a pall in the shade of the wing;
He call’d and there answered the loved and the true-
The doom’d for the courts of the merciless king.
Bright hopes were blighted that can’t be relighted;
Tender ties perished—no more to be nourished,
Fond hearts were parted—to be reunited
At the throne of the Father, whose they had cherished.
Then courage and manhood, and kindness and love
And heroic faith gleaming and bright in the van;
Stood forth in that hour of trial to prove
“That life is best spent that is given for man.”
We’ve seen the Dark One by the battle’s red glare
He call’d for the strong and his strength fell away
Till anguish and writhing beneath their hot chain
Did reason, unseated and writhing beneath their hot chain.
To the demons of madness that tortured the brain.
He breath’d on the youth, ‘till he bent a high head,
Tamed a proud spirit and dim’d a bright eye;
With his elders he rests in the halls of the dead
‘Till the good angels summon him home to the sky.
To the matron he turned and at his hot breath
The springs of her blood and her life dried away;
Resigned her want from to the Keeping of earth,
And freed her brave soul from its union of clay.
He signed the maid and her step lost its Spring,
Her lips its red hue—her cheek its rose;
The voice that gladden’d and cheer’d with its ring
Was still’d and hush’d in eternal repose.
While here from the parents the children were borne
And they left alone to their grief and their weeping—
There from the parents the children were torn
And ‘neath the same mold are tranquilly sleeping.
There neighbor and friend and husband and wife
Were smitten and fell by that poisonous breath—
All ties that are nearest and dearest in life
Were loos’d in the grasp of that terrible death.
Not goodness nor strength, nor beauty, nor love,
Could shield or exempt from the horrors he wrought,
May God in His mercy look down from above
And pity the sorrows the Plague Angel brought.
After the epidemic, population growth virtually stopped, but by 1883 the town could boast of a population of 1,200 and in 1893 had increased to a total of 2,000….
*Note above a photo of cemetery:
Some of those victims of the 1878 epidemic of “Yellow Fever,” spoken of in the ‘History of a Happy Town’ rest here in the Yellow Fever Cemetery located on South-bound Highway 45E. Some of the names on the tombs include those Mrs. Sarah E., wife of W. H.DRAKE, Born Nov. 10, 1846, Died Oct. 27, 1878; Emanuel HOLLAND, Jan. 7, 1823-October 9, 1878; Mollie Lue, Sept. 15, 1859-Sept. 24, 1878; Minnie A. (Mollie and Minnie were daughters of B.C. and M.P. HOLLAND) October 4, 1861-Sept. 24, 1878; Mary L.WHITE, wife of M.C. DRAUGAN, Feb. 14, 1843-Oct. 6, 1878; A. ATKINSON, Oct. 14, 1830-Sept. 9, 1878; L. A.BLAKE (an early mayor of Martin) Nov. 25, 1843-Sept. 24, 1878.
