In 1878 Memphis, Tennessee suffered the deadliest yellow fever epidemic of any city in the United States. (as measured by per capita deaths, Wrenn 5) Although this was the fifth yellow fever epidemic in Memphis since 1828, it was the most devastating, prompting an energetic yet ineffective response, and led to dramatic political, demographic, public health, and social changes. The historical trajectory of Memphis as a city on the rise decisively headed downwards and the epidemic remains a potent historical memory for present-day Memphians (Weisberger, “Yellow Fever…the Plague of Memphis,” Caplinger).

            An economically booming city in 1878 with a population of 40,000, Memphis was swampy, filthy, hot and humid from late Spring into early Fall, lacking in garbage collection, sewage systems, or a clean water supply. (Wrenn 4) In Memphis scientific and medical knowledge about yellow fever was sparce. It was not until 1900 that scientists realized that it was transmitted by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito’s bite of an infected person and then spread into the general population. The disease caused high fevers, chills, pains in the neck and back, constipation, jaundice of the eyes and skin, hemorrhaging, and black vomit, prompting fear and horror at a time when the medical treatments were few, sponge baths, laxatives, or purgatives. In the 1870s, Memphians believed miasmas may have been the cause or the excretions and possessions of the infected as a means of transmissions to others. (Weisberger, Caplinger)

Yellow fever moved up the Mississippi River valley from New Orleans four times prior to 1878.  But, 1878 had a particularly mild winter and a horrendously hot and humid summer.

Dirty, muddy streets, open privies, standing water, all served as breeding ground for mosquitoes in August when the first person died of yellow fever. “Yellow Fever…the Plague of Memphis”) Over 20,000 residents fled the city in two weeks; by mid-October 17,000 of the remaining residents contracted the fever leaving 5,150 dead.  (Weisberger, Caplinger) The population of Memphis after the epidemic plummeted to 33,000 and grew little during the following decade exacerbating economic stagnation. (U.S. Bureau of the Census)

            Research tools consist of population data, written accounts from diaries, letters, and reports by medical professionals and voluntary associations, visual sources including photos and drawings of the people and the scene, and extensive newspaper and magazine coverage both in Tennessee and nationally. The Census, Population, schedule from 1870, 1880, 1890, and 1900 documents the population decline in the city as well as the decline in the numbers of foreign born, and the demographic transition to a city population of predominantly rural Black and white regional migrants. Many firsthand accounts are available from the Tennessee Library and Archives and the West Tennessee Historical Society. Tennessee and national newspapers covering the epidemic, including lists of people who died of the disease, are available through the Library of Congress, Chronicling America, website. Of enormous interest are the photographs, paintings, drawings, and other illustrations of the devastation and responses to the epidemic published in the newspapers, collected by the archives, and hosted on the site Historic Memphis.

            Initial responses to the epidemic were to establish checkpoints at entry areas to the city and attempt a quarantine as news reports charted the epidemic travelling up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. (Public Ledger) This proved ineffective. Approximately half the population left the city within the first two weeks after the first reported death, but this left the poorer Memphians marooned as surrounding communities quickly worked to keep fleeing Memphians out of their areas. Establishing tent cities for the evacuees outside the city only helped a few thousand. (“Tennessee-Memphis under quarantine rule…”) Of the Memphis population remaining in the city, 90% of whites fell ill with up to 70% dying, decimating the Irish immigrant population in particular. Contemporaries noticed that the Black population contracted yellow fever in large numbers but only 7% died. (“Yellow Fever…the Plague of Memphis) Within the city stores were shuttered, offices locked, and city government, police, and other institutions strained under the pressures of the ill and dying. During the long crisis, individuals, voluntary organizations, and remaining public institutions responded. The police department saw rising cases of afflictions and Black leaders convinced the city to integrate and hire Black policemen. (Rousey, 357, 361, 373) Other city departments such as fire also continued to operate. A Citizen’s Relief Committee distributed food, soap, and bedding, the Howard Association composed of 40 businessmen worked in Memphis to organize and recruit more medical personnel (over 11 of the businessmen who stayed in the city died of the fever), Jewish, Irish, and other fraternal societies stayed to help the victims as well. (Memphis Daily Appeal) The Catholic Church was among the most active organizations and 30 nuns and 13 priests died of yellow fever. One permanent city hospital remained open and two temporary ones (one for whites and one for Blacks) were established. (Weisberger) The written accounts of individuals who responded to help were many, but the most surprising was that of Miss Annie Cook, proprietor of a brothel, who evacuated the women working for her and turned the building into a private hospital where she nursed the sick until she too succumbed of the fever. (“Yellow Fever…the Plague of Memphis”)

            In the wake of the epidemic, Memphians took a number of longer-term responses. City government reorganized completely into a commission form of government to address corruption and inefficiency which many believed contributed to the ineffectiveness of the initial responses. The state of Tennessee took over tax collection and distribution for the same reasons. (Wrenn, 12, 17-18) A permanent Board of Heath with regular funding acted vigorously to shut down outdoor privies, build 152 miles of sewers, establish a waterworks that pumped 30,000,000 gallons of water a day from artesian wells deep underground, authorize regular garbage collection and incineration of refuse, and even build 95 miles of hard pavement sidewalks instead of the muddy and stagnant pools underneath planks. (Weisberger) In 1879 another epidemic hit Memphis but with less devastating results: 6000 ill and 600 deaths. The responses taken were, in part, responsible for the better outcome. (“Yellow Fever…the Plague of Memphis”)

The 1878 yellow fever epidemic brought significant changes to Memphis. Unlike police forces in other major U.S. cities, Memphis retained an integrated police force until the turn of the century when the forces of white supremacy resulted in the firing of Black policemen. (Rousey 373) Demographically, Memphis was transformed: the numbers of foreign born plummeted, the population remained in decline for decades, and when the population rose it was a result of Black and white rural migrants from the surrounding areas. (Wrenn 12-13, U.S. Bureau of the Census) Economically, Memphis failed to thrive; the epidemic may not have been the only reason but it certainly was a contributing cause for the economic troubles. (Caplinger)

Works Cited

Caplinger, Christopher. “Yellow Fever Epidemics.” Tennessee Encyclopedia.

            https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entires/yellow-fever-epidemics. Accessed January

            30, 2021.

Memphis Daily Appeal. August 13, 1878. Chronicling America. Library of Congress. 

            https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/. Accessed January 28, 2021.

Public Ledger, Memphis Tennessee. August 02, 1878. Chronicling America. Library of Congress. 

            https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/. Accessed January 28, 2021.

Rousey, Dennis C. “Yellow Fever and Black Policemen in Memphis: A Post-Reconstruction

            Anomaly.” Journal of Southern History, August 1985, Vol. 51, No. 3.

“Tennessee-Memphis under quarantine rule—scenes in the plague stricken city.” 1879.

Tennessee State Library and Archives. https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll18/id/259/. Accessed

January 30, 2021.

“Yellow. Fever…the Plague of Memphis.”

http://historic-memphis.com/memphis-historic/yellow-fever/yellow-fever.html

Accessed January 29, 2021.

U.S. Bureau of the Census. Ninth through Twelfth Censes of the United States Taken in

            the Years 1870-1900, Population.

Weisberger, Bernard A.  “Memphis Fights the Yellow Fever.” American Heritage. Oct./Nov.

            1984. Vol. 35 Issue 6.

Wrenn, Lynette B.  “The Impact of Yellow Fever in Memphis: A Reappraisal.” West Tennessee

            Historical Society Papers Vol. 41 1987.