How Did Yellow Fever Infect
Wilmington in 1862?
by Jim D. Brisson*
Have you ever heard two versions of the
same story? Detectives run into this all
the time, and they have to discover
which story is true. While detectives
use clues to make sense of different stories, histori¬
ans use primary sources to direct them to the truth.
As an example case, let's investigate exactly how
yellow fever came to Wilmington in the late sum¬
mer and early autumn of 1862. What do primary
sources say?
Yellow fever is a harsh, potentially deadly virus
that thrives in semitropical locations. This virus
was the most feared disease in the United States
for generations, earning the nickname the
"American plague." In mid-August 1862,
Wilmington officials reported an outbreak of the
deadly disease in the city, and thousands of panic-
stricken citizens fled the area. The epidemic lasted
until November, and hundreds of people died.
While other southern cities like Charleston and
New Orleans suffered frequents outbreaks of yel¬
low fever, Wilmington had not suffered an out¬
break since 1821. So, why did it strike in 1862?
When the Civil War started in April 1861, North
Carolina was not yet part of the newly formed
Confederate States of America. On May 20, how¬
ever, it left the Union and joined the Confederacy.
By the summer of 1862, Wilmington had become
one of the most important seaports in the
Confederacy because it served as a base for block¬
ade-runners. Many of the runners — which were
small, fast ships used to smuggle supplies past the
Northern navy — sailed
from the Bahamas. One of
these blockade-runners
was the Kate. Some
sources suggest that when
the ship landed in
Wilmington in July, some
of the Kate's crew mem¬
bers were sick with yel¬
low fever. During the epi¬
demic, Wilmington's The
Daily Journal newspaper
published several eyewitness accounts that identi¬
fy the Kate as the ship that introduced yellow fever
into the city. But there is more to the story.
Because Wilmington was such an important city,
the Confederate government sent Dr. W. T. Wragg
to help. Dr. Wragg was the Confederate doctor
most experienced in treating yellow fever. When
he arrived, he found a filthy city that had been
pounded by heavy rains that left puddles all over
the streets. Dr. Wragg believed the filth and stag¬
nant water aided the fever, and he ordered the
town cleaned up. Then he set about treating ailing
citizens. After the war, Dr. Wragg published an
article in the New York Journal of Medicine, claiming
that at least five cases of yellow fever were in
Wilmington before the Kate arrived in July, and,
therefore, the ship's crew was not to blame. He
traced the quick spread of the disease to the city's
unsanitary conditions, claiming that noxious gases
had caused the epidemic.
Many physicians agreed with Dr. Wragg at the
time. But Walter Reed discovered in 1900 that mos¬
quitoes, not gases, transmit yellow fever. Because
yellow fever could not spring up from gases, it had
to be introduced to Wilmington by a third party
(and then spread by the city's mosquitoes).
So, what do you think is the most likely reason
that the yellow fever epidemic struck in
Wilmington? It seems likely that the cause can be
found in the pages of the newspaper. What other
history mysteries like this one have you run across
that might be solved or explored by studying pri¬
mary sources?
When you
work with doc¬
uments, myster¬
ies like this one
may jump out
at you! O' <
-NO. 23.
WILMINGTON, N. Q, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1862.
i WHO
N <V PRICK,
РВОРШЕТОВЛ.
dllor. i.L. P8TCE;- AiiocUle Ed u
К*-ГГРТЮ!»2с&еП П
ADVABCGJ.
. . Sft 00
... . X 4
Л
mom la coos <
hi'n1*3pu
er r«.--
c«au pw^eegjr.
dSeocliaoid •! \be expiiailoQ cl
KAIL ROADS. _ _
хыи,
chaolottk
в. к. -а. соираиу.
Deal. Trail» lor «be »;65maod*tinD a 1 lie BAoctOower*
wOl leaie Charlotte aed CbMrjvliio CD the morning or
REWARDS.
ОД)
u
ым;
*2»
nwWABJ.
HUS AWAY ftoo Abe nh*ertt.r on
ИммЬсго"
№ Sound;
вен
M OulBKloo, N.tx,
»Ьоч1 Ач
olo»* oi
-\S Ao*a»l or bofladrg Cf Peptimbor, * yOMg negro
ала ЫЯсА
WiLLlA*. »ooui 16
у*»г»
of »*r, d*rk com-
plfcdoa, U 6 fwi 6 lock;» -blgh ; utfcj HV®
л
ChuUUca
” St'obor* n>ud wlli be pold fur bU tetau to me, or
b'A lodgmee in Jin W 1
ом
gttblm. ^
ЦОВШ8.
Huoobdn' Eonnd. WiioInetco..Nv'C-, P«pC
1ВЛ
Ж"---
гзвахз
«-Noyibllea*
Newspapers may prove to be a valuable primary source. Image courtesy of Jim D. Brisson.
* Jim D. Brisson is a historic interpreter at the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex
in Fayetteville. Currently a student in the history MA program at the University of North
Carolina at Wilmington, concentrating on the Civil War in North Carolina, he earned his
BA in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005.
THJH, Spring 2009
15
