Genealogy & History
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1873 in Shreveport, Louisiana and surrounding area.
The first indication of an illness began on August 20, 1873, when The Shreveport Times reported that three men had died three days prior, one dropping dead on the street. Originally, there was no mention of yellow fever being the cause of these deaths, nor was yellow fever mentioned for several weeks. Deaths were blamed on congestive fever, bilious fever, diarrhea, malaria, or other disease. But a month later almost three hundred would be dead, and two months later when the epidemic was over, an additional 459 were dead.
Reports of yellow fever first came to public notice. Dr. W. T. Dalzell, the rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, announced to his congregation that yellow fever was present in the city, and warning all who were able, to leave the city.
On the night of September 1, 1873, a meeting was held by the physicians of the city to discuss the impending crisis. The following day, The Shreveport Times reported the results of the meeting, and the words "Yellow Fever" were used. People rushed to leave Shreveport by any means possible. Those who were able to leave quickly fleeing toward Dallas by train were lucky, because it didn't take long for the word to spread to neighboring areas, with both Dallas and Longview, Texas establishing quarantines against Shreveport. A train was stopped at the Dallas city limits by a group of armed citizens who told the engineer that if he continued, he would be shot.
Captain M. L. Stovall, a steamer captain on the Red River, told of his experience during this time in his "Reminiscenses." "In August, 1873, I was Captain of the Steamer Royal George, running between Shreveport and Jefferson, Texas. When about ready to leave Shreveport, I met Capt. Jim Phelps, and old steamboat captain, who said: 'Scovall, there is a terrible scourge in this town,' and mentioned six people who had died the night before. I replied, 'Jim, I think you are a pessimist; I don't think there is anything remiss,' and went on to Jefferson. On our return, the third night, about nine o'clock, on coming in sight of town, we saw lights in night resembling bonfires in all the streets. We landed and no one was in sight or came near the boat. On inquiring, we learned that the Yellow Fever had been declared epidemic and that everybody that could get away had left town. My wife and children had gone to our old homes in Ohio and Kentucky for the summer. My home in the suburbs was occupied by my cousin Mrs. Rhoda Hunter, and her sisters, the Misses Files. We had a lady passenger, Miss Heffner, who lived next door to us. I started to take her home. I found that street cars were not running, and the livery stables were closed, as all their conveyances had been used for transporting the refugees out of the fever stricken town. So we walked home, something over a mile. We saw only one person on the street after leaving the boat, and that was a negro man. The only railroad reaching Shreveport was the Texas and Pacific, and the Texas authorities would not allow trains from Shreveport to Texas. The towns below Shreveport would not allow boats to land if they came from Shreveport, so the town was completely isolated. A compromise was finally reached by which I was allowed to run the Royal George down the river about 50 or 100 miles, and take the freight from the New Orleans boats, and re-ship passengers and freight from Shreveport. When I was getting ready to go down on the first trip, I found that my engineer had been stricken with the fever. The Pilot's brother was down with the fever, and the Pilot had to stay on shore to help nurse him. The negro roustabouts, who were considered immune, all had better paying jobs waiting on yellow fever patients, etc."
The September 3rd newspaper reported that a group of nineteen prominent citizens, including the Reverend W. T. D. Dalzell, formed a local branch of the Howard Association to combat the anticipated outbreak. A Howard Association had been formed in New Orleans during the epidemic of 1837. It was a benevolent society named for British philanthropist and social reformer John Howard (1726-1790) whose main purpose was to give some measure of relief and aid to the yellow fever sufferers. It is their records, enhanced by reports of physicians and family members, which list those who died in the epidemic. The list is by no means complete, as some of the early deaths were attributed to other causes, and many were not reported to the Howard Association or authorities.
Beginning with the August 20th edition, The Shreveport Times included a list of those who were reported as interred the prior day in the city by the Howard Association. We do not know how many were buried in small family cemeteries in the suburbs or surrounding countryside.
As it was not until after the September 2nd announcement of the diagnosis of yellow fever that a daily interment list of those who died from yellow fever was published, but any local death occurring in the weeks immediately prior to September 2nd must be suspect. These deaths are not included in my listing for simple lack of evidence. My list is compiled from the list published in the October 23,1897 edition of The Progress; the list published in the November 15, 1873 edition of The Shreveport Times; and the daily listing in The Shreveport Times for the period August 29, 1873 through November 14, 1873. The compilation of all three sources is listed below. Additionally, I obtained information from other sources to better identify the victims. Unfortunately, at the time in local history, information on the black citizens of the area were not included in the Progressive and November 15th Times lists, or included only as the number of "colored" deaths. In some cases, however, the names of these decedents are listed in the daily Times lists. These names have been added in parenthesis after the "colored" deaths shown. Where there were variations in the names or spellings of the names between the three sources, I have shown the variations in parentheses. With these cautions, here is the 1873 death roll for Shreveport:
There were many heroes during this period, and contributions to help relieve the sick and suffering were received from all over the United States. Members of the Howard Association who were not able to volunteer their services to nurse the sick, contributed their personal funds, or wrote their friends in other places and solicited funds to pay doctors, nurses, and purchase those supplies needed to succor the sick.
Although yellow fever was known to be extremely virulent and fast spreading, many doctors and nurses from New Orleans and the surrounding area towns courageously volunteered to come to Shreveport and help in fighting the epidemic.
Among the heroes were the priests who staffed Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the first Catholic Church in Northwest Louisiana. The Rev. Father J. Pierre, the founder and first pastor, and his assistant, Rev. Father J. Queremais, died of yellow fever as well as those priests who replaced them. Two nuns, members of the Daughters of the Cross, from St. Vincents Academy who volunteered to minister to the sick also died. These religious have been memorialized by the late Monsignor J. W. Plauche in wall portraits and stain glass windows of the present Holy Trinity Church building at the corner of Fannin and Marshall Streets in downtown Shreveport.
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E-mail: Linda H. Trichel