The Summer of Pestilence: A History of Ravages of the Yellow Fever in 
Norfolk Virginia, A. D. 1855, by George D. Armstrong, D.D.

Published: Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1856

Note: Told in a series of letters as the events occured

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                       The Summer of the Pestilence.

                                     A
                                  HISTORY
                           OF THE RAVAGES OF THE
                               YELLOW FEVER
                           IN NORFOLK, VIRGINIA,
                                A. D. 1855.

                                    BY
                         GEORGE D. ARMSTRONG, D.D.
               PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN NORFOLK.

                               PHILADELPHIA:
                          J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

                                  1856.




        Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
                          J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
                     Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

                      STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO.
                             PHILADELPHIA.
                    PRINTED BY T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS.




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CONTENTS.

PREFATORY LETTER.
REASONS FOR WRITING THIS HISTORY--PLAN TO BE PURSUED.....7 

LETTER I.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EXISTENCE OF YELLOW FEVER IN NORFOLK--EFFECT OF THIS 
ANNOUNCEMENT--WAY IN WHICH IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED--REASONS FOR 
AND AGAINST ITS GENERAL SPREAD--PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CITY--COURSE OF 
DUTY.....13 

LETTER II.
SPREAD OF THE FEVER--ITS MILD TYPE--VISIT TO PORTSMOUTH--DESERTED STATE OF 
THAT PLACE--PANIC--CAUSES OF THIS PANIC--QUARANTINE REGULATIONS--

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QUARANTINE ORDER OF WELDEN--DEATH IN THE STREET--HOWARD ASSOCIATION 
FORMED--BURNING OF BARRY'S ROW--DAY OF PRAYER APPOINTED.....31 

LETTER III.
FIRST DEATH AMONG THE MEMBERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH--ARRIVAL OF 
PHYSICIANS AND NURSES FROM ABROAD--REMOVAL OF THE HOSPITAL TO LAMBERT'S 
POINT--REPORTED FLIGHT OF THE PROTESTANT CLERGY--TRUE STATEMENT.....49
 
LETTER IV.
EFFECT OF COLD STORMS IN THE SPREAD OF THE FEVER--PEOPLE BEWILDERED--
BURIAL OF REV. A. DIBBRELL--DEATH OF MAYOR WOODIS--AID FROM ABROAD--
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOWARD HOSPITAL.....64 

LETTER V.
A PASTOR'S SABBATH IN A PLAGUE-STRICKEN CITY.....75
 
LETTER VI.
THE CRISIS OF THE EPIDEMIC--FRIGHTFUL MORTALITY--BURYING IN PITS--A BURIAL 
IN A PLAGUE-STRICKEN CITY--APPEARANCE OF THE CEMETERIES--APPEARANCE

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OF THE HARBOUR--CASES OF ROBBERY--CHARACTER OF NURSES FROM ABROAD.....92 

LETTER VII.
THE PESTILENCE ABATING--DEATH OF MISS ELIZA SOUTTER--SCENE AT THE POST-
OFFICE--PROPOSAL TO REMOVE THE PEOPLE TO OLD POINT.....109
 
LETTER VIII.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE FEVER--UNFULFILLED PRE-SENTIMENT OF DEATH--
PROPOSED DEPARTURE FROM NORFOLK.....118
 
LETTER IX.
FAMILY AFFLICTIONS.....131
 
LETTER X.
MORTALITY AMONG THE CLERGY AND PHYSICIANS--REMARKABLE RECOVERY--YELLOW 
FEVER A DISEASE NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH--LETTERS FROM ABROAD--"A CITY OF 
CONVALESCENTS".....143

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LETTER XI.
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FEVER--THE ORPHANS--THE PLAGUE-FLY--DESCRIPTION OF 
IT--HYPOTHESES RESPECTING ITS NATURE.....156
 
LETTER XII.
RESULTS OF MATURER REFLECTION--HOW WAS THE FEVER INTRODUCED INTO NORFOLK?--
WHY WAS IT SO FATAL?--IS YELLOW FEVER CONTAGIOUS?--PRACTICAL 
INFERENCES.....168



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PREFATORY LETTER.

TO WILLIAM MAXWELL, ESQ.,
SECRETARY OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

When I had the pleasure of meeting with you in Richmond, a few weeks ago, 
you expressed the wish that some one should write a brief history of the 
pestilence from which our city has suffered cluing the past summer, 
remarking that this visitation of the pestilence had been of such 
unexampled violence, that its history would properly enter into the 
history of our State; and that for this reason, as well as others, it 
seemed desirable that some more connected and generally acceptable accost 
should be given of it than that furnished in the reports which appeared 
from time to time in the daily papers. This undertaking you were pleased 
to urge upon me, as one who had remained in the city during this "summer 
of the pestilence," and more

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especially as one who, in the discharge of the duties belonging to a 
minister of the gospel and the pastor of a Christian church, had been 
called to see and know more than most others of what was really occurring 
in our midst.

My reply then was, that, although the same request had been made from 
other quarters, I could not consent to undertake the work, partly because 
of the intrinsic difficulty of the task, but mainly because I felt that it 
must be to me an exceedingly painful one. There are scenes in nature which 
the painter, who has studied the capacities of his art, will never 
undertake to transfer to canvas. So are there incidents in the history of 
this pestilence,--incidents of which I was an eye-witness,--which no one, 
it seems to me, who has tried the capacities, or rather, I would say, the 
incapacities, of human language, will ever undertake to put upon record. 
Human language is the creature of every-day life, and therefore unfitted 
to record events which, occurring but once in an age, do not enter into 
the common experience of man. I felt, too, that to me such an undertaking 
must prove an exceedingly painful one. Not that I could ever wish to 
forget the many dear friends numbered

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among "the dead of the pestilences;" nor that I could willingly, even if 
such a thing were possible, obliterate the impression made upon my memory 
by the most painful scene of parting through which I have been called to 
pass. Saddening though these recollections be, yet does the scarred heart 
cling to them as choicest treasures; but it is one thing to retain and 
cherish these recollections in the privacy of one's own bosom, and a very 
different thing to expose them to the public gaze; and this last is that 
from which I shrank.

Since my return home, this undertaking has been urged upon me for a 
different reason. The thought has been suggested, that, should this 
terrible pestilence prove to be "a travelling epidemic," on its way 
northward, (and I know that the ablest physicians from the south, who were 
with us, and who had watched its course for the several years last past, 
believed that such was its character,) a brief history of its ravages in 
Norfolk might be of great service in any city in which it might hereafter 
appear, in showing to the inhabitants of such city just what dangers they 
had to apprehend and in what ways they could labour most effectually for 
the relief of the suffering. Never can I forget the kindness,

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the prompt, the generous aid, extended to us by our northern brethren, in 
our time of trial;--timely aid, but for which there had been few left to 
tell the sad story of our sufferings; and God forbid that, for any merely 
personal considerations, I should refuse to acknowledge that kindness in 
any way and in any measure in which it may be possible for me to do it. My 
hope is--my prayer to God is--that Norfolk may prove to be the northern 
terminus of the course of this pestilence. And yet such may not be the 
plan of Him who directeth its steps; and the bare possibility that it may 
burst upon some of our sister cities to the north, during the coming 
summer, has changed my purpose, as expressed to you, and determined me to 
undertake the work, painful though it must prove to be.

In order that I may accomplish the main purpose for which I write, and the 
only purpose which could have overcome my repugnance to the task, it will 
be necessary for me to confine myself pretty much to my own personal 
observations,--a record of that which I have heard, and seen, and felt, 
during the prevalence of the fever in our city,--adding such statistical 
and general statements only as are necessary to complete the record of 
these personal observations.

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For this reason, it has seemed to me best to give what I shall write the 
form of a series of letters, purporting to have been written from time to 
time, as the pestilence progressed in our midst. Many of the incidents of 
which I shall have occasion to speak have so burned in their record upon 
my memory, that no effort is required to bring them up again in all their 
original distinctness. Others I shall supply from memoranda made and 
letters written at the time. In these letters I shall endeavour to recall 
my feelings and impressions, so as to write just as if the letters had 
been written at the dates they bear; the only liberty taken being to 
correct certain errors, as to dates and numbers, into which I would have 
fallen had I then written them.

I have taken the liberty of addressing these letters to you, in part 
because you have for many years honourably filled the office of Secretary 
of the Virginia Historical Society,--and there seemed to me a propriety in 
giving to a series of historical letters such a direction,--but 
principally because you are a native of Norfolk, and long filled the 
office of ruling elder in the church of which I am now the pastor, and 
are, therefore, personally acquainted

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with many of those of whom I shall have occasion to speak; for, as the 
pastor of a particular Christian church, my personal recollections must, 
in large measure, concern the members of that church and congregation; and 
I know that you do feel and have felt an interest in them such as could be 
felt by no stranger.

It might seem, at first thought, that, pursuing such a plan as this, I 
would not give what could properly be called a History of the Pestilence 
in Norfolk. A full history would be but a multiplication of the scenes and 
incidents I shall have occasion to describe; and if the reader, as he 
passes along, will bear in mind the fact that mine is one of nine 
Christian congregations in the city of Norfolk, he will need nothing more 
to render this a proper history of the ravages of the pestilence in 
Norfolk.

With the wish that you may long live to watch over the interests of our 
Historical Society,

I remain yours truly,
Geo. D. Armstrong.

Norfolk, Va., December 1, 1855.