Memphis Heroes of the Yellow Fever of 1878
Memphis has seen this before.
In these unprecedented times of COVID-19, it’s easy to imagine that we’re experiencing something entirely new as a community. And while that may be true in many ways, our River City is no stranger to the afflictions of disease and suffering. In fact, the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878 threatened our entire region and completely reconstructed the makeup of the city. The grit of Memphians was put to the test as the majority of them were infected by the disease and treatment was scant. But the city survived, thanks to the brave few who risked it all to aid the dying.
Memphis had a population of about 43,000 before the epidemic. After the Fever hit in August of 1878, only 19,000 citizens remained in the city center with 17,000 of those having contracted the illness. Community officials and the wealthy were the first to leave the city, but thousands followed. The migration caused Memphis to appear desolate. Written descriptions from that summer say that even the birds stopped chirping as homes and buildings were emptied and a quiet stillness replaced the bustling metropolis.
Yet some Memphians did stay behind. Sister Constance of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church made house calls throughout the worst of the outbreak. She nursed the ill, provided comfort for the dying, and took in orphaned children. Priests Charles Parson and Louis Schyuler from St. Mary’s also stayed behind and gave their lives nursing the ill.
Pharmacies were abandoned so local doctors packed their bags as full as they could and worked past exhaustion, often seeing up to 150 patients a day. Soon, a group of 40 businessmen gathered a volunteer organization of doctors from New Orleans called the Howard Association. These men traveled to Memphis expressly to help Yellow Fever victims and out of the 110 volunteer doctors, 33 of them died as a result of their work with the sick. Among these was Dr. R.H. Tate, the first African American to practice medicine in Memphis. Dr. Tate was among the heroes who gave their lives defending our city from the Fever.
But the heroism wasn’t unique to clergy and medical professionals. Memphis Madam Annie Cook, famously sent away her “working girls” to keep them from contracting the Fever. Then, Ms. Cook set about transforming her brothel into a makeshift hospital. Instead of fleeing the city she chose to stay, caring as best she could for the sick. The Memphis Appeal memorialized her in September of 1878 by writing of her transformation of character and heart. “Out of sin, the woman, in all the tenderness and fullness of her womanhood, merged, transfigured and purified, to become the healer.” She was posthumously called the “Mary Magdalene of Memphis” and given a burial plot at the historic Elmwood Cemetery.
Our city is built on the work and bravery of these and so many others like them. As we face an unknown future, it’s good to be reminded that courage lives here in Memphis and it always has.