The Summer of the Pestilence: a History of the Ravages of the Yellow Fever in Norfolk, Virginia, A. D., 1855, Part 1855

The Summer Of The Pestilence: A History Of The Ravages Of The Yellow Fever In Norfolk, Virginia, A. D., 1855, Part 1855 — George Dodd Armstrong. This is a first-person historical account of the 1855 yellow fever epidemic in Norfolk and neighboring ports, told as a sequence of letters from Armstrong, a Presbyterian minister in Norfolk. It traces the outbreak from its announced appearance in Gosport and Portsmouth to the spread within the city, the social panic, quarantine measures, and the responses of religious and medical communities. The narrative details the formation of the Howard Association, the burning of Barry’s Row, hospital relocations to Lambert’s Point and the City Hotel, and the hardship facing the sick, the dying, and the orphans cared for by the Howard Association. Interleaved with personal experiences are reflections on contagion versus atmosphere-based transmission, the global relief extended from northern and southern cities, and the duties of clergy and physicians during a plague. The book offers a vivid, human portrait of a city under siege by pestilence and the resilience of its citizens.