The Huntsville Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867

Sarah Schmitt's 2018 article in the SHSU journal The Measure argues that the belief that Black people were naturally immune kept many freedpeople in Huntsville, exposed to the fever, while many white residents fled or hid. She holds that the belief denied them an informed choice about their own safety, and that it outlasted later epidemics. The county history describes the same belief at Cincinnati in 1853, where enslaved people seemed less susceptible and gave essential care. In Huntsville a general panic followed the town's September 5, 1867 declaration of an epidemic, and the first frost ended the season.

What the plaque says

The Huntsville Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867 Oakwood Cemetery is home to many grave markers from the year 1867 when yellow fever, one of the most dreaded diseases of the time, struck the county. The disease ravaged many cities across the United States. Texas remained relatively untouched until 1839 when Galveston experienced its first epidemic. As the primary port of entry for shipping from the Caribbean and the rest of the world, Galveston went on to suffer eight more epidemics through 1867. Due to the transportation of goods and people inland, the epidemics spread quickly to other counties in Texas, including Walker County. The first instance of yellow fever in Walker County occurred in 1853. Mosquitos from the Trinity River bottomlands northeast of Huntsville spread the disease rapidly through nearby Cincinnati. Town doctors did their best, but yellow fever was a relatively new disease in Texas and little was known about it. The second instance came in 1867 when a stagecoach passenger, who arrived sick from a coastal city, stayed at a Huntsville tavern. Soon after his death on August 9, the disease spread through Huntsville, claiming many lives. Many residents panicked and fled town, but many also stayed to tend to the sick. Those who had previously contracted the disease appeared to be immune. Many of the African Americans of Huntsville nursed the sick due to what was perceived as a low susceptibility to the disease. In September, the Howard Association of Galveston sent five experienced nurses and a doctor to aid the struggling doctors of Huntsville. Due to the epidemic, in all, approximately 10 percent of the 1500 residents of Huntsville died between August 9 and October 18 of 1867. (2016)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fanthorp Inn State Historic Site — 31 mi
  A cedar-log dogtrot cabin of 1834 on the road through Anderson that grew into a seventeen-room inn and post office for travelers of the Republic, kept by one family until 1976.

More markers nearby

• Besser, General John Slater — steps away
• Anthony Martin Branch — steps away
• Henderson Yoakum — steps away
• Baker, James Addison — steps away