By C. G.
Following the Civil War, America remained a culture
focused on agriculture and change. It is a society that continued to be rural,
concentrating on broadening their knowledge of farming. Because of this, the
Midwest was commonly known as the “cornbelt” of the country. Rich topsoil and
surrounding bodies of water made it possible for the Midwest to become a heavy agriculture
area. As the “cornbelt” expanded, the Midwest also termed the name “rustbelt”
due to the automobile and steel industries decreasing in prominence and
significance. [1]
As industries declined, many citizens, the majority being
of middle class, relocated to suburbs.[2] Because water sources are
so abundant, their main source of transportation is by riverboat, later being
replaced by railroads. As time went on, these suburbs were arranged by class
and went from a place for middle class citizens to a place for the wealthy and
elite citizens. In addition, as immigrants came to America they looked to
reside in suburbs, but just like the African Americans, they are looked at as
“unworthy” and are not allowed in, at least not with the elites. They would
have to live in a suburb that contains only other immigrants. Suburbs became so
prominent in American Culture they started to represent success, family life,
and safety from the chaos of cities, as they still do today.[3]
Politically, the American culture was much like today and
remained under a democracy. Two parties dominated the government which are the
republicans and democrats. Republicans and democrats each have different
approaches to controversial topics, being conservative or liberal respectively.
Officials are elected into the government based on popular vote with the
exclusion of the president.
One major epidemic that really altered the culture of
America in the nineteenth century is the Cholera Epidemic. This disease swept
through towns quicker than anyone expected. It is “an acute, diarrheal illness
caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae” (CDC).
After contracting Cholera, your symptoms could range from no symptoms at all to
severe symptoms. Some of these symptoms include diarrhea, non-stop vomiting,
and often leg cramps.[4] People could potentially
experience these symptoms for days upon days in addition to head-aches, aching
bodies, and body temperature increase and decreases. Today Cholera can be
treated through fluid replacement because of all the fluid and salts lost out
of the body by vomiting and diarrhea. However, back then, because the diarrhea
and vomiting occurred so often and rapidly and they were not as technologically
advanced, it would lead to dehydration almost immediately and if not treated
properly, could cause death in less than a day.
Many sources of water during this time were not nearly as
sanitary as we have it today. Dirty drinking water from pumps and wells that
people living in the suburbs would use is often very dirty. This is how Cholera
is contracted. Poor sanitary living conditions with dirty water would carry the
bad bacteria and upon drinking, would immediately start to effect the drinker’s
body in as little as a couple hours. Dirty water is more often seen as the
cause, but bad food, such as seafood, could also cause a person to contract the
disease. It was very rare to see Cholera be passed from person to person as it
was almost always water to person because most people were drinking from the
same bad quality of water.
Although the focus of this paper is the Cholera Epidemic
of 1873, the factors that lead up to it are also important because they shaped
the 1873 outbreak. Cholera is often talked about in multiple different
epidemics, the epidemic of 1832, 1849, 1866, and then 1873. These epidemics are
not only centered in America, but worldwide. In 1826 it affected India and most
of the East traveling to other countries by trade routes. It traveled to Russia
and Poland and France. It took over almost all of Europe, sweeping through the
continent catching people off guard. There is a story told by the German poet
Henirich Heine who describes a night at a masked ball in Paris when suddenly a
man collapsed. His temperature dropped so low he turned blue in the face and
other attendees finally started to realize Cholera had just taken its next
victim.[5] The disease kept moving
westward into Britain and eventually, it would reach America.
In
America, the Epidemics of 1832 and 1849 are very similar. When the outbreak
began in 1832 it killed thousands and thousands of citizens. Big cities were
hit hard. In New York, Cholera “left 3,515 dead out of a population of 250,000”
(Wilford). Almost every big city it hit lost “5-10%” of its population, but
were able to keep on with their labor and businesses (Daly). Small towns got
hit even worse. These small towns are built off of farming and when cholera
came in and started raising death tolls, the economy struggled because a
decrease in population means a decrease in labor to work on the farms. Both of
these epidemics caused people to go through the same panic and the same amount
of loss whether it be a family member, friend, or acquaintance. After the
epidemic of 1832, ideas of prevention were put into action hopeful that it
would be effective only to realize failure. The only real difference between
1832 and 1849 is that because the population had grown, transportation
increased and was less dependent on water routes, cholera was treated with
greater “ease”.[6]
The
Cholera Epidemic of 1866 effected Europe, Asia and Africa more than any other
place. It claimed almost 100,000 lives in Russia and almost 80,000 in Zanzibar.
It was very prevalent during the time of the Austro-Prussian War and killed
over 100,000 lives there. As this disease traveled and traveled it eventually
reached America and killed less than half of the people it did in the Austrian
Empire during the Austro-Prussian War.[7]
Even
after this epidemic’s multiple reoccurrences, people still are not fully aware
on how to go about handling it. However, some cities chose to be very
proactive. In New York, a very wealthy group of men with connections to the New
York government worried that the Cholera outbreak in Europe would hit New York,
so they created the Council of Hygiene and Public Health.[8] Their main goal is to clean up the city and
do anything possible to prevent Cholera from causing harm. In addition to the
Council of Hygiene and Public Health, the Board of Health also participated.
They cleaned up places around New York that stored the leftover, rotting food
from restaurants and butchers. They also went to the government to try “to stop
the misuse of money meant for cleanup and maintenance of their neighborhoods”
(NYCdata). These prevention steps were not taken just in New York, but in
cities around the world. However even with these efforts, more often than not,
Cholera still managed to make itself known.
As we
center in on the Midwest, we start to realize that just because Cholera may
have reached America from other countries, it still managed to hit the middle
states. However, most of these small Midwestern towns deny that cholera had
reached their respective towns and focused on it reaching other places. There
is also very few copies of these small town newspapers with the local stories
that have been preserved today.[9] Like everywhere else
Cholera struck, it left its mark and caused pure chaos amongst the members of
these homely communities.
Like
previously mentioned, big cities lost a large number of their population, even
in the Midwest. Cities like St. Louis, Detroit, and Cincinnati lost hundreds
between the years 1832-1835 and thousands between 1849-1851.[10] Any city hit with Cholera
was obviously set back community and business wise, however, these cities
somehow managed to get back up on their feet and stay afloat. They came to the
realization that contaminated drinking water was the cause of this deadly
disease and put a stop to it, cleaning all water sources.
Smaller
cities in the Midwest did not recover so easily. The amount of deaths in small
cities versus big cities was fairly equal, however “the panic and flight were
more destructive” (Daly). The panic was so intense because instead of these
deaths occurring over the course of a long period of time, they occurred all
together in just days. Because of this “the early death rate, extrapolated for
a year, would have exceeded the local population” (Daly). Many of these small
towns are what make up the state of Indiana, aside from Indianapolis.
Indianapolis
at this time was a railroad center for America. The city was flourishing and
making a name for itself. And then disaster struck. Indianapolis experienced
its first case of Cholera on July 24th.[11] The story goes that it
was the case of William A. Hensley, a bar owner in a restaurant travelers
frequently visited. He was diagnosed with Cholera Asiatica. Just a few days
later, the owner of the restaurant William A. Hensley’s bar was in started to
experience the symptoms of Cholera. He felt faint and fell to the ground
vomiting.[12]
Both of these men were able to beat the disease, but this is just one example
of how many reported cases happened. This disease began to spread around the
city having its first fatal case weeks later. But it did not just stop there.
It spread all over the state of Indiana.
One of
the most important small towns it hit next, due to its position on the railroad
line, is the city of Cumberland, Indiana. The first case in Cumberland occurred
on August 8th, 1873 and was unfortunately fatal. It took the life of
a German mother of four who had only contracted the disease 12 hours prior to
her death. Only five days after the first case, 15 more cases were found and
eight of them had quickly passed away. In only five weeks there were 80 cases
of Cholera in Cumberland alone and 32 were fatal.[13] Because Cumberland and
Indianapolis were key railroad cities, the economy had been severely affected.
No one wanted to take a train through these cities in fear of contracting the
disease and even if they did, the population of people who could actually work
the railroads were decreasing either by sickness or by people fleeing the city
to find somewhere Cholera had not reached yet.
Another
small town of Indiana that got severely affected is the city of Madison.
Because the number of deaths were greatly increasing throughout the years, the
Board of Health decided to take action. If anyone is found bringing the disease
to the city, the Board of Health had the power to potentially fine them $500. However,
just years later this rule is taken away. In the prime stages of Cholera in
Madison “163 died” (Daly). Cholera
effected all the small cities of Indiana in almost the same way, killing the
city’s people, economy, and morale.
Indiana’s
economy ultimately gets destroyed by this disease. Business is diminishing in
towns because there are no people left to run them. They would either be leaving
town looking to find new towns that had not been affected by Cholera yet or
were already sick and unable to work. Even farming is affected. The prices of
their cattle and crops drop leaving them unable to get a proper income to
support their families. The railroad that runs through the cities of
Indianapolis and Madison, the only railroad in Indiana, is shut down because of
Cholera.[14]
The workforce is almost nonexistent due to this deadly disease, leaving many
jobless.
To
reconstruct the cities Cholera reached, many different types of prevention
methods are taken. One of these methods is quarantine. Although it is mostly
used to prevent Cholera in Europe, quarantine is trying to seclude the disease
by keeping people affected away from contact with people who have not been
affected. This method is not very effective though because Cholera is not
contagious. Another method of prevention is cholera hospitals and medicine for
the poor. Cholera hospitals are not necessarily to prevent the disease itself,
but to prevent it from spreading or killing as many people as it has. Medicine
is an expense that should be able to be obtained by all individuals poor or
wealthy.
One of
the most important methods of prevention governments put into place is the mere
idea of sanitation. Keeping water sources clean of waste and garbage is a must.
Governments made sure their towns were drinking clean water. Citizens and
housekeepers should keep their houses clean at all times and “should use water
copiously, but not in the evening, as lodging in damp rooms is apt to induce
the disease” (Drake). Dampness is a major cause of this disease and should be
avoided at all costs. Also, in addition to keeping your clothes clean you
should make sure to keep your body clean as well. It is recommended to wash
your body every morning with cold water immediately followed by drying off with
a towel. It is also recommended to take a warm bath once or twice a week.[15] These ideas might seem
small, but they could potentially save your life.
Cholera
is a disease that changed America as well as many other countries around the
world. The once thriving culture was left destroyed by Cholera ending
businesses and taking farmers away from their work, decreasing profits. It
killed thousands of people leaving families left sad and hopeless. It swept
through city after city even reaching the Midwest. The preventions and
precautions the government took finally stopped these epidemics from taking
over the world and gave America the push it needed to get back up on its feet.
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[1]
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[2]
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[3]
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[4]
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infection." Last modified July 30, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2014.
http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html.
[5]
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Last modified May 26, 2010. Accessed March 1, 2014. http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2000_fall/1832_cholera_part2.html.
[6]
Daly, Walter. “The Black Cholera Comes to the Central Valley of America in the
19th Century- 1832, 1849, and Later.” Transactions of the American Clinical and
Climatological Association. (2008).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2394684/ (accessed March 1, 2014)
[7]
Alper, John. "Myadel Belarus." Last modified August 12, 2011.
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[8]
Williams, Kenya. "New York City (NYC) Cholera Outbreak of 1866." Last
modified January 02, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2014. https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/cholera-1866.html.
[9]
Daly, Walter. “The Black Cholera Comes to the Central Valley of America in the
19th Century- 1832, 1849, and Later.” Transactions of the American Clinical and
Climatological Association. (2008).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2394684/ (accessed March 1, 2014)
[10]
Daly, Walter. “The Black Cholera Comes to the Central Valley of America in the
19th Century- 1832, 1849, and Later.” Transactions of the American Clinical and
Climatological Association. (2008).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2394684/ (accessed March 1, 2014)
[11]
Barnes, Joseph. The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States. 2002.
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[12]
Barnes, Joseph. The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 in the United States. 2002.
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[13]
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[14]
Daly, Walter. “The Black Cholera Comes to the Central Valley of America in the
19th Century- 1832, 1849, and Later.” Transactions of the American Clinical and
Climatological Association. (2008).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2394684/ (accessed March 1, 2014)
[15]
Drake, Daniel. History, Prevention, and Treatment of epidemic Cholera.
Cincinnati : Corey and Fairbank, 1832.
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