HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Southold Town
Influenza is not a modern disease. It is so common that we expect it to arrive whenever the weather turns
chilly and blame any sniffle or cough we have as having the flu. Then we drag ourselves to the doctor,
and we believe that modern medicine will produce a cure that will get us feeling normal within a couple
up to a few decades before World War I, the practice of medicine had remained
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quite literally almost unchanged from the time of Hippocrates more than two thousand years earlier
The influenza virus has plagued humanity for centuries. It has been identified in historical texts going
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back to the ancient world. Both Hippocrates and Livy record outbreaks in both Greece and Rome. The
name und 1500, when the Italians introduced the term for diseases that they
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.
The disease does not naturally live in humans. Its normal home is in wild aquatic birds, like ducks and
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geese. Many of the various strains of influenza exist only in birds and never make the jump to humans.
practically every other known virus, only one type of influenza virus dominates at any given
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time However the virus can be passed from a bird to another animal, like a pig, mutate, then infect a
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human and spread from person to person.
Different historians pin-point the beginning of the 1918 global pandemic of influenza to different places
and events. Mostly because influenza was not a reportable disease, so records of who had it are few.
Estimates of those who were infected mostly exist only in the cities, leaving only death certificates to
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mark its passage in most communities.
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Some scholars place the origins of the pandemic as early as 1917. At the opening of 1917, Europe had
been enmeshed in the battles of World War 1 for three years. The United States, which had remained
neutral for the first years of the war, by April 1917, entered the conflict against Germany.
In the struggle of war, masses of men were recruited and trained for the battlefield. New soldiers were
crowded into camps and packed into transports designed to efficiently move the masses to where the
generals needed them. All of which was perfect environment to spread disease.
The United States military in 1917, had to deal with two battlefronts, the war in Europe and a fast
without bringing from one to six cases of
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its seeds at the encampment and on the train Measles in adults can bring with it a host of debilitating
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and sometimes fatal side effects. In the Spring of 1917, Fort H.G. Wright on Fishers Island was not
immune from the measles outbreak, at least three soldiers contracted the disease possibly from a new
transfer who reportedly came from barracks where the measles was spreading. The three men from the
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fort died from the side effects of the measles in the spring of 1917. The disease returned in the fall to
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stricken and untold numbers of people and killed approximately 14 across Southold town.
The measles outbreak was just a warmup compared to the pandemic that followed. The national spread of
the deadly influenza virus of 1918, has been directly linked to World War 1 and the United States
mobilization for the war. The military was recruiting thousands of young men, crowding them into
training camps before sending them overseas. Those recruits, during their free time swarmed into the
nearby communities, infecting the civilian residents and spreading the disease.
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People suffering from the flu can,expel viruses that can infect others- for usually no more than seven
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days after infection and often even less Influenza virus, unlike most diseases can change very rapidly.
defense system, must zero in on to be effective. The es against flu are always becoming
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obsolescent, and periodically become obsolete, which means world- This lack of
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recognition of the deadly invader prevents the body from reacting until it is sometimes too late.
The winter of 1917-18 was the coldest on record east of the Rocky Mountains, barracks were jam-
packed, and hundreds of thousands of men were still living in tents. Camp hospitals and other medical
facilities had not yet been finished. An army report conceded the failure to provide warm clothing or
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even heat The intense cold made the new recruits huddle together even closer, despite military orders
against congregating, which helped to create an ideal environment for transmitting the respiratory disease.
Depending on whose research you believe, influenza first struck either Camp Funston at Fort Riley in
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Kansas or Camp Devens in Massachusetts. The medical establishment worked feverishly to try and
identify the cause of the new illness sweeping through the camps. Researchers repeatedly failed to find
the cause of the disease because technology had not progressed to the point that a virus, which is so small
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that it could not be seen with a regular microscope, had been discovered. Additionally, the patients
presented with a wide variety of symptoms, first military doctors then civilian doctors had difficultly
pinning down what they were dealing with and how to treat it.
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Like measles, when influenza kills, it usually kills thorough pneumonia Influenza t always kill
Viral influenza gives way to bacterial pneumonia because the virus response kills off the parts
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of the body that usually holds the bacteria in the mouth at bay Many die from the secondary infections
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pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma and other similar ailments associated with influenza
Victims had an extremely unpleasant several
and then recovered... The course of the disease in these millions actually convinced the medical
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first striking at Camp Devens in
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Massachusetts, the \[flu then spread\] to camps Upton, New York and Lee, Virginia
New York City, which the virus hit early, had a lower death rate than other major cities in the east. The
wave of cases at the start of 1918 pandemic immunized so many residents that when the flu returned there
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were not enough people to support a new major outbreak.
But in a minority of cases, and not just a tiny minority, the virus manifested itself in an influenza that did
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not follow normal patterns The disease which normally kills the very young and very old, began
killing young adults, like the new soldiers crowded into the military camps. Dr. Roy Grist, left a graphic
description of this new influenza in a letter to a friend: These men start with what appears to be an
ordinary attack of La Grippe or Influenza, and when brought to the Hosp. \[sic\] they very rapidly develop
the most vicious type of Pneumonia tha
the Cyanosis extending from their ears and spreading all over the face, until it is hard to distinguish the
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The infection moved with the soldiers from camp to camp as men were transferred around the country to
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rolling thorough camps like a bowling ball knocking down pins
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Those in control of the
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wa The pandemic was barely
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acknowledged by Americans media.
The one country that did talk about the pandemic was Spain which was neutral during World War 1.
The disease soon became
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publishing accounts of the spread of the disease that were picked up by other countries
One thing that war needs was money. Parades and bond drives took place despite warnings by the
medical establishment that the virus could spread. In a gathering similar to those being held in New York
City, the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive in Philadelphia, 200,000 gathered to watch a twenty-three block long
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parade. Money was raised even at the local level in meetings, rallies and door to door solicitations.
Royal Copeland, head of the New York City Health Department, and the port health officer jointly stated
-nourished
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took no action whatsoever to prevent the spread of infection
In 1918, death came to Southold, in the spring on a train - eight recruits were sent by the military to Fort
Terry and Fort H.G. Wright for training before being shipped out. The men all hailed from Illinois,
Indiana and Wisconsin had been exposed to influenza probably in basic training at Camp Grant in
northern Illinois. They came off of the train in April of 1918, already sick. The first man succumbed to
his illness, just two days after arriving at Fort Terry. His companions soon followed him, with the last
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dying 16 days after disembarking. Since influenza was not a reportable disease there are no records on
how many people in the forts or in the town were laid low. Several residents from across the town also
died in the spring and the beginning of the summer from related complications.
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Records from the
Board of Heath show that local officials made no note of the illness that was beginning to tear
through the town and country. Instead the minutes report in the spring that,
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adopting Rules and Regulations for the ensuing year The second and last meeting for the year of the
group, in July, dealt with posting notices that privies were to be screened and a complaint about flies from
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a stable.
The deadly strain of influenza arrived in Camp Devens near Boston 12 September and in Camp Upton,
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New York, the next day. Medical researchers, still trying to identify the illness quickly traveled to
few deaths had occurred-yet-but already a single barracks, filled with soldiers from
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Massachusetts had two thousand cases
Again the military and war effort spread the air-borne virus. Places like Philadelphia saw massive
infections rates in the fall oIn ten days - ten days! the epidemic had exploded from a few
hundred civilian cases and one or two deaths a day to hundreds of thousands ill and hundreds of deaths
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each day It wiped out entire families from the time that the day began
in the morning to bedtime at night entire families were g
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orhoods So
Families closed off
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\[New York\] city,
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Corpses were wrapped in sheets, pushed into New York City
though no quarantine was actually implemented. It was impossible to get a doctor, and perhaps more
impossible to get a nurse. Reports came in that nurses were being held by force in the homes of patients
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While the fall of 1918, was deadly for the people of Southold, the pandemic never reached the levels of
distress that the cities of the eastern seaboard experienced. Like in the spring the illness started in the
forts strung along the mouth of Long Island Sound. First a soldier from Fort HG Wright fell ill and died,
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then a sergeant at Fort Terry, soon followed by a captain of one of the military barges. From there the
virus and death began to spread to the rest of the town.
New York State in an effort to stop the spread of the virus instituted a new law, advising residents
coughing or sneezing without covering the face was now punishable by a year in jail and a $500
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fine The Red Cross strongly promoted that the public wear gauze masks covering nose and mouth to
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slow the spread of the virus.
By the end of the year 127 people died in the Town of Southold, the vast majority of them died of either
influenza or a secondary infection that came after influenza devastated their bodies. The death toll was
highest among young adults because their
using every l That immune response filled the lungs with fluid and
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debris, making it impossible for the exchange of oxygen to take place. The immune response killed Of
the 127 people who died in Southold only 9 were over age 40. In contrast in 1917, 66 people died of
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various ailments in the town and the year before that the death toll stood at 60 for the year.
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While the number of people who died 1919, shrank to 71, 61 of the deceased were under the age of 40.
The virus continued to rampage through the nation, infecting those it came in contact with, that had
missed it
community life, you had no community life, you had no school life, you had no church life, you had
people were afraid to eat with one another, they were afraid to have anything that made contact because
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The medical establishment was helpless to stem the tide of infection and
deaths. All they could do was treat the symptoms and hope for the best. Doctor Edwin Jordon did a
study for the American Medical Association that noted the worth of using masks to slow the spread of the
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disease. The report also noted the difficulty in getting the general public to also adopt the practice.
In Southold, the virus continued to spread and deaths continued into 1920. If a pathogen kills too
efficiently, it will run out of hosts and destroy itself. Eventually its virulence stabilizes and even
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By then end of 1920, the disease had run pretty much run its course and had run out of
people to infect. The influenza virus disappeared and
low of 59 people.
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1
John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: the Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. (New York City: New York;
Penguin Books, 2005) 6. Barry notes, as late as 1900, it was more difficult to get into a respectable American
college than into an American medical school. At least one hundred US medical schools would accept any man-but
not woman-willing to pay tuition; at most 20 percent of the schools required even a high school diploma for
admission-much less any academic training in science- and only a single medical school required its students to
students who simply attended lectures and
passed examinations; in some, students could fail several courses, never touch a single patient, and still get a
medical degree
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Catherine Arnold, Pandemic 1918, (New York City, New York: St Martin Press, 2018) 5.
3
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Barry, 95. It is possible that exposure to a massive amount of bird virus could lead to a person being infected, but
the bird virus would not be able to adapt itself to spread from person to person.
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not bacteria-combine to cause approximately 90
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Arnold, 22.
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Alfred Crosby, , (New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003),
69.
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Arnold, 18. Arnold hypothesizes that the pandemic started with a group of Chinese laborers brought to France to
transport food and muntions for the British soldiers. John Barry contends that the pandemic started in Haskell
County, Kansas with farmers that may have caught the virus from their pigs. Alfred Crosby feels the virus first
appeared among the soldiers of Camp Devens in Massachusetts.
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Barry, 149.
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Barry, 148. These side effects can include, severe diarrhea, meningitis, encephalitis, violent ear infections and
convulsions.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Death Certificates, 1917.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Death Certificates, 1917-1918.
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Barry, 101-102.
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Crosby, 35.
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Barry, 107-115.
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Barry, 148.
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Barry, 91, Crosby, 13.
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Crosby points out: The influenza virus itself is, of course, so infinitely tiny that it can pass through any cloth, not
matter how tightly woven but a mask can catch some of the motes of dust and droplettes of water on which the virus
may be riding.
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Barry, 151.
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Barry, 251.
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Arnold, 7.
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Barry, 231.
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Crosby, 13.
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Crosby, 67, 68.
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Barry, 231.
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Barry, 148.
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Barry, 179.
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Crosby, 308Americans - that is
exasperatingly obvious to anyone examining the histories, popular magazines, newspapers, and political and
military memoirs of the World war 1era
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Barry, 171.
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Crosby, 75.
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Crosby, 55. Henry Cabot Lodge noted in front of the full Senate, that to keep the pandemic from spreading across
the entire country that the government needed to raise money both for the war and to fight the ravages of the disease.
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Barry, 181. Barry notes that Royal Copeland was a new political appointee in 1918, loyal to Tammany Hall. He
was not an MD but the Dean of a Homeopathic medical school.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Death Certificates, 1918. Most of the books written on the pandemic that examine the
topic on a nationwide or global stage, all claim that the deaths started in the fall. However local death certificates
contradict those claims. With our first deaths from the flu happening in April. I have not found any explanation for
the discrepancy.
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Crosby, 76.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Southold Town Records, Liber L, (Unpublished, Southold, New York) 107.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Liber L, 119.
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Carol Byerly, Fever of War: the Influenza Epidemic in the US Army during World War 1 (New York City, New
York: NYU Press, 2005) 6.
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Barry, 271.
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Barry, 221.
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Barry, 347.
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Barry, 224.
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Barry, 276.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Death Certificates, 1918.
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Barry, 340.
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Barry, 315.
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Barry, 249, 250.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Death Certificates, 1917 & 1916. In comparison 1917, 43 people of the 66 who died
were 40 or over and 8 were between 18 and 39. In 1916, 43 were 40 or over and 5 are between 18 and 39.
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Town Clerk of Southold, Death Certificates, 1919.
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Barry, 346-347.
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Crosby, 103.
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Barry, 177.
For Further reading:
Arnold, Catherine. Pandemic 1918. New York City, New York: St. Martin Press, 2018.
Barry, John M. The Great Influenza: the Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. New York City, New York: Penguin Books,
2005.
Byerly, Carol R. Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the US Army during World War 1 . New York City, New York: NYU
Press, 2005.
Clerk, Southold Town. Southold Town Records Liber L. Southold, New York: unpublished, 1907-1921.
Crosby, Alfred. America's Forgotten Pandemic. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Garamone, Jim. World War I: Building the American Military. March 29, 2017.
https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/1134509/world-war-i-building-the-american-
military/#:~:text=Camp%20Jackson%2C%20South%20Carolina%3B%20Camp,of%20draftees%20that%20came%20i
n. (accessed July 17, 2020).
"Town Historian's Files." Town Historian's Office, Southold, New York , n.d.
Wood, Michael. "How to Brew Flu." old.post-gazette.com. April 29, 2001. https://old.post-
gazette.com/healthscience/20010429chinafluhealth3.asp (accessed July 24, 2020).
World War 1 Training Camps. n.d. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-
releases/world-war-i-training-camps (accessed July 17, 2020).
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