View source for Tennessee cholera epidemic (1849–1850)

{{Short description|Disease outbreak in the United States}}
A '''cholera epidemic''' began in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], in January 1849 and caused many deaths in the city in 1849 and 1850.{{cn|date=July 2022}}
The Nashville [[cholera epidemic]] was part of the [[third cholera pandemic]] that occurred between 1846 and 1860. It began in [[South Asia]] and was spread globally by travelers. In the United States, the disease outbreak was first recorded in December 1848 at two ports: [[New York City]] on December 2 and [[New Orleans]] on December 11. It spread into the interior of the country along waterways, appearing in Nashville on January 20, 1849.<ref>{{cite journal| first=G. F. |last=Pyle |title=The Diffusion of Cholera in the United States in the Nineteenth Century |journal=Geographical Analysis| pages=65–69|volume=1|issue=1|year=1969|doi=10.1111/j.1538-4632.1969.tb00605.x |pmid=11614509|doi-access=free}}</ref>
The number of cases increased by June 1849. The death that month, in Nashville, of former president [[James K. Polk]] may have been due to cholera, possibly acquired during travels in other parts of the [[southern United States|South]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/president/polk/essays/biography/print |title=James Knox Polk |publisher=Miller Center, University of Virginia |work=American President: A Reference Resource |access-date=2014-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609071701/http://millercenter.org/president/polk/essays/biography/print |archive-date=2015-06-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=NashCityCemetery>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/masons.htm |title=Cumberland Masonic Lodge 8; Existing Tombstones |publisher=Nashville City Cemetery Association |access-date=2014-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119150110/http://www.thenashvillecitycemetery.org/masons.htm |archive-date=2019-01-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Cholera is reported to have been prevalent in the city around the time of his funeral, in June 1849.<ref name=CityGuideBook>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nmMvAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA17 |title=Nashville City Guide Book |first=Charles Edwin |last=Röbert |publisher=Wheeler Brothers |location=Nashville, Tennessee |year=1880 |page=17}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2PcsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40 |title=Nashville and Her Trade for 1870: A Work Containing Information Valuable Alike to Merchants, Manufacturers, Mechanics, Emigrants and Capitalists |first=Charles Edwin |last=Röbert |publisher=Roberts & Purvis |year=1870}}</ref> According to an account published in 1866, there were 311 cholera deaths in Nashville in 1849,<ref name="Bowling1866">{{cite book|last=Bowling|first=William King|url=http://collections.nlm.nih.gov/pdf/nlm:nlmuid-34720190R-bk|title=Cholera, as it appeared in Nashville in 1849, 1850, 1854 and 1866|year=1866|location=Nashville, Tennessee}}</ref> a very large death toll for a city with a population of only about 10,000.
The number of cases increased dramatically again in June and July 1850. Estimates of cholera deaths in 1850 range from 316 to about 500. There were 64 deaths from cholera in just the first 4 days of July 1850. The epidemic led the [[University of Nashville]] to suspend operations and led its president, [[Philip Lindsley]], to resign.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=793 |title=John Berrien Lindsley |first=Sarah |last=Harwell |encyclopedia=[[Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture]]}}</ref> In a letter written on July 16, 1850, Mary Hamilton House reported to her husband that the epidemic was waning, as the death rate had dropped to only "three to six or eight deaths" per day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/155.pdf |title=Mary Hamilton Thompson Orr Papers, 1791–1896, and Addition 1779–1955 |publisher=Tennessee State Library and Archives |date=May 6, 1998}}</ref> The following month, [[mineralogist]] [[Gerard Troost]] died in Nashville from cholera.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1077 |title=Gerard Troost (1776–1850) |last=Wilson |first=Wendell E. |year=2014 |work=Mineralogical Record Biographical Archive |access-date=2014-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329004637/http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1077 |archive-date=2014-03-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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==Death of President Polk==
{{main|James K. Polk#Post-presidency and death}}Former U.S. President James K. Polk returned to Tennessee during this outbreak. Polk was the 11th [[president of the United States]], serving from 1845 to 1849.[[File:PolkPlace.jpg|thumb|alt=A large mansion. Polk's roofed tomb is seen on the right, near the street|[[Polk Place]], briefly James Polk's home and long that of his widow]]
President Polk and his wife Sarah Polk left Washington on March 6 for a pre-arranged triumphal tour of the South, to end in Nashville.<ref>Bergeron, pp. 257–258</ref> He and his wife previously arranged to buy a house in Nashville, which was afterwards dubbed [[Polk Place]].<ref>Borneman, p. 336</ref> The couple progressed down the Atlantic coast, and then westward through the [[Deep South]]. He was enthusiastically received and banqueted. By the time the Polks reached Alabama, he was suffering from a bad cold, and soon became concerned by reports of [[cholera]]—a passenger on Polk's [[riverboat]] died of it, and it was rumored to be common in New Orleans, but it was too late to change plans. Worried about his health, he would have departed the city quickly, but was overwhelmed by Louisiana hospitality. Several passengers on the riverboat up the Mississippi died of the disease, and Polk felt so ill that he went ashore for four days, staying in a hotel. A doctor assured him he did not have cholera, and Polk made the final leg, arriving in Nashville on April 2 to a huge reception.<ref>Borneman,  pp. 338–343</ref>
After a visit to James's mother in Columbia, the Polks settled into Polk Place.<ref>Borneman, p. 343</ref> The exhausted former president seemed to gain new life, but in early June, he fell ill again, by most accounts of cholera. On the afternoon of Friday, June 15, Polk died at his Polk Place home in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 53.<ref>{{cite web|title=James K. Polk: Life After The Presidency|publisher=John C. Pinheiro|url=https://www.millercenter.org/president/polk/life-after-the-presidency|accessdate=December 21, 2019|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[History of cholera]]
* [[List of notable disease outbreaks in the United States]]
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nashville cholera epidemic (1849-1850)}}
[[Category:19th century in Nashville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Cholera outbreaks|1849–50]]
[[Category:Disease outbreaks in the United States|1849 Nashville, Tennessee cholera epidemic]]
[[Category:1849 in Tennessee]]
[[Category:1850 in Tennessee]]