"Yellow Fever Epidemic"
— Fort Nelson Park —
In June 1855, the steamer Franklin put into Norfolk for repairs while sailing from the West Indies to New York. Mosquitoes carrying yellow fever escaped when the vessel docked. The Naval Hospital's first yellow fever patients came from Gosport's Marine barracks. As the mosquitoes spread, the local population quickly succumbed to the disease. By August, 20 to 70 citizens per day were stricken. In desperation, representatives of Portsmouth appealed to the Navy to help treat townspeople. The hospital was then opened to the local population and 587 citizens were treated. In appreciation, the Common Council of Portsmouth presented gold medals to six naval surgeons.| HM Number | HM1KU3 |
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| Tags | |
| Placed By | Path of History, Portsmouth, Va |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Sunday, May 31st, 2015 at 10:03pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 383649 N 4078111 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 36.84175000, -76.30493333 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 36° 50.505', W 76° 18.296' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 36° 50' 30.3" N, 76° 18' 17.76" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 757 |
| Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling North |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 700 Crawford Pkwy, Portsmouth VA 23704, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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